Nope, you didn’t read that wrong. Even though it’s not yet Thanksgiving, it’s time to start packing those Christmas boxes to send to our troops overseas. Here’s a list of things to include:
Edibles to Send
- Christmas candy: This is the time of year to send chocolate as well as other types of candy.
- Baked goods: Stay away from fragile or gooey goodies and stick with solid cookies, bars and brownies.
- Beef jerky: Always a winner. Our men and women overseas love this easy-to-carry protein snack.
- Individual-sized powdered drink mix: The water on deployment is notorious for tasting bad. Powdered drink mix makes it more palatable. You can send the liquid flavored drops, but be sure to encase them in a couple of sealed plastic bags in case they leak.
- Other snack food: The key here is to make sure the snacks you send are individually packaged. Avoid easily crushed packages like chips and look for nuts, granola, even dried fruit.
More Goodies to Send
- Socks: It may sound like a Christmas joke, but it’s not. For our personnel away from home—new, clean socks are a luxury we cannot imagine. The colors to send are brown or tan, especially for those sending to the Marine Corps.
- Wet wipes: Again, for troops in the field, something to clean up with is a true gift. Don’t send full-size packages, remember they have to fit in a uniform pocket, and they don’t have plastic bags to repackage their gifts for travel.
- Playing cards: One thing I’ve learned from soldiers is that there is a lot of down time. Cards help pass those hours of boredom.
- Toiletries: Think individually-sized toothpaste, soap, hand sanitizer, etc. Be sure to double or triple bag them. There’s nothing more disappointing to a soldier to have a box of candy or snacks ruined when the hand sanitizer burst and made everything inedible.
- Batteries: Including fresh batteries in several sizes is a great idea. Not all of our deployed military are near a well-stocked base and may not have ready access to them.
- Christmas decorations: Including a small artificial tree, some battery operated lights and plastic ornaments can really infuse their world with Christmas cheer.
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Sending packages at Christmas are a wonderful way to remind those who serve that they’re not forgotten. In the next post, I’ll share my tips to make sure the packages arrive in mint condition!
