<p>My freshman daughter will be celebrating her birthday next week. Do any of you have any ideas about sending cake, cookies, etc. to her that would be especially good. I found nothing on dining services website, and obviously I don't know the city well enough to know who would deliver, etc.
BTW, she is loving her Columbia experience so far, especially all the good friends she's made in her suite (Hartley).
Thanks for any help!</p>
<p>My parents sent me a cake last year from Boston...as long as it's packed well and will keep for some time, you don't necessarily need to send her something from within campus/New York.</p>
<p>I have sent gifts from the companies below to the various college students in my life. If you find a good cake source please post it.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hopescookies.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.hopescookies.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.fatwitch.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.fatwitch.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.dylanscandybar.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.dylanscandybar.com/</a></p>
<p>Try Dean and Deluca website.</p>
<p>My mom sent me home-made (from the box but still delicious) brownies in the mail last year for my birthday because they travel a lot better than cakes.</p>
<p>home-made food and trinkets are great. she probably still needs stuff for her dorm walls, so consider a poster of something she loves, or a wall-hanging.</p>
<p>I have nothing to add, but am taking notes. My son is in Harley too as a freshmen. Unfortunately he is rather taciturn and from reading between the lines of his infrequent communications I think things are going ok. I would be so excited if I knew he "loved" the place. Maybe he does, he's just not telling his mother, lol. </p>
<p>momoffive</p>
<p>
[quote]
Unfortunately he is rather taciturn and from reading between the lines of his infrequent communications I think things are going ok. I would be so excited if I knew he "loved" the place. Maybe he does, he's just not telling his mother, lol.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Come on, how many guys are going to run to the phone and call mommy and say "I just love the place"?</p>
<p>If you're not hearing complaints and whining, things are probably OK.</p>
<p>That's what I figured. I knew he would be hard to read over the phone when he was hundreds of miles away. I'm not too worried. He'll be ok. :-)
momoffive</p>
<p>You could try calling the Hungarian Pastry Shop (Amsterdam, btwn 110th and 111th) -- they have a great assortment of cakes, croissants, etc.</p>
<p>I had no problem coming up with a present (digital camera, so she could take pictures of all her new surroundings, friends, etc.). Given the uncertain mail delivery system we've found at Columbia, trying to "time" delivery of baked goods wasn't doable - of all the birthday cards, packages sent, she has received exactly 1 so far! My solution was to send money, along with instructions to take friends to Nussbaum & Wu for their famous "black and white" cookies - I just got a report back that they were delicious and a big hit. Thanks to all who replied!!</p>
<p>Your mail might not be going through because the post office tends to get confused by people who just put "Lerner Hall, New York". Adding "c/o Columbia University" or "116th and Broadway" has always ensured mine gets through.</p>
<p>WE use the university supplied address -
xxxx Lerner Hall, 2920 Broadway - the mail gets there, it just seems exceedingly slow. BTW, Columbia2007, I appreciate all your posts. They are always helpful.</p>
<p>the way to ensure columbia mail will get to its destination is to use the Lerner mailbox #, and the full 9-digit zip code for that mailbox. For example, mine was something like:</p>
<p>Denzera Smith
2377 Lerner Hall
New York, NY
10027-8317</p>
<p>Your daughter has an address just like that. A call to mail services at extension 40100 can get it for her, if she doesn't have the mailing labels like what they sent me with my admission packet.</p>
<p>I did not print complete address in my previous response , but I can assure everyone that we are using the university-supplied address, straight from the blue labels supplied by Columbia. However, it is taking mail a full week to get to her from our part of the country (southern US), and priority mail package that was supposed to only take 2 days did not arrive in time for her birthday. I suspect delay is in sorting on Columbia end, but that is only speculation.</p>
<p>Well, there have been very long lines at the package center recently, but my girlfriend (who is also from the South) has been receiving packages within roughly the same timeframe. Sometimes there are transshipment issues from the main New York sorting facility; no idea why it occurs in some cases and not others though.</p>
<p>Netflix took 24 hours to reach me, and mail from home (Boston) took 3 days to reach me. I can mail something to the boondocks of Texas in less than 7 days... something tells me this might be a holdup at any of a number of different points along the line.</p>