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liveblesstravel
Sep 2

Hosting a College Care Package Party

I can remember sending College Care Packages to new college freshmen since I was in high school. I have always loved a good care package! Now that I have a college freshmen, it was at the top of my list after move-in!


A fun way of assembling College Care Packages is to enlist other moms who just had a freshmen go off to college. Hosting a Care Package Party is an awesome way to create a fantastic box for your child, and it’s a perfect opportunity to connect with friends who are also going through the rollercoaster of emotions with a child moving away to college. You can catch up, enjoy some snacks & drinks, and put together a care package that the kids will love. I think the most unexpected part of the evening was how healing it was to hear our kids were all going through similar things in the first two weeks of being away.


Here’s how I organized my care package party. I learned a few things along the way that I will make note of as well.


  1. Create Your Guest List: I decided to invite moms who had boys that had left for their freshmen year of college. I thought it would make it easier to fill the boxes if we were only buying for boys. In hindsight, almost all of the items were unisex, so it didn't matter. I invited ten moms to keep things manageable. Nine of the moms were able to attend. Each mom knew at least a few other moms attending.

  2. Getting the Word Out: I used Evite. I found it to be simple and a place to get out a lot of details at once. Plus, it collected RSVPs.

  3. Request RSVPs: Speaking of RSVPs, you need a headcount so everyone knows how many kids they are buying for. I set it for two days before the party. But lesson learned, I should have done at least five days to give people more time to shop.

  4. Sign Up Genius: In addition to the Evite, I also had a SignUpGenius with categories like practical item, silly item, gift card, and create your own category. This allowed us to keep track of what everyone was bringing and not overlap items. But it also had plenty of flexibility for the moms to be creative with their items.

  5. Set a Budget: The budget was $10 per boy, per mom for the items in the box. For example, one mom brought $6 worth of scratch off cards plus a $4 lip balm. Another mom did $10 gift cards to Publix. Another mom did $10 Lego sets. You get the idea. Since 9 moms participated, each mom was spending $90. I also asked each mom to bring some type of candy or snack for us to add to the boxes. We ended up with a great variety on these snack items.

  6. BYOB: This was a lesson learned but I should have had everyone BRING THEIR OWN BOX (BYOB). I provided USPS flat-rate shipping boxes, but no one ended up using one. The shipping on those is currently $18.65. Instead, people used boxes from my recycle bin and a few moms did bring a box. I think the tough part about this is not knowing the size of the box that will be needed. We had enough boxes but in the future, I am going to ask that everyone bring their own box. I supplied tissue paper to lay across the bottom of the box and some people filled in their boxes before closing with extra tissue paper.

  7. Note Writing Station: I had each boy's name on a Post It note (twice). Every mom was asked to pick two names off the board plus write a letter to their own son. This way every boy was receiving three hand-written notes. I supplied cards and pens. In hindsight, in addition to the three note cards, we should have had all the moms sign one page with a note of what they provided for the box. I could have copied that one sheet on my scanner and printed out a page to include in each boy's box.

  8. Shipping: It was left up to each mom to ship their son's package. After a lot of research, it was discovered that PirateShip.com had the best rates for shipping.


Note Writing Station - the poster board had Post It Notes with the boys' names and the TV stand had various cards and pens.


Here’s a look at what we included in our care packages.

Some of the items below are linked to affiliate sites.


Plus, we had lots of snacks for the boys!


I provided some finger foods and drinks for the moms.


Also, as a side note, most of us decorated the inside flaps of the boxes...we don't know if the boys will even notice, but that was a fun time for the moms to craft and talk!


Since our boys are all friends, maybe we should have coordinated to mail them on the same day, so they'd be a surprised. While all the boys are in the state of Florida, they are all over and shipping would have varied. So, it didn't really matter that we didn't coordinate this part of the adventure. I want to do it again. Lots of great ideas. I did the mini water bottle with collapsible bowl along with directions on how to clean a water bottle lid without a dishwasher (see photo below). But I already know that my item is going to be for the next event --> a $10 gift card for Uber. Man, in just two weeks that line item in our son's Apple Pay report is insane. His campus is very spread out and parking is difficult. While I know he will figure it out and not Uber as much as he did in the first few weeks, I also wasn't aware of this financial need college students have! Please share your other college package ideas with me!



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