<p>I wish I could send my D care packages! She’s the first grandchild in college, so Grandma has taken over care package duty and sends tons of treats. D tells me “Please, no care packages!”</p>
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<p>Starbucks has little freebie cards good for one song. I pick one up each time I’m there and tuck them into the care packages.</p>
<p>My son is a no-nonsense, practical sort of kid with few needs, so I only sent food items and candy on special occasions like finals, his birthday and Valentine’s Day. Also, he was able to come home for breaks, so he could stock up on toiletries and whatever he needed then.</p>
<p>D’s situation is different because she is 3000 miles away, can’t come home for every break, and has limited time to shop since she’s a D1 distance runner in season all 3 seasons. So what I’ve done with her is occasionally shop for the harder-to-find things, or time-consuming-to-shop-for items to help her out. For example, she was injured recently and had to swim instead of run. Her hair was getting really dry and split from all the chlorine, so I just sent her the special shampoo and conditioner for swimmers–not something the local drugstore near campus carries. At the beginning of the year she asked for costume items for theme parties, so I sent her odds and ends from our Halloween box and the dollar store. A few weeks ago she needed sports socks. Trust me when I tell you that she went off to school with about 50 pairs of athletic socks, and then took more back with her at Thankgiving and Christmas. Where did they all go? I don’t know, but socks might be a good idea for your kid too, because college washers and dryers must eat them. Any extra space I fill with the same things others mentioned: granola bars, trail mix, sports protein bars, etc. She has a cold now, so in the last box I sent those little tissue packs. Funny, for snacks I also follow the 3/4 healthy, 1/4 junk ratio. Not sure why, but I guess we moms think alike!</p>
<p>I’m going to be a new care package mom next year. When you send things like fruit or anything that is perishable, how can you be sure that it gets delivered before it perishes? Do the mailrooms back up? I seem to recall reading a thread somewhere about kids ordering their books online to be delivered to schools and the mailrooms being so backed up that kids weren’t getting their books for weeks. Is there a “right” time to mail things??</p>
<p>At my son’s school, the mail system is really predictable. The students get an automated e-mail notice almost at the same time a package comes into the package center. They have five days to pick it up or it will be returned. One thing I like about Fed Ex is you know exactly what day the package will arrive and it’s always the same. If I ship a package on Friday it will get to it’s destination on Wednesday and if I ship Mon. it will get there on Thurs. etc. This let’s me plan the arrival day for the days he’s free during the afternoon so he can pick it up. I can also get a birthday gift to him on his birthday. Even with this predictability, the fruit I sent didn’t do well after 4 days in transit. That’s when I looked for a company that would ship fruit by overnight mail and that’s worked well.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s school, the one problem with mail is that the mailroom, where larger (i.e., larger than the mailboxes) packages reside is not open on weekends. So something that doesn’t fit in the mailbox, which is accessible at all times, will be sitting over the weekend if my daughter doesn’t get there by Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>I made an early decision that D can get her fresh fruit in the dining hall, so I avoid perishables altogether. There is plenty of good and good-for-you food that will withstand a few days in the mail plus a few days waiting to be picked up by the student.</p>
<p>When they were having an amazing sale on Harry & David pears, I broke down & bought a box for each of my kids. It was like 1/2 price and no postage. They were thrilled! Normally, I do not send perishables but made an exception that once.</p>
<p>I once baked cookies from my brother, bagged & boxed them & sent them across the country. He admitted he had to toss them all as inedible–never sent him any care packages after that.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for all the amazing replies! 
This is gonna be very helpful cuz I will definitely be sending a lot of care packages his way!</p>
<p>-Jess</p>
<p>igourmet.com has a deal for a few more days through groupon Ft. Myers - $20 for a $40 gift certificate. I like to look for food mail oder deals from groupon and use them when I want to send a care package but for some reason can do it myself at the time I look through the groupon deals for other cities too. You usually have quite awhile to actually use the groupons - I may use this one for finals week.</p>
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Put a slice or two of bread in with the cookies to keep them fresh. It works all the way to Iraq. :)</p>
<p>I love Amazon prime. I can send small inexpesive items and it costs me nothing for postage.</p>
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haha. I will have to remember that next year when my S is away.</p>
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Amazon prime is free for a year or more if you can supply the account with your student’s edu email. You can also create a one click alternative shipping address of you child for quick and easy ordering of any items. They sell just about any household items and the price is usually better than the local store. And moreover, the item gets there in about 2 days.</p>