by Jill Ardary

Created on: March 19, 2009   Last Updated: March 20, 2009

The men and women of our troops who are actively serving certainly deserve some support and thanks. One of the best ways to do this is to put together care packages. But what exactly should we put in these packages?

A care package should contain practical items as well as fun items.

There are some NO's for care packages however. Do NOT send anything with chocolate (due to the melting factor). Do NOT send anything liquid, i.e. shampoo. Do NOT send any reading material with talk of the wars, etc., i.e. Time or Newsweek

Now for what TO send.

PRACTICAL ITEMS

1. bar soaps, keep these in the soap package.. you might also include a soap holder

2. toothpaste, also keep this inside the box in came in

3. toothbrushes

4. washcloths and hand towels

5. packages of baby wipes

6. bottled aspirin and/or Tylenol type of products

7. cold and flu medicines

8. baby powder

9. hair combs and/or brushes

10. disposable razors

11. soft toilet paper

12. Q-tips

EDIBLE ITEMS

This is kind of tricky due to US Postal rules, but these things are accepted:

1. cookies if you are sending homemade cookies place them in a plastic bag that seals, then in some type of tin. Be sure to include extra for him/her to share

2. packages of Ramen noodle you may consider including paper bowls and plastic spoons

3. sealed beef jerky

4. powdered drink mixes

USEFUL ITEMS

A soldier may want to write letters home, make a journal, write poetry or stories, or even draw. So include some of these items:

1. blank packages of paper

2. spiral notebooks

3. composition books

4 box of envelopes

5. packages of ink pens

6. packages of sharpened pencils, and a small pencil sharpener

7. colored pencils

8. erasers

9. stationary

FUN ITEMS

A solider may have some down time and need something to pass the time with, so include some of these items:

1. decks of cards

2. jigsaw puzzles

3. small board games such as: checkers, backgammon or chess

4. reading material

- Used magazines are always appreciated and many people are more than glad to donate them to your cause, Reader's Digest is a popular one

-paperback books, ANY genre will do, there are several large used book stores that have free bins which have plenty of books for the picking, or you can ask the proprietor to make a donation.

5. comic section and /or sports sections of the newspaper (keep away from the world news sections)

HOLIDAY ITEMS

1 for Easter

- plastic eggs with something simple inside.

Items that can be included:

a. even an adult soldier would like some small toys such as; matchbox or Hot Wheels cars, costume

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