<p>OK checked the area areound the U and there aren’t any “chain” restaurants except for Starbucks and beyond a rare Carmel Machiato, kiddo isn’t a big coffee drinker…</p>
<p>Here is my 18 fo 18 and I need a few more</p>
<p>Historical/Collectible item from sport
Tall travel cup/mug with lid (hot/cold)
U (sport) key chain
U vintage 'stein (room decor)
U lanyard
U T shirt (kiddo’s team/sport)
Garber all in one tool
Mag flashlight slimline
1st Ed book on the history of U w engravings
bath towels
playing cards
office supplies: highlighters/post it/hooks for room</p>
<p>I am thinking
sewing/repairs kit (buttons etc),
first aid/meds cold/flu
extension cord/surge suppressor
mouse for laptop (kiddo is buying laptop, new cell phone, mp3 player–we are PC people)</p>
<p>I included a thumb drive, lotto ticket, folding chair for school, command hooks for dorm, hangers, razor blades, bedding, school supplies. Good luck finding the rest of your 18 items.</p>
<p>sunnydayfun – I like the school color duct tape idea I’m not sure we’ll really come up with 18 things. He’ll have just started school when his birthday rolls around, so we will mail a care package and I do want it to have a bunch of stuff, but if there aren’t 18 things, I’m not going to stress about it I guess we’ll include some food treats too in our situation.</p>
<p>collage1 – we are in the same situation with our S working at overnight. He will also only be home just over 1 day (picking him up Wednesday night and leaving for school Friday morning) before heading to school. Last day for campers is actually the Thursday, so he had to arrange to leave early and miss his kids’ last day.</p>
<p>If anyone else’s kid has a birthday shortly after the start of school (3 weeks for our S) what good ideas are there for getting a birthday cake to them? Would it be weird to just give the RA cash on move-in day and ask them to get cake and ice cream to share with the floor?</p>
<p>I’d remark that just because a student doesn’t want to bring something to college doesn’t mean s/he doesn’t want it. I made my D a quilt as a HS grad present; for a while I was miffed because she didn’t seem interested in having it at college. But she told me that she just didn’t want it to get wrecked. Now that she has graduated, she is very happily looking forward to using it in her “adult” life.</p>
<p>D2 is just about done finding her 18 “gotta have” movies for her b-day. We never meant to do 18 presents per se, but since she was close to that many, I told her I’d let her keep going if she keeps them at $5 or less. Yesterday she bagged 2 for 5! All of them are cheer-up, feel-good movies that she can enjoy with friends at school.</p>
<p>I think once she cleans out our DVD collection of movies that are hers already and ones that we’ve replaced on blue-ray, she’ll have several dozen to take with her. Might have to use a booklet thing rather than bring all of the boxes, I think.</p>
<p>Hmm … how about finding a local bakery that delivers? Putting the responsibility on an RA is dicey.</p>
Check with food services at Cornell. I know that Bluejr’s university will deliver cookies, cakes, etc., for special occasions, birthdays, whatever. All things considered I didn’t think the price was THAT astromonical (perhaps I am jaded by over-the-top prices on everything now).</p>
<p>mathmomvt - Your son is at Cornell right? In Collegetown there is a place called Insomnia Cookies which could deliver cookies to your son up to 2 or 3AM. It could be easier than a came.</p>
<p>You can buy them, but she uses a cake form, a glue gun, and her sons favorite candy bars. It is easy to ship, and lasts much longer than a regular cake.</p>
<p>We were off the grid for a while - our Internet was down. All ok for now. Whew! </p>
<p>No HP here yet. Will go soon. We did go see a movie, though. Saw Buster Keaton in “Steamboat Bill Jr.” - a classic silent film with live organ music. The Ohio Theater in Columbus, OH hosts a summer movie series with all kinds of movies. This weekend is “Sound of Music”. Original Morton Organ played by world renown organist. An awesome evening! This was D’s choice - fun to share that kind of experience!</p>
<p>D has been emailing her new roommate. This morning she described the roomie as “so cool” - this bodes well for the year! They have been in touch several times now and are finding lots of common interests. YAY!</p>
I got a Groupon for a bakery local to DS that said they will deliver! I got 24 cupcakes for $25. Figure I will order them in Oct. </p>
<p>gsmomma - love that cake idea!</p>
