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ORIGINAL: OneOfHisJewels

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ORIGINAL: peculiar_lady2

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What do you ladies send your hubbies in care packages? I've got some ideas but would like more. Have any of you tried to use a vacuum sealer thingy to be able to send homemade treats? Did it work?

here is a repost of something I typed up before in a post...about what can and can't ship over there....

on sending packages over to someone in the war here are some tips that people may not know......
*you will need their name. You can no longer send to just any soldier...there were logistical problems with that so a few years ago they changed that.
*The shipping is the same as you sending it anywhere in the US...so it's not that bad. Esp now that they have certain preset boxes for a certain price.
*If you choose to send things like food, please remember a few tips...
1...don't send chocolate...esp in the summer...it will go rancid very quickly and sometimes it takes those packages a few weeks to get there. I think the quickest one of my packages got to hubby was about 2 weeks.
2...don't send something that will melt easily. The temps there in Iraq get to about 130-140 F every day...the shade about 110-120. Things melt very quickly in that kind of heat
3. Do not try to ship pork products. I know several people that had it sent back to them because they were sending their soldier Vienna Sausages without realizing it's a pork. It's against their religion to have those kinds of products shipped into their country. Vienna sausages now come in chicken and that can be shipped, but the pork can not. Watch on beef jerky too...sometimes that contains pork products.
4. try to keep the individual packages as small as possible...soldier do not always have a lot of room to store things.
5. put anything that could leak into a sealed baggie...you don't want them to receive cookies that taste like soap...uugghhh
6. use a very sturdy box...they go through the wringer to get there and are thrown, tossed, stacked, etc. So pack as sturdy as you can. It is best to wrap the box with brown packing paper...then tape up all the seams well so that it doesn't catch on something and rip open. Covering it is important because of customs...you can't have logo's on the outside of the box when you ship it. You could choose to mark through them, but I have found it easier to just wrap the box in the brown paper. We were also told to address the box inside too just in case the packaging got ripped off.
7. food is always a good thing to send...they share it. Usually they have a tent or building set up for the guys (and gals) to congregate in...and they typically put out their food stashes for everyone to share in their bounty. So send more then you think one soldier could eat. Some places have PX's but not all do. Sme the nearest PX is a days drive away...so they can't get to things easily or safely.
8. when sending homemade cookies, place a piece of bread in the box along with it. It will absorb any moisture and the cookies will stay fresh longer.
9. You can not send certain things through customs (besides pork that I already mentioned)...some others are...
no currency, no precious metals, no pornographic material, no firearms, no explosives, no fruits (that includes fruit cake), no living plants, no animals, no alcohol, and no pork.
10. Middle East countries also do not allow nutmeg or allspice into their borders...they consider it an aphrodisiac...so do not send items containing those ingredients

Believe it or not, marshmallows also have pork product in them. They wouldn't travel well anyway, but just thought I'd say. I learned that the hard way when I worked at a preschool. We had a muslim boy that we never gave pork to, but we gave him marshmallows once and his.mom.was.not.too. happy.about. it. That's how I learned marshmallows have pork product in them.

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ORIGINAL: Harvie

In looking at that list again, I must say that dried fruit is fine to send over there.

Just write "snacks" on the customs form. [:)]