Jerky

Fruit leather

Cliff bars are always good, as is tea and honey. If they have a mini-fridge you can send sausage with a cute little cutting board and knife. Starbucks bottled coffee drinks.... Little mini cans of soda.... You can send apples if they live nearby. Halloween candy might also be appreciated if temperatures allow chocolate to be mailed in your part of the country. My college girls also love Christmas lights (white wire string) and Command hooks to mount them with, always a welcome gift along with food. Usually it's too early to buy them when they pack up in August. Don't forget gum, super helpful during exam time.

Homemade granola, raw almonds, box of mac n cheese & trail mix. If they have a Keurig, get some hot chocolate, hot tea, ice tea, coffee, etc. If they have hot pots, maybe packaged soup. Gift cards to grocery or restaurant are always good.

Care packages are such a nice way of staying in touch and showing you're thinking of them. Everyone should have an aunt like you!

I am going to try to respond one more time. The page keeps locking up on me.

Thank you all for the great ideas!! I have many of them covered in one or both boxes. Neither of these girls will eat jerky or sausage .. but trail mix, fruit leather and almonds are good ideas! I was trying to avoid the mac and cheese and ramen route but they surely are favorites.

I put a starbucks gift card in for one of the girls.. and she usually gets a gc for a nicer restaurant in the area a little later in the school year. Unfortunately the only thing nearby for the other is McDs-- though there are local pizza shops, etc.

Oh and thank you for mentioning little lights. I got one of them the firefly lights from UO before she went to school but I can get a string for the other. Also just ordered her a couple of packs of the instax camera film she uses.

Target and Starbucks gift cards were always appreciated by our kids.

Campbell's Soup in Hand is pretty good, send some crackers along with it. Townhouse crackers are good, and they can spread almost anything on them.

Nutella. Yum.

Instant hot apple cider packets.

Is there a Jimmy John's nearby? They deliver and have some good, healthy sandwiches including a veggie wrap.

I went to my backpacking food list....Nut butters, rice cakes, and jam, those foil packets of tuna fish. Dried fruit and nuts. Instant oatmeal variety pack, my son loves the fruit and cream flavors. You can get shelf stable hummus, but I havent ever tried it. Mountainaire backpacking food is good. All you do is add hot water.

DD is a super-senior now (going extra semester to get a double major), but I've always sent her care packages. As mentioned here already, Target, Starbucks, Walmart gift cards. Small, easily storable holiday decs for their doors, windows, etc. A Brita water pitcher (everyone loved theirs!). Cup-O-Soups, tea bags, individual packets of flavored coffees. Individually wrapped breakfast bars to keep in their backpacks for days when they don't have time for a meal. A really good, unleakable (is that a word-LOL?) water bottle to attach to their backpacks. Headphones. Those very popular now round lip glosses. Bottles of Tylenol, nose spray, Emergen-C, cough meds, etc. , as the cold and flu season is already in high gear already at colleges now. Stay away from jewelry trays. DD tells me that most girls end up being gifted with at least a half dozen while at college. An individual cup warmer, if they're allowed to have them in the dorms. A gift certificate to the campus gift shop for a college tee shirt to wear to games.

All natural peanut butter...does not have to be refrigerated. You can get dried cranberries, cherries etc. The packs of individual mandarin oranges, mixed fruit etc. you can find them packed in juice. Make sure they are not artificially sweetened!

box of crackers and a block of cheese

What great ideas!!! Thank you! My brain just stopped working despite the fact that I've been sending care packages for many years!

I should add that both are fairly picky eaters-- the pickiest has fewer options near her school and as a freshman, she doesn't have a car on campus.

Mtn, 2 SUVs?? She went to CT in one SUV.. there were tears in the weeks leading up to the trip when she realized how little she'd be able to fit in her dorm room closet! It sounds like your daughter may have more room. She is actually rotating her stock between home and school. Funny, I never had that problem when I was in college!

I had forgotten that I bought them the disposable Clorox scrubs for their bathrooms! That will be great as they both have private bathrooms which they must clean. I love the burts bees face wipes-- so cute and just the kind of little thing I was wanting to add. (but my brain just stopped coming up with ideas). Are the sports wipes from Burts Bees too? (both are very athletic girls).

BPA - I didn't even think of soup. Good idea! Not sure about Jimmie Johns. We have them here but I have never been.

Localeater - I thought about backpacker meals but was afraid they'd taste worse than the school food. I'll check out Mountainaire. I have tried to get them both into tuna-- it's so easy-- but alas, they both stick up their noses. I did order oatmeal for the next package. This time I got her favorite cold cereal.

Lynn - decorations is such a good idea. The youngest, especially is used to holiday decorations and I bet it will make her less homesick to have some of her own. I have the individually packaged bar thing covered. Granola bars, kind bars, luna bars, raspberry and blueberry whole wheat bars. They each got a few of their favorites.

They have plenty of water bottles/gear etc but I will definitely include some Tylenol and cold season staples.

Ingeorgia - I got freeze dried strawberries but I will get some dried fruits too. The oldest who has since graduated used to love the dried kiwi and strawberries.

Yaya - i'd love to send cheese. The youngest (well both) are grilled cheese fiends but can I send cheese without it going bad? I guess velveeta would work but I am not sure I can bring myself to buy it!!

I should add that despite the rules-- one of them has an electric skillet available to her (her roommate brought it). She has been talking about making pancakes in it LOL.

This has been a huge help. I don't know what is wrong with my brain-- the ideas just dried up. You've given me so many ideas to play with!

Oh those are cute too!

I thought about granola (though I was going to buy it)-- but pulled back because we all have lactose intolerance. That said, one of the girls specifically asked for special k with berries.. so maybe she uses lactaid.. or eats it dry.

Granola with pistachios and dried cherries sounds great!

Have you tried the unsweetened almond milk? It's lactose free and I think quite tasty for cereal.

I'm taking notes as it's probably time to send my DS a care package! He is a junior so college isn't new, but his BFF/roommate is studying abroad this semester so he has a single room and he sounds a bit lonely. He needs a mom care package! I'm also going to visit him in a month.

I have sent him packages from Nuts.com in the past -- they have nuts, obv., but you can also create custom trail mixes and they have other things like candy and I think even tea and coffee.

I have also sent fun pj pants, t-shirts, favorite candy, and gift cards for places near campus like Starbucks and bagel places. When he had mono freshman year, I sent him a soft blanket and lots of lozenges! If your nieces are in cold climates, one of those fleecey throw blankets might be nice (lots of them at Home Goods or TJ Maxx) and they're lightweight, so easy to mail.

Closer to Halloween, I usually send him bags of typical trick-or-treat candy.

BTW, your care package already sounds far nicer than any I've sent to my own kid. Can I give you his address? ;)

I was on the phone with my daughter while she was opening her care package. The item that got the biggest exclamation was the Mr Clean magic eraser. Kids! I don't think she even touched a magic eraser when she lived at home.

Something we just started using are these things called Wall Pops which are dry erase removable dots and boards that can be put on walls and doors. Super cool! Would be great for dorms. You can also get them on Amazon.

http://www.wallpops.com/

SueB.. I love nuts.com! I buy all my nuts from them-- and their dried strawberries are like candy! PJs are a great idea.. so is a fluffy blanket but I saw she had a gorgeous one in the crates she was packing to take with her but that reminded me that she loves the fluffy soft socks!

Gscience the wallpops are fun-- love the dots! d_gw-- that's another great idea!

Because I am so late with the package, I can send candy corn-- just the smell makes me sick but both of them love it!

If they go to school somewhere cold some cute house slippers with rubber soles would be a good gift.