<p>I guess we all got the mailing offering the care packages, implying that our student will be devastated if he/she is the only one who doesn’t get one when they all arrive! I don’t mind ordering them if a lot of people will be doing that, but I don’t want to be like the freshman who “buys a ticket to the pep rally” just because someone tries to sell me one, either. I’m leaning toward assembling packages of things I know my son likes and sending those, rather than just what some company puts together for the masses. </p>
<p>Are a lot of you ordering those care packages?</p>
<p>i don’t i just send her things specific to her … that SHE would like. it could be a movie or a cd that i think she would like, or a scarf or some earrings. one time i sent er a gift of fancy decorated cookies. that was the biggest hit! </p>
<p>the stuff they sent wouldn’t appeal to my kid and would be a waste of $$.</p>
<p>Care packages arrive at Paty and have to be picked up by the individual student, so you will rarely see someone with one of the boxes. Especially for those of us who don’t eat much of the food in the company’s care packages, it is vastly better to send a homemade care package.</p>
<p>As for sending your own care packages, the flat rate Priority Mail boxes through USPS are great and usually take 1-3 days to arrive, usually 2 days from my home in WA. You also get a discount and free delivery confirmation when printing your postage online and can schedule a free pickup by your mail carrier. If sending perishable goods, remember that packages can only be picked up M-F during business hours. I once had a box of cookies sit in the Post Office over Thanksgiving Break because I didn’t understand my mom’s hint that a care package was to arrive that Wednesday.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone - great advice all around! I’ll throw out that brochure and plan to send more personalized packages…and will plan the shipping so they’ll arrive on days he can get them from Paty.</p>
<p>My mom sends me homemade care packages with cute things/food she knows I will enjoy. Usually I’ll get one around a holiday (Halloween one was AWESOME) with maybe a decoration or two in it. Or I’ll get one during a serious testing period. Always makes me happy!! It’s like a mini-Christmas!!! And my dad usually mails me books occasionally, which I always enjoy getting. They’ve even sent me a couple this summer, which have been soooo great. </p>
<p>The flat rate boxes work well if you’re mailing something heavy (ie books), but I’ve found that pricing usually comes out pretty close to the same. And the pre-packaged care packages are overpriced and filled with some things your student will most likely not eat. Personalized ones are much better.</p>
<p>Last year I made DD a “12 Days of Finals” box (yes I know finals don’t last 12 days but sent it so it would start around dead week and take her up to the last day of her finals). I attached cute little cards to 12 gifts…labeled like the song…“on the first day of finals my mommy gave to to me 1 Starbucks gift card”…you get the idea. I had done this with the older siblings as well when they had taken their first set of college finals and it was a huge hit. There has been a request for a repeat this year so when I got home from moving her in last week I put together and sent one that has verses attached to the poem I reworked called “twas the night before Spirit week”…she opened the first one this morning after running at 5:30 am …called the house at 6 am …woke us up to tell me how much she liked it as did her sorority sisters (I think we had 10 or more girls squealing on the phone!). The home made boxes just make all the difference…we found there were just so many little things we could send that were reminders of home and how much we love her!</p>
<p>Ahpimommy: You had me at hello with the rental in the French Quarter for the BCS Championship. Now the “12 Days of Finals”. You are the runaway winner for Mother of the Year. I feel sorry for whoever finishes second.</p>
<p>Thanks for the “award”…I guess I am just insanely creative. Taught kindergarten for over 20 years and so yeah it’s just me (you can’t even imagine the hours I spent “doing” my room!!!). My husband says I should start a business…party organizer…gift box extraordinaire! Am more than willing to share ideas with anyone who wants to pick my brain…</p>
I don’t mind ordering them if a lot of people will be doing that, but I don’t want to be like the freshman who “buys a ticket to the pep rally” just because someone tries to sell me one, either. I’m leaning toward assembling packages of things I know my son likes and sending those, rather than just what some company puts together for the masses. </p>