Create a Lovely Valentine's Day Care Package for a Friend

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Valentine's Day Care Package Ideas (Military.com)

No matter how many times I say Valentine’s Day is silly and I plan to ignore it this year because my service member isn’t available, a secret part of me is still sad. My husband proposed to me the day after our first Valentine’s together, and no matter what I tell myself it’s always going to be a special time.

I’m probably not the only one who feels this way about Valentine’s Day. I have plenty of friends this year dealing with Valentine’s Day on their own. I know they are telling themselves that it’s not a big deal and it’s just a dumb greeting card holiday – but the day will still be hard, anyway.

That’s why I created this tutorial with Valentine's Day care package ideas for friends. When someone we know is having a hard time, we want to hold them up and love them through it. Because that’s just what military spouses do.

How to create a Valentine's Day care package for a friend:


1. Gather your supplies. I wanted to create a care package with a cozy comfort theme, so I shopped for things that struck me as soothing. Since it’s Valentine’s Day and I’m not above clichés, I also wanted to include plenty of chocolate, something alcohol-related and lots of pink and red. Here’s what I ended up with:

Valentine's Day Care Package Ideas (Military.com)

 

-- "You’ve Got Mail." Can you believe it’s been more than 15 years since You’ve Got Mail was released? Yet this is still one of my all time favorite chick flicks. I think everyone should own a copy. When I’m having a really hard day I like to take a breather with this movie.

-- A giant mug and gourmet hot chocolate. Because you can’t watch a cozy movie like You’ve Got Mail without drinking something cozy, too.

-- Something with alcohol. Since I’m shipping this USPS I couldn’t include actual alcohol. But I could include cabaret chocolates. And so I did.

-- Something that smells amazing. I like to include a nice smelling candle in packages like these. But when I was shopping for one I came across that darling bird figurine instead. Inside the bird is a cinnamon scented sachet.

-- Something for the bath. I love hot baths after (or even in the middle of) hard days. This sugar scrub should be enough to inspire my friend into one for herself.

-- Chocolate. It’s Valentine’s Day. Need I say more?

2. Decorate your box. I decided to use the colored duck tape box decorating method again since it really livens up the inside of the box without a ton of effort.

Valentine's Day Care Package Ideas (Military.com)

 

You can read more about how to do it here.

I then cut two pieces of pink card stock nabbed at Hobby Lobby into 10x4 strips, and secured them to the box using double-sided tape.

Next, I dug out these adorable Valentine’s Day stickers that I found some months ago on clearance at Hobby Lobby and did my worst to the flaps of the box.

Valentine's Day Care Package Ideas (Military.com)

Cute, huh?

3. Pack your goodies. With my box looking great, I took a few minutes to cutsie-up my gifts.

Valentine's Day Care Package Ideas (Military.com)

Next, I made sure to bubble wrap the breakables.

Valentine's Day Care Package Ideas (Military.com)

And since bubble wrap is ugly as sin, I also wrapped each in some tissue paper. After wedging all of my items in the box, I tossed loose chocolate on top.

Valentine's Day Care Package Ideas (Military.com)

And then covered the whole thing with more colored tissue paper.

That’s it! This Valentine’s Day care package for a friend should be just the thing to add a little friendly happy to an otherwise not so fun solo deployment day.

What do you like to include in a Valentine's Day care package for a friend?

 

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