<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I've heard of college care packages and I'm just wondering how to buy one for my son. Do you normally order them through the university or from a company? I think I've heard that some schools send a letter home that you can order them through.</p>
<p>Anyway, what is your experience with this?</p>
<p>Thanks,
John</p>
<p>No experience with ordering care packages per se but have had good experiences ordering from Garrett’s popcorn and Fruit of the Month Club (get on their email lists to receive occasional promotions that save $). It’s easy enough to pick up a flat rate priority mail box from USPS and fill it with treats & toiletries from the grocery store or Target. Another easy “care package” is an online gift card from Amazon, iTunes, etc.</p>
<p>I think the prepackage care packages sold through many schools are overpriced and filled with stuff many kids don’t eat. I know at my son’s school the kids had to pick up the care packages at one location and carry them back to their dorm. Not something many kids liked. What I did was have local bakeries deliver cupcakes and cookies to my son, (do a google search for “bakeries that deliver near XXX University” ) and I sent him goodies I knew he would like priority mail. I also would order cases of heavy products like soda and water through Amazon prime. Really isn’t that difficult to put a care package together, get a priority mail box at the postoffice, go to CVS or a grocery store and just fill the box and mail. </p>
<p>I also did the small flat rate USPS boxes, put in whatever- in the beginning homemade cookies, cushioned with lots of crumpled wax paper. Mine are girls. So other times, holiday socks, chapstick, toiletries, earbuds, anything to say, thinking of you. I did have to warn them to check their mailboxes. And every college visit did/does include the trip to WalMart.</p>
<p>We never bought the college bedding or care packages–ripoff. Always preferred to make our own and purchase what we figured kids would enjoy. Have been very successful to date. </p>
<p>When I dropped D2 off at college, they had local businesses at a table handing out brochures for services. One was a local bakery, and I just got off the phone from ordering cupcakes to be delivered on her birthday in a couple of weeks. 
I bet if you search for bakeries near the campus and check their website or call them, they will deliver if you want them to. We do our own care packages, too (candy D2 likes, gorp, and crossword puzzles from our local paper she can’t get at school).</p>
<p>Something I just learned recently…Walmart ships almost everything you can buy in the store save for fresh produce, meat, stuff that needs refrigeration etc and the shipping rates (as long as you dont need it rushed) are pretty much the same as you would pay shipping it yourself from the local post office. We put together a Walmart care package for my son - chips, cookies, jerky, gatorade, capri-sun, nuts, a few toiletries he was running low on and laundry soap…paid less than $10 shipping and he had it in about 3 days. </p>
<p>When my son was a freshman we received a letter letting us know about a care package service you could sign up for. They delivered a care package near certain holidays i.e. Halloween, Valentines day etc. The letter said something like 75 per cent or more freshman parents sign up for the package. I immediately envisioned all the students in my sons dorm receiving these packages so I signed up. Well, as someone else mentioned the packages are delivered to a building not even close to the dorm. I had to nag my son for weeks to pick it up and when he finally did it was really cheap awful candy and snacks. Buy some snacks that your son or daughter likes and a card with $10.00 or a gift card, and put it in the mail to them. It will be cheaper and they will like it much more!
Like it</p>
<p>You could easily make your own care package that’ll probably be less expensive and more liked. Get some of your son’s favorite snacks or treats. You could add in a gift card or perhaps some movie tickets or something. My parents sent me some things that I had forgotten at home when I first went to college, and threw in some extra food and treats that were harder to get at my school and a couple Jamba Juice gift cards. Much better than any purchased care package, in my opinion.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of ordering them, but I used to send them regularly. Snacks like toasted nori, dried fruit and nuts, candy, lip balm, an eye pencil, packets of instant miso soup, deodorant. Whatever interesting on sale and fits in a flat rate box. I used to send homemade cookies but she said they didn’t keep well. I should have experimented a bit with different types, but I just stuck to packaged stuff.</p>
<p>I love putting together care packages myself and it’s much cheaper and “just what she needs.” Just boxed one up tonight to send off. USPS flat rate boxes are the way to go. I pick up the free boxes at the post office (always keep a supply of various sizes on hand) and I print labels and pay postage from my computer - cheaper than going to the PO. I schedule pickup for the next day from my regular mail carrier. All I have to do is put the box on the doorstep for pickup. They are trackable and go by air. I can ship a medium box from Seattle to Boston in 2 days for $11. </p>
<p>We did quite a bit of research of online care packages and initially opted for putting together our own to send. It was a great care package but we then realized it took quite a bit of time and we didn’t really save much money. The next time around we opted for ordering online and after looking at quite a few sites found redship.com. They had a cool website and our daughters loved what was in the packages.</p>
<p>It turns out that I am fairly bad at care packages but I have ordered Insomnia Cookies more than once for my daughter and she was very happy. Once was when she was studying for finals and told me she couldn’t even call to say she was alive. I sent over a dozen cookies and she called A lot of universities have Insomnia Cookies, not just hers. But I like the hint about Walmart above - I never thought of ordering from them.</p>
<p>I sent goodies I thought my son would like the end of spring semester one year- brought most of them home a weel later when we moved him out, sigh. His first two years his birthday fell on a weekend and he came home for his HS CC meets or such. I tried to find a local U city bakery but couldn’t. I successfully UPS’d frozen hometown bakery birthday cakes. Got a complaint about stale cereal- an old/expired box fit perfectly in the box I used to make sure the cake didn’t get crushed…</p>
<p>Why is a new poster pulling up a thread about care packages to promote a website? This isn’t even the time of year to be thinking about them.</p>
<p>Well, it is kind of strange. However DS is attending college in the summer and his short summer semester ends in a couple weeks. Maybe the OP’s kid is going to college in the summer??</p>