<p>H & I were working on a home improvement project together. We do not work well together. We do do things differently. We drive each other crazy. I had to leave to bring lil sis somewhere. Cam back see that H enlisted S’s help. Poor S. Happy me.</p>
<p>I can not believe how quiet my house is. D1 is at camp, and little sister D2 joined her for 2 weeks at the same camp as a camper. This is the first time that H and I have been home alone without at least one of the kids on the weekend. We are actually planning on going to see HP tonight, and going to the MFA in Boston tomorrow.</p>
<p>The best part is that D1 will bring D2 home on Friday, so we will not have to make the 5 + hour round trip to camp. The camp is about 30 minutes from Cape Cod, so the Friday afternoon traffic is horrible.</p>
<p>mathmomvt, The birthday is not near the start of school, but we send a gift certificate to a restaurant to which he took kids (his second year). There is a great dessert and coffee place I found when I dropped him off and could have done it there, but went for pizza for him and friends instead. Some places actually deliver – maybe a fancy cake place would do that.</p>
<p>Regarding S2’s Birthday at school, I will send a timely care package with a gift card for going out with friends.The move-in time is a great opportunity to stock up on those gift cards. I like to sneak them into the care packages.I feel that because S2’ birthday will be during the observation round in the dorms, i want to give him some space without appearing as a mama’s boy. So no cake delivery for us!</p>
<p>Regarding memorabilia from home and HS, S1+S2 tell me that those definitely stay behind. No one really care about your state ring or shirt or the HS you went too :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Same seems to apply to college paraphernalia, some are acceptable others not!
We did buy the Classic Vineyards ties and belts for both once they made the choice.</p>
<p>I do love the idea of the Candy Birthday Cake though!I Have a couple of Junkie at work ;)</p>
<p>Some parents left notes, letters,cash hidden under a pillow upon leaving last year. I thought that was a nice idea.</p>
<p>Not only are all those achievements on the resume already obsolete…all of the championship T shirts, class ring and the stuff the group of friends thought was cool is now out of sight/out of mind.</p>
<p>Just came back from Walmart–the service is sooo bad. Had to pay for the flu med at the pharmacy yet all of the other items (about 10) in the cart which were all pharamcy items for the “health kit” for 18-18/dorm use had to be paid in a regular line…so safter standing in line and paying for one item…got to find another line to pay for the bandaids/tylenol/ etc etc sheesh!</p>
<p>Just received the “Mom, thanks for the Care Package, you’re the best” letter from Penn Student Agencies today. I had seen others post about them but thought oh no, we won’t get one. But we did. Read previous posts and that helped me decide NOT to partake. Will send care packages with items S likes/wants. He’s a low maintenance but selective so most of the stuff mentioned wouldn’t even be used by him. Did love the note included that said “unfortunately is’t an even bigger deal when they don’t get one. Nobody likes to feel let out.” Nice touch.</p>
<p>Thanks for that link BI. For some reason my proxy server is allergic to that URL but in any case $30 is not completely over the top. I was also looking at Ithaca Bakery/Collegetown bagels. It looks like they might deliver under certain circumstances so I can check with them too. I did also find the insomnia cookies link but I think for his birthday I’d like to get him a cake. But those cookies could be a nice pick-me-up around midterms :)</p>
<p>GSmomma that candy bar cake is an awesome idea too! I might ship something like that with his birthday gifts. What exactly is a “cake form” and where might I find one? (actually am thinking I can probably find some appropriate round foam thing at a local craft shop)</p>
<p>Thanks for all the fantastic ideas. My S usually doesn’t enjoy his birthdays for whatever reason, so I want to try extra hard to make sure he has a nice birthday at school.</p>
<p>capenn we just got one of the guilt-trip-care-package letters too! Not buying it. We will have fun putting together custom care packages for S, and spend less too!</p>
I’m not sure we’ll really come up with 18 things. He’ll have just started school when his birthday rolls around, so we will mail a care package and I do want it to have a bunch of stuff, but if there aren’t 18 things, I’m not going to stress about it 
I guess we’ll include some food treats too in our situation.</p>
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