Gifts for Soldiers
Great Gifts for Soldiers Away From Home
Sending gift packages to soldiers (GIs as I'm used to calling them) can be fun and rewarding not only for the soldier but for you as well. Here I'll explore what to send; how to send them; and have you share your experiences as well.
I am an Army brat so my Dad was overseas a lot when I was growing up. My Mom encouraged us to send letters and gifts to him so he would know we loved him. I'll share some of the things we did for him and my brother-in-law, who was in the Navy as well.
All royalties raised on this lens are donated to Operation Helmet
Soldiers Gift: The gift of letters
Letter show them you miss them
The most important thing you can do is to write to your soldier. Don't worry about your handwriting, spelling or grammar. They really don't care. Just getting mail is a big deal to them. More important is mail from people they love.
It doesn't matter what you write about. Tell them about the latest movie you saw, your job, what the kids did today, what Aunt Bessie said, what you cooked for dinner, the latest joke you heard -- anything at all.
Above all, tell them you miss them and love them. Writing to them shows them you care and love them in a way that nothing else can. They probably know how hard it is to write themselves.
When my father, who was what they call a lifer in the Army, was away (Viet Nam, Korea, Dominican Republic), my mother literally wrote him every single day. I loved her for doing that and I know my Dad did too. She also encouraged us to write him. Which I did even though my handwriting was so horrible.
Whenever you think about not writing because you can't think of something to say, imagine her face when it's mail call and her name is called. It will light up even if it's just a simple handwritten note that says, "I love You."
Soldiers Gift: Gift of photos
Send photos to remind them of you
Photos are one of the best gifts you can send a soldier away from home. Sometimes when you are away from a loved one, it's hard to remember what they look like. I know that sounds weird, but it happens. Send them lots a pictures -- pictures in different situations. You or your kids or friends being silly, serious, making an idiot of themselves; receiving an award, opening up Christmas gifts.
Take pictures of all of the occasions you may take for granted but they will be missing with all of their hearts. Weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, picnics, little league games, graduations, Jimmy taking his first step or little Mary baking her first cake.
Make up reasons to take pictures. Try seeing your day as your soldier away from home would if she was there. He wants to see it all, so give it to him!
Soldiers who are away from home really miss seeing their loved ones so send them lots and lots of photos -- doing all sorts of things. Not just dress up. How about "a day in the life of" your family. Take pictures of everyone in bed, at the breakfast table, washing the car, watching the game, shooting hoops, cooking, cleaning.
Dig deep, what would make her laugh or smile? What would touch him and let her know that you really miss her?
Electronic Books
Kindles Books and Assessories
Trappings of a Soldier
Mobile phones for your soldier - Make it easy for them to call home
Soldiers Gift: Personal Recordings
Send them a cassette player and make weekly recordings of your family talking about their day, what's happening in your neighborhood, church, school or community.
Even the little things you take for granted, they will want to know about. Believe me, they miss the small talk, the mundane, the every day stuff. Nothing is going to be boring to them.
Just hearing your voices will be good for them. It will give them a reason to come home.
Don't forget to tell them -- every time you talk to them -- how much you miss them and love them and support them. They will never, ever get tired of hearing that.Blank Journals or Microrecorders on Amazon
OR, how about sending your soldier a microcassette recorder? Especially good for soldiers who don't like to write.
Don't forget to send them extra batteries and mailing envelopes -- self-stamped with your name and address and postage already on it. Make it as easy for them as possible.
Kodak Pocket Video Recorder - The perfect gift for the soldier
The 
Goodies Box Ideas
Soldiers Gift: Goody Packages
Yum Yum!
Just thinking about this one brings a smile to my face. I remember making fudge for my brother-in-law who was in the Navy on board ship. I wasn't the best baker, but I made a mean fudge.
Anyway, he couldn't thank me enough. Sent me a very nice thank you letter. Then when he returned, he broke the real story to me -- the fudge melted together and was a pretty big gooey mess.
Games to pass the time
Soldiers Gift: Games for Soldiers
To pass the time, soldiers can play games. The best ones to send are the small travel sets. From chess and cribbage to dominoes or scrabble and solitare.
Just having a deck of cards can make the long days off-duty go by faster.
Travel games on Amazon
Soldier-Hero
Other Organizations Helping Our Soldiers
- Phones for Soldiers!
Our goal is to help our soldiers serving overseas call home. Through generous donations and the recycling of used cell phones from drop-off sites across the country, we have already distributed thousands of calling cards to soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait, - Fisher House -- Helping Military Families
Scholarships for Military Children Scholarships for Military Children Sponsors Our network of Fisher Houses: - Armed Forces Relief Trust
Help boost the morale and welfare of our troops, better enabling them to focus on their important mission. - United States Military Combined Families
Our organization provides support for all military banches and their families. - Fuzzilicious Thinking: Support the Troops' Families
This team will provide TLC to all family members; (i.e., wives, husbands, and/or friends) in need of encouragement and support [during deployments]. Support will be provided primarily through E-Mail and electronic communications. Taking care of famil - Soldiers Angel's Living Legends
The Living Legends team conducts one of the most delicate and demanding missions of Soldiers' Angels: comforting the loved ones left behind when a warrior falls on the battlefield. Our goal is to make sure families and friends of America's fallen her - Guardian Angels for Soldier's Pet - Supporting our military service members, veterans, and their bel
Supporting our military service members, veterans, and their beloved pets through our Foster Home program/service aimed at reuniting pet(s) and owner following deployment or an emergency hardship. - Soldiers' Angels-
As a volunteer-led nonprofit, we have over 20 different teams and programs supporting all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. Through special projects, dedicated teams and individuals supporting our troops, we make a visible difference in the lives of - OperationHomeFront.net - Supporting Our Troops by Helping the Families They Leave Behind.
