Recordable Books

Recordable books aren't just for kids anymore.  You can record your own voice or your child's voice reading a book and send it to your solider.  Then when it's the middle of the day over there and you're fast asleep at home and not on Skype your solider can hear your voice whenever they want.  Another option is the recordable gift cards available nearly everywhere.

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Digital Picture Frames

A great way to send pictures to your solider in a fun way is to send them in a digital picture frame.  Pre-load lots of great pictures and if you're really adventurous mix in a few sweet quotes and messages that you've typed up using a photo editing software.  These frames have come down in price in the recent years so price shouldn't be as much of a deterrent as it may have been in the past. You can get a key chain version for as little as $20.

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Decorate and Delight!

So I'm sure you've all thought about wrapping up the items you send off to your special solider to make it more like a gift when the package arrives. You've probably even stuck a few stickers around the inside/outside of the package to "decorate". Next time think about going a little overboard! Make a special gift with a personal touch.

DECORATE!
Adding some extra touches makes a package full of "stuff" much more personal!

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Father's Day Care Package

A great blog full of Father's Day ideas during a deployment. Thanks MilitaryAvenue!

Father's Day is this Sunday - talk about creating a void for our family going through our first deployment. I'm sure the void will be felt all across the globe on the 15th.

I fortunately have stayed on top of this one (I'm not on top of much lately). Hubby's care-package is in the mail & he should be receiving it any day now. I hope it oozes with love! (As opposed to oozing with sticky-melted chocolate!)

I'm not great at 'themes', maybe with some practice I will get there... but for now the theme is simply: "From Us" :)

1. A letter from our oldest, 14;
2. Some pictures from our 3 and 5 year older from their "Write from the Heart" books;
3. My 5 year old made a 'dot to dot' for Dad. I'm not sure it actually makes a picture - but he sure enjoyed doing it and that is what counts!;
4. A copy of my 5 year-old's preschool "report card";
5. Diego stickers. The 3 year old insisted on buying Diego stickers for Dad. Logical. So I put a little note on them that maybe he could attach them to the envelopes of letters he sends us;
6. The 'regular items': Our church bulletin, town newsletter and the daily-papers from our "Uncle John" calendar. I send them to him every week just to give him a little touch of home;
7. Some new stationary (post-card sized paper in a rainbow of colors with envelopes). It was a huge pack and I split it in two. I sent half to Hubby and kept the other half for us to send him letters;
8. "42 Lunch Notes" - These are great. I picked it up on a whim and crossed out the "Lunch" part of the title and hand-wrote "Deployment". The notes are smaller then a postcard. Hubby can write a quick note for the boys and include them in envelopes mailed home. Sometimes it is hard to come up with words to write to the kids and these have a smaller writing space but I'm sure they will be a keep sake to the boys;
9. COOKIES! He said they are getting cookies out the ying-yang. BUT we made some anyway because his children helped make them :);
10. Beef Jerky - Hubby's favorite snack. I'm just glad he can eat them without me having to smell his breath! [Hey sometimes we have to find the small blessings of these deployments ;)];
11. Some extra-dark Dove chocolates. I'm sure they are going to be melted to smithereens by the time he gets them - but it is the thought that counts sometimes right!

So that sums of his 'Father's Day Care Package'. I hope he loves it! Because we sure do love him. I realize I am going to need to find more care-package ideas as we deeper and deeper into this deployment, or he will get really tired of melted chocolate and beef jerky :)

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Sealed Strength

Deployments can be hard and loved ones left at home often feel like we have no one that understands. A group of ladies has come together to help women cope with deployments with a kind word and a friendly letter.

All you have to do to sign up is go to their website. They will pair you with another woman who knows what having a loved one deployed is like. You'll quickly have a great pen pal! Pin It

Free Postcards!! Operation Postcards!

If you feel like you're always running out of stamps or looking for a quick way to send a note you should definitely look into Operation Postcards.

Here's how it works:

Operation Postcards is an easy way for you to send them a REAL personalized postcard that'll let them know how much you care. Just upload a photo. Type in a message and send it off to them. We print and mail your personalized postcard the next business day to anywhere in the world. They can hang it on a wall, share it with friends or carry it in their pocket.

You can use your computer or smartphone to send your postcard. Simple as that! Pin It

Seven Deadly Sins Care Package

Looking for something different to send? Why not do a theme of Seven Deadly Sins?

1. Lust- playboy or porn (beware as technically this isn't allowed) swimsuit magazines or Victoria's Secret catalog could also work!
   
2. Pride- something from the branch they are in or the American flag
3. Envy- something from home or hometown
4. Greed- playing cards and poker chips
5. Sloth- a movie and popcorn
6. Gluttony- chocolate or his favorite candy
7. Wrath- Small punching bag (inflatable) or a video game
   

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Scion Care Package

Scion is giving away free packages that have T-shirts, a deck of cards, 1hr. internet card, and beanie sock hats- along with stickers and other fun stuff.

