Halloween themed care package

I decided to send a care package for each person in Tony's work-group. I think they call them a division...but I'm not quite sure...Anyways, so I set out after coaching a swim meet that ended early shopping for supplies...

My theme: Halloween

Intended Materials list:
14 flat rate envelopes
halloween scrapbook paper
lollipops
mini marshmallows
candy corn
candy
mini pumpkins
construction paper
spider web material

Impulse Buys
mini pumpkins
LED tea lights
glowsticks
halloween-themed burlap

The first order of business was to start with the decorations for the outside of the envelopes. I asked Tony the names of everyone in his work-group (or whatevas it's called) and decided I was going to make an envelope for each person. I found stencils of pumpkin faces here: pumpkin face stencils (they're actually intended for little kids' shirts). I printed them out and set about creating an individual face for each person. I traced the stencils onto black construction paper, cut them out and then glued them on the pumpkins I traced from a stencil I printed out from a google search of pumpkin stencils.

 This is from a tutorial about making party favors using TP rolls. I have been saving them since I moved in here...I hate to throw them away...I finally found a way to re-purpose them. They are wrapped in scrapbook paper. I filled them with little bags of candy. The tutorial used mod-podge to adhere the scrapbook paper to the tubes but honestly, that would have required yet another trip to the store...so these guys are getting packing tape. In word, I inserted a circle and then a textbox inside it that says, "BOO." You just fold the ends in and it makes a cute little candy storage box.

 Now, for the mustache pops... The idea for these is from here (mustache and lips lollipops for Valentine's Day) and I got the mustache stencils from a wedding photographer's blog for photobooth props.


Instead of making them lips for the girls and mustaches for the boys like the tutorial...I decided to go gender neutral and give everyone a moustache. I had a total of 5 different mustache types. I only made one mustache of the curly-up one because it's hard to cut!

I thought that they might like to have the mustaches...idk what for but...they are out in the middle of the ocean so I'm sure they'll find a way to make them a source of entertainment...I ghetto laminated them with packing tape. Then, I punched a hole in them so I could put them on the lollipop stick. Then, when eating the lollipop, they have a mustache!

I got all the packages packed up and sealed and with the last one...I noticed I had 2 lollipops left...oops last to be sealed has to find who didn't get one and give it to them!


And now for the purpose of the mini-marshmallows....
ghost poop!

The link isn't the exact printout I used but I think I may have just ended up googling ghost poop printable or something.

I just put the mini-mallows in ziploc bags...I hope they made it there alright! I tried to get the air out as best I could...

 pumpkin poop printable
The candy corns are pumpkin poop!

I also put them in ziploc bags...Hope they don't get squished. Honestly, I don't know if anyone even likes candy corn. I can eat about two before I feel sick...

But, how adorable is that? They even had a super dorky poem on the back side of the printable about it!



I packed a couple extra bags of the poops and put them in random people's packages with a note to give the extra to a friend!

They can't have jack-o-lanterns on the ship?
Not a problem!

I found these cute little mini plastic pumpkins at the Don Quijote and the led tea lights (with batteries included!) at Wal Mart. How totes adorbes.





And now, a peek inside the packages!
I put a joke in each one (ok my printer ran out of color ink so I only have jokes in most of them...) I packed each package with candy...assorted. sweet, chocolate, sour candy, li hing candy, peanut butter candy...as many different kinds so I hope there is something in there that is each person's favorite...
I got some "spider web material" from walmart and packed in on the top of each package...

So....someone's glow sticks might not work...my knee cracked them...These are so cheap, they crack really easily...

I forgot to take a picture of the "goblin tongues." They are li hing sour belts...I had to buy more and the commissary re-did their store and made a section called, "HI candies" but it DID NOT include any li-hing candies! Can you believe that?! So, I found the "ethnic foods aisle" I mean, honestly, how can you shove so many diverse foods into just one aisle! It's ridiculous but I digress. I found sour belts but they were only strawberry (sorry guys, I ate some of the li hing ones when I was working last night...) So a couple people are going to get strawberry sour belts instead of li hing sour belts... 

 Here is the view of the bottom of the envelopes...


I think I used a total of two complete rolls of packaging tape on all these. I think that's pretty good, considering...

