Care Package and Correspondence Badge, Step 3
To complete Step 3 of the Care Package and Correspondence Badge, we got together for a care package packing party! Kate has tons of great craft supplies, so we met up at her house one night after we had gathered supplies for our care package contents. Below we share care package ideas for fall, college students, and new homeowners.
Kate made a Halloween care package, fall birthday care package, cookie baking care package for a college student (her daughter), and a blue themed care package. I made a first-year college student care package and a new homeowners care package. We captured our progress on our Instagram stories. You can find those videos archived in the Care Package highlight on our main page.
You can see our finished products and care package ideas below! We’re collecting all of these ideas on our Pinterest page, so visit us there for more ideas and to save these ideas for later!
Fall & Halloween Care Packages
Halloween season is here! I love to send a mix of both treats and decor in a care package! Treats to eat now and decor that can be used now and kept for future Halloweens. Tip: We started a Holiday Bin at home for my daughter to store her holiday decor for the future.
My high school girlfriend’s fall birthday was the perfect opportunity for a care package. She is not a big fan of Halloween so I steered clear of the spooky and stuck with the scents of the season in candle form! We also share a love of caramel apples so I included both caramels and caramel apple sweets. I tried to balance something she can use now (candles) with something personal about our relationship (our love of caramel).
New Homeowners Care Package
My friends Kristin and Josh just moved into a new house that is going to take some work. They’ve already made great progress, but I thought a little new-homeowner-themed care package would give them some encouragement. I had a paint swatch for their kitchen cabinets so I was able to find an oven mitt and kitchen towel that I knew would match perfectly. If you aren’t sure about the new homeowners’ color scheme, go with neutral items in gray or tan.
I also included commonly needed home items like white wall hooks, kitchen utensils, felt pads (these are great for softening the close of cabinet doors or putting on the bottom of coasters or planters to keep them from scratching a surface). I also threw in an herb processor/keeper and a lemon squeezer – two items I knew they’d make use of. Finally, I picked out a couple candy items – one for each of my friends.
Other ideas for this type of care package: barware (like a wine stopper or cocktail shaker), coasters, command hooks, first aid kit, painters tape, a level, a measuring tape, chip clips, cute canisters for keeping nails, thumbtacks, screws, etc.
After I gathered my supplies, the last step was to decorate the box. I picked paper that went with the theme of “home improvement” (note the tools on the paper!) and printed a few funny memes.
College Student Care Packages
E: In our first post about care packages, Kate told a story about her daughter’s college basically guilting parents into buying pre-made care packages for the year. Here is the end of that story! (Long story short… she became a care package pro over the course of her daughter’s first year in college).
K: The Residential Housing Care Package Order form from my daughter’s College insisted that kids who did not receive their curated care packages “would feel left out and homesick”. I had to laugh at the parent guilt tactics the college was employing….but it did make me feel compelled to look into the idea of sending them. After reading through the pamplet I discovered that most of the offered care packages consisted of junk food and candy. Because my daughter is a vegan she would not even be able to eat most of what was being offered. At that point I decided to make my own care packages. I created a schedule around school events and holidays and got to work creating the packages.
With these thoughts in mind, I was determined to create care packages that were useful, long lasting and vegan. This also allowed me to cater the care packages to my daughters unique personality. I had a lot of fun creating the care packages for her freshmen year. But as her sophomore year loomed ahead I started to wonder…do I need to do all this again? Are care packages just to get them through their first year away from home? I settled on doing fewer but continuing the fun! My second daughter (who is a high school senior) is already looking forward to receiving her care packages next year when she leaves for college!
Below is my schedule of care packages from my daughter’s first year in college. Save or pin this image if you want to follow the same schedule!
E: Here are some other care packages Kate has put together for her daughter in the past. The first one is such a cute idea… if your college student has access to a kitchen, include all of the ingredients for making chocolate chip cookies! The second one is based on one of her favorite care packages to date that was organized by the colors of the rainbow. This one contains only packages and items that are blue! You could do this same idea with any color.
I made a care package for my brother in-law who is a freshmen in college across the state. My favorite part was picking out memes I thought he would find funny. He wants to be a civil engineer, so when I stumbled upon the engineering memes, I knew I was in the right place!
For his care package I included study supplies like pens, highlighters, and index cards as well as plenty of snacks for him to take to class.
Have you ever sent a care package? Do you think it helped maintain your relationship? What are your care package ideas? Comment below, send us a message, or reach out on Facebook or Instagram! You can find the badge guide and worksheets to help you complete it here.
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