If you'd like to send this package to someone use the link below. You can have it sent stateside or overseas. Valid for reserves men/women too! You need to know the pay grade of whoever your sending the package too for military verification.

http://www.scion.com/militarycarepackage/

ENJOY!!

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Attention Facebook Fans!

Time for some fresh ideas and a whole new deployment!

For you Facebook fans out there for $6 you can put together a nice photobook with a collage of pictures for your solider. It's a nice inexpensive way to send your soldier a piece of home.

Go to: Facebook.com/fotobooks to make your book using pictures you or your friends have already loaded into albums.

The book: "Beautifully produced 4.33" x 6.5", 20-page photo books with custom covers. Can contain a maximum of 54 photos. Design, print and ship anywhere in the US for $5.99 ($7.99 anywhere outside of the US)."

Review: I made a book for a friend of mine and it came out flawless! It was a perfect little gift. I can't wait to send one to my soldier. A little side note: I haven't tried to send it to a military address yet, but if it's a problem you could always have the book shipped directly to you and slip it in with any care package that's on it's way. That may be the best idea anyway since the softcover book ships in a flimsy envelope and could be damaged by long distance mail.

I give these books 2 thumbs up!

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Fresh Ideas!!

I've been getting more emails lately and more ideas from people which means people ARE reading this! SO..here's the latest suggestions:

I have a friend that is currently deployed and I’ve been steadily mailing boxes for him and his team. Here are some more ideas for you:

AIR FRESHENERS! This is a big request! Apparently the potties and the tents/barracks smell something fierce! Make sure you suggest that they put these in Zip-Lock bags!

Q-Tips

Gold Bond Powder…It’s HOT over there!

Sunflower seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

Pop Tarts

Canned fruit in the flip top cans. Makes it way easier for them to open and they can just “drink” it right out of the little cans.

Hot Sauce (maybe something other than Tabasco Sauce)

Beef Jerky. There must be 20 – 30 different varieties!

Spam (flip top cans) There are a bunch of varieties of this too

Vienna Sausages (flip top cans)

I bag almost everything in Zip-Lock bags. Because the Post Office has the “flat rate” boxes, this really is a huge cost benefit for canned goods and magazines! Don’t forget to include the local news papers…especially their “Local” sections and comics!

Pictures of what the county, township, city or villages are doing to the roads (fix-ups), bridges, trees, buildings, etc.

Pictures of the kids classrooms with pictures, signs and activities for the fathers & mothers that are deployed. They may need permission from teachers/administration before doing this.

Hope this helps.

JuliePS One more thing…encourage everyone to HAND write their notes! Typing or computer generated notes are nice but nothing says genuine and heartfelt like hand written notes!

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Pictures, pictures, pictures!!

Postage gets EXPENSIVE!! Try alternating packages with pictures sent in a card. Have fun with it. I did a funny photo shoot and took goofy pictures of myself, printed them out and made comments on them. You can even pick up the sticker speech bubbles in the scrapbooking section to make yourself or your kids say things in the pictures or just photo shop them onto the pictures before you print. Pin It

Candy play on words - Candygram!

Take each candy and attach a note with a reason why you're sending it. You can put them all in a box labeled the reason why I love you or something like that:

• Nerds: You're such a nerd and always make me smile.
• Smarties: You're so smart.
• 100 Grand: You're just so rich (joking of course).
• Reese's whips: Because you're whipped.
• Snickers: For the way you snicker at my jokes.
• Butterfinger: Because you have a nice butt.
• Sweet Tarts: Because you're so sweet.
• Hot Tamales: You're so hot!
• Laffy Taffy: You always makes me laugh.
• Hershey's Hugs and Kisses: You always give great hugs and kisses.
• Dum Dums: You love me even when I'm a dum dum.
• Shockers: The way I feel about you is shocking!
• Baby Ruth: I love it when you call me baby.
• Lifesavers: Because you're my lifesaver.
• Mints: You're worth a mint to me!
• Reisen: You're my "reisen" for living.
• Reese's Pieces: Because I love you to pieces.
• Big Hunk: Because you're my big hunk.
  
  
  

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Sexy items for a private care package from wife/gf

Here are some ideas for one of my LYC girls:

I bought some X-rated heart candies (you know the Valentine's conversation hearts that say stuff like "Be Mine" and stuff..yeah, these said some other things...)

I made some chocolate and vanilla "kitties" on a stick with an insinuating little note attached about him eating them. They were wrapped in pink cellophane and tied with red ribbon. It wasn't hot there at the time so it didn't melt. He thought the edible "kitties" were hilarious.

I got some underwear for him and I put on some dark lipstick and I kissed them all over...mostly in THAT area...I put them in a plastic bag with my perfume sprayed on them and a pink notecard with "Guess what I've been thinking about?" on it.

I got him a sleeve for his special alone time and some lube.

Gummy handcuffs with a dirty little story about how we'd use the real thing.