 I found Halloween printed burlap at walmart. I got "Happy Halloween" and "BOO" printed burlap the line the edges of the envelopes. I also cut pieces of scrapbook Halloween paper on the back of the envelopes...

Here they are all, lined up and ready to go...

 

All ready to go to the post office...

Now which one to choose...
Pearl City has a very grumpy worker so that's out
Aiea is usually pretty busy
Ewa Beach makes me fill out the big customs form...

That settles it...the post office on base...Try my luck there. The last time I went, the lady was super nice and helpful when I was trying to mail a package to Australia.





The results...
Halloween mayhem!

Mess Deck Survival Kit

I got confirmation from Tony that he saw this arrive during their mail delivery this morning so I can finally publish it!


This is care package #6. Had to put a rush on it because they changed the port schedule again and they were coming in sooner and he couldn't tell me when.

DECORATING THE OUTSIDE OF THE BOX:

If you're going to be care packaging, I suggest you invest in a set of alphabet letters (so you can use them as stencils to trace letters onto the outside of the box. I found a pretty good size, they are now quite as tall as the sides of the box. I opened up the box (just cut down one of the corners) I got the idea here (from Jo My Gosh (love her blog!)) and covered the sides with yellow paper. Then, I traced the letters on to blue paper and cut them out. I used tacky glue, because it was the only glue I had, to affix them to the sides. Problem, "survival" wasn't going to fit on one side, it was too many letters. So, I just went on word, chose a font that looked like a stamp kinda and made a line border around it. I made that side a different color because, honestly I ran out of yellow paper and didn't want to go to the store, again!


THE INSIDE OF THE BOX:
microwable items (as in, microwave in this container) such as soup, rice, indian dishes and mac & cheese. I went to the natural foods store and got bulk granola and then I vacuum sealed it. It didn't seem to crush it. It actually feels less like it will be crushed. I also got some of those tuna salad ready-to-eat packets. Another of his faves? Keurig cups! At the Commissary, I found the lion brand (Hawaiian) coffee so I got the regular and a vanilla flavor.

I took to the kitchen and made muffins (in a tin that is supposedly made for brownie bites). These are the recipes I used:

Protein powder power muffins (Make sure you get a protein powder for cooking because heat denatures proteins, read: breaks them down so if you don't get a protein powder that can stand the heat, your protein factor will be not so much.) and

Morning Glory Muffins These were the best consistency and i think it has to do that I used the yolks that were left over from first recipe's whites and it calls for a combo of white and wheat flour. They were the most chewable...the others came out a bit umm...compacted....

I can't remember where I got the 3rd recipe...Anyways, you know I vacuum sealed the muffins...by the way, it squishes them so you probably want to put them in a box or some other container before you vacuum seal them. I used a box from some granola bars I bought. Then I added a stud muffin reference (google: printable stud muffin or stud muffin printable) the search came up with cards so I just pressed the print screen button, opened word, clicked cntrl + v and voila, an image you can resize. Or, you can just right click copy image and paste it in word...less cropping needed.

Now for the mess deck improval part of the package: the sauce packets! I totally stole this idea from here. I don't eat fast food so I thought collecting the various sauce packets would be difficult. Not really. I decided I was just going to walk into places and start grabbing packets. I was near the Nex where there are a cluster of fast food places (it seems military frequent fast food joints...) and I walked in to the Taco Bell. Wait, where is the counter with all the displays of colored hot sauce packets? OMG! Mission Fail. Well, I decided I'd just order something and ask for hot sauce. I hate fast food, literally it makes my stomach hurt so I got a diet coke and asked for some of each hot sauce. The lady didn't even bat an eye, she forked over like 10 packets. Score! Now, the only problem about my crusade is that it was lunch time so places were busy. I walked in to panda express looking for shoyu...none to be seen. I walked out, feeling a little defeated but I was determined. I went over to the Nex mall's food court. I decided that since none of the places had sauces out, I would just explain to them what I was doing. I walked up to the counter and said, "Hi, I just have a question, my husband is deployed and I'm trying to send him a care package with a 'mess deck survival' theme, do you have any sauce packets I could have to send to him?" Totally worked. You know who hooked it up the best? The sushi guy! He had shoyu, ginger, and wasabi! Like, he gave me a ton! I was hungry anyways so I ordered a nigiri sampler. He was even asking me questions about how it was having Tony deployed.