<p>Does anyone know the best place to get care packages or other neat gifts to send a new student in college?</p>
<p>I just make my own.</p>
<p>Same here, North Minn. There have been several threads on this, with ideas for fun things to send, which baked goodies travel well, how to ship packages, etc. Treats from home are a sure-fire way for students to get to know their dorm neighbors, if they haven't already met them!</p>
<p>Healthy food options:</p>
<p>Refresh my memory here -- what is the best way to send the homemade baked goods and the bags of crunchy snacks so that they don't turn into crumbs?</p>
<p>A gift card to the school's bookstore can come in handy not just for buying books, but t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc.</p>
<p>dbwes, my mom used to send me stuff via UPS at her work. Just surround everything with some crumpled up newspaper or leftover packing peanuts.</p>
<p>Also, home baked goodies are the best present you can ever send a kid away at college.</p>
<p>I had to laugh. When I was in college I used to ask my mom to send me baked goods like the other kids were getting. She seriously told me she didn't bake (which was mostly true) and sent me a check and told me to go to the local bakery and buy myself some cookies!</p>
<p>cookies in bloom</p>
<p>I sent my sister a Halloween care package from Hip Kits. She loved it.</p>
<p>Also, check if dining services does care packages - they did at my sister's college. There was an order form on the dining services website and they had things like giant homemade cookies, birthday cakes and punch cards for Chicken Fil-A/juice bars/coffee shops on grounds.</p>
<p>
[quote]
leftover packing peanuts
[/quote]
</p>
<p>RacinReaver, my kids would eat those, too</p>
<p>We get a "thing" from the college food service every so often. They have "care packages" that they put together for holidays, birthdays, etc. You might want to search there for your kid's college.</p>
<p>We make our own here. I just get a mailing box and fill it up with "stuff". I don't really do homemade cookies, but my kids are very happy to get candy, Pepperidge Farm cookies, notepads, socks, decorations, etc.</p>
<p>dbwes - I copied and saved this from a thread... oh my.... three years ago:
[quote]
*Shipping Baked Goods --- *</p>
<p>Here's a tip my mom-in-law gave me years ago and works great for shipping baked goods or cookies in the cookie jar -- add one or two slices of bread to the top of the package or your cookie jar --- cookies stay soft -- bread becomes a brick. When I ship cookies I put them in a plastic tub, line the bottom and sides with bubble wrap (enough to go over the top when closed), put wax paper between layers, wax paper on top - then slices of bread on top, close and then tape bubble wrap to container. I've shipped all kinds of cookies, bars, cakes and they all arrived yummy!!
Had one package lost for almost two weeks (choc.chip cookies) and they still arrived soft and yummy. You might want to warn, or put a note in, to tell your kids why stale bread is in their package --- my kids were used to it, but their friends had a curious look on their faces -- didn't stop them from eating them though.
[/quote]
I even used it once ;). Sorry, I didn't note down who the poster was, so can't give credit where credit is due.</p>
<p>If you don't like using packing peanuts - you could use popcorn. :)</p>
<p>If you want to buy them:</p>
<p>carepackages</p>
<p>they get alot--or so my son said.</p>
<p>I am more like Futureholds' mom - go buy yourself something at the local bakery, but are you sure you should be eating all that anyway.</p>
<p>My daughter likes fresh fruits, organic cereal, soy milk. I have ordered from the local grocery store or online store to get her favorite food delivered to her. It's cheaper than for me to ship it to her.</p>
<p>Thanks, all!</p>
<p>Good idea, oldfort. I normally create care packages and ship to her but she's into healthy eating and haven't felt right to fill a box with veggies or fruit to ship. Will look into a local grocer in her area. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Now that S is in college, I save the plastic/styrofoam containers you get when you buy some items at the grocery store or as a doggy bag. If they are not too dirty, I simply rinse them off and save them to use to ship baked goods, cookies, crunchy food, etc. The rectangular plastic containers that some washed, organic lettuce is packed in at our grocery store are a nice size and pretty sturdy, and I feel I'm recycling them.</p>
<p>Maybe I was the last person on the planet to discover this, but the post office gives away free priority mail boxes. They are not huge, but it is surprising how many "goodies" fit in. They have two types of boxes: plain priority or flat rate, and they come in different sizes. The flat rate boxes cost about $9.00 to mail regardless of weight. I find this method very convenient; just stuff them full and take them to the self serve machine in the post office lobby. Last fall I sent a box of about 8 apples (all different kinds and colors), an apple slicer, low fat carmel dip packs, caramels & candy corn, and some fake fall leaves. I wrapped the apples in a few new washclothes for padding, and included some zip loc bags for storage. They travelled fine, and were a big hit.</p>