3 or 4 erotic letters in individual envelopes, each scented with my perfume.

Some private pix on CD for his computer.

Red Hots that were in a package labeled something like "Sex Pills" or something like that, can't remember...it was funny but I can't remember what the label said.

A pair of my panties in a plastic baggie.

A pillowcase with an iron on of me in a sexy pose so we could still "sleep together" even though we couldn't.

Coupons for dirty deeds he could cash in when he got home. Yes, he's cashed them ALL in by now.

Boobie cookies.

I also took some obscure, hard to identify pix of various body parts and numbered them. If he was able to identify them, he got good, recognizable pix of those parts. It was kind of like a puzzle/game/brain teaser/other part teaser thing

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Birthday Ideas

I recently received an email full of birthday ideas! Enjoy!

Hello,
I’m an avid reader of spousebuzz and came across your link there. My fiancé is deployed to Iraq and I was having a hard time trying to figure out what to send him for his birthday. To help anyone else I thought I would share what I sent….

• Candles- he was turning 24 so I put 24 in a plastic bag (did not include lighter) I knew his roommate had one, didn’t think you could ship lighters anyways
• Balloons- he said the guys had a good time blowing them up and playing volleyball, ect. with them
• Cake- betty crocker makes individual microwaveable cakes- just add water, put in microwave and tada! Comes with caramel or icing.
  
• DVD- with me and his friends singing happy birthday to him, and left personal notes on it
• Wrapped presents- this would vary

I thought about doing a “theme” sending over cups, plates, food, hats, table cloth…. but I thought it might be to much. May be good for someone else though?

Thanks for keeping your blog, what a great idea!

Jacquie

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Under the Sea

• Goldfish crackers
• Salt packets
• Blue Kool Aid - don't forget the sugar and pitcher!
  
• Shark gummies
• Little game with the magnetic fishing pole
• Goldfish game cards (go fish or regular)
  
• Tuna packets with crackers
  
• Sea Monkeys you add water to and they grow
• Small conk seashell so he could hear the ocean
• Salt water taffy

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A trip to the zoo

This would be especially cute for those that have children and have taken a trip to the zoo. Include lots of pictures of your trip and then some of these treats:

• animal crackers
• peanuts
• peanut butter from the elephants
• beef jerky from the lions
• dried banana chips from the chimps
• trail mix from the birds
• Hostess Snowballs from the polar bears
• tuna from the seals
• postcards
• stuffed animals
• plastic zoo animals
• tons of pictures!

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Reminders of care

"Tucked inside this little bag
When your spirits are starting to sag
Are some little reminders that I care
As you fight for freedom over there."

Toothpick: To help you pick out the good in every situation you encounter.
Hugs and Kisses(Hershey's Hugs and Kisses): Because sometimes we all need a "hug and kiss"
Paper clip: to help you "keep it together" when it all seems to be hitting the fan.
Marble: To replace "the ones we all lose" from time to time.
Snickers: To remind you to "laugh" even when you feel like crying.
Rubber Band: To help you be flexible and "bounce back" in times of trouble without breaking.
Stick of Gum: To remind you to "stick" with the task at hand.
Mint: To let you know you're worth a "mint" to me.
Cotton Ball: To help "cushion" the rough times.
Lollipop: To help you "lick" the problems you encounter.
Star Burst: To let you know I'm "bursting" with pride for you.
Nut: To remind you to relax and get a little "nutty" sometimes.
Tootsie Roll: To remind you of the important "roll" you play.
Lifesaver: To signify the "lifesaving" things you do to keep our country free.

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MagicJack in the Military?

Have you heard of the MagicJack? Supposedly, you plug this into your computer that is hooked up to high speed internet and attach a phone line to the plug and you can make unlimited phone calls to the US and Canada. The website even claims that you can use this while traveling or in our case deployments as long as internet is available. The device costs $39 from the website and that include one full year of unlimited service. If you'd like to continue service after the first year it is only $20 per YEAR.

Sounds too good to be true doesn't it? Well, that's what I'm wondering. I ran across this device on the LYC forum and then received an email today from a reader that wanted to know if anyone has used this. He has a relative deploying to Kuwait soon and wants to know if anyone has had experience with this overseas.

When I asked my soldier he thought it might use up too much bandwidth, but I'm not sure. And for $40 for the MagicJack and $10 for a cheapo phone it might just be worth a shot.

If anyone has any experience with the MagicJack please leave a comment and help us clear this up! Thanks! Pin It

Supporting from home...

Here's a cute shirt I found. This site has other cute apparel and gifts. Things for soldiers, their supporters, and children. Pin It

You Stink!!

You Stink:

• Soap
• Deodorant
  
• Socks
• Laundry soap tablets
• Air fresheners
• Foot powder
• Odor eaters
• Gold Bond powder
• Febreeze
• Baby wipes
• New undies
• T-shirts
• Dryer sheets
  
• Whoopee cushion

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