Operation Homefront is a non profit community supporting our troops by helping the families they leave behind when the active duty or reserve member deploys in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard. Operation Homefront provides aid t - Books For Soldiers - Care Packages For The MInd
Books For Soldiers is a soldier support site that ships books, dvds, video games and relief supplies to deployed military members of the US armed forces. - Operation Gratitute - Care Packages for Soldiers
Operation Gratitude seeks to lift morale and put smiles on faces by sending care packages addressed to individual Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines deployed in harm's way.** Operation Gratitude care packages contain food, hygiene products, enter
Articles and stories about soldiers past and present - Read about the men and women who fight for our freedom
- Polar Bear Soldiers
Madonna University history professor Dr. Roger Crownover and graduate student Phil Naud were tapped by a documentary production company to help out in the creation of a movie about a particular group of Michigan vets, soldiers not so much forgotten a - Film memorializes plight of Michigan's Polar Bears
As a young woman, Detroit native Pamela Peak heard bits and pieces about her grandfather's service in North Russia at the end of World War I. Now a filmmaker living in California, on Saturday she unveiled her new film about his little-known expeditio
A Reader's Gift to her Husband - The gift of surprise and love
I got the following message yesterday, "Hi. I am an Army wife, and my husband just left for his fourth deployment, this time for Afghanistan. I just thought you would like to know about this blog I posted about supporting our troops and a holiday gift idea for soldiers. Support Our Troops: Gifts for Soldiers http://www.collegiatecamo.com/blog/gifts-for-soldi...
Also, here is a video of me surprising him at the airport right before he deployed. A lot of tears when I had to leave, but it was great to see him one last time and have a quiet, private, personal goodbye."
Below is the video she made.
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Great Gifts for Soldiers Away From Home
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Copyright 2008-2013 Frankie Kangas All rights reserved.
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Reader Feedback
It’s really a great and useful piece of information. I am satisfied that you simply shared this helpful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
Great looking site. Think you did a great deal of your own coding.
Great ideas!
- AUTHOR
@Erin Mellor: Excellent idea! Thanks!
New socks and spices, lots and lots of spices, any kind of condiment was always the requests I got (although from the Navy) anything to make mealtimes a little less grim.
Great ideas :P
You can't be ungrateful to your service men, they do so much for our country. thank you for this lens, I will definitely use some of these ideas
Great lens. Its so easy for us to forget these guys working hard and risking their lives on our behalf, and taking the time to let them know we are thinking about them with a few gifts can make all the difference.
great gifts ideas
Wonderful lens indeed - blessed, pinned onto my Veterans board and featured on my own lens http://www.squidoo.com/veterans-site. And facebook liked as well.
As a former soldier who has deployed, I know I so appreciated getting letters and gifts in the mail. It really does mean a lot.
Just popping back in to bless---great gift ideas here for the soldiers.
These are great ideas. My sister is in the army so this hits close to home. Thanks.
I love all these wonderful gift ideas! Thanks for such an informative and well written lens. *Blessed by a Squid Angel
Love this idea! Thanks so much for sharing - blessed by a SquidAngel!
Interesting gift idea for a soldier, good lens
You chose very interesting gift ... soldiers deserve only the best.
- AUTHOR
@anonymous: That is a wonderful idea. I know when my Dad was in Viet Nam, I sent him drawings and poems. If you have a computer, you have even more things you can create - cards, calendars with family photos, etc. Thank you for your idea. I'll have to add a section for home-made gifts -- gifts from the heart. Bear hugs, Frankie
i am an army kid i love my dad that is in the army and some of these ideas are really good but what about things made from the heart like posters made with glitter or drawings cause not everyone has money to buy a pocket camcorder so lets have some more ideas from the heart
Great Lens! For those inclined I found this site http://www.soldiersbible.com
Thanks for a great overview of these services!
great lens! i'm glad to see service members are part of the squidoo experience. i just started a couple days ago.
Great lens, nice collection
Gifts for soldiers should inspire hope and courage. They should be portable and easy to keep.
A good friend of mine made sure his two sons (1 US Marine, 1 US Army) had laptops so they could Skype/Email from base in Iraq, and also they had flash drives loaded with ripped DVD's so they could watch movies while they were away.
With equipment like this, provided they are at a base where they can contact home, it really does help to keep in touch.
Excellent job, and a very fitting lens with Memorial Day coming up.
Wonderful ideas for keeping loved ones overseas in touch. Great lens
Such a great idea and tribute the soldiers.
these are great ideas to give a soldier,
Lens is so interesting. It deserve thumb UP.
Beautiful Lens! We must never forget those who defend our country. Thanks for the info.
All of these things are great but the best care package has three things:
Tobacco, Jerky, and Lotion
Huah!
nice lens...
I like star war movie ! Thanks for sharing a lot of information ! Wonderful lens !
Some great ideas here. I will have to check this lens once again because I'm looking for a gift for my friend who is returning from his duty in 4 months time. Thanks for sharing your wonderful ideas!
A wonderful lens - certainly on a different level from the homemade fruit cakes sent to earlier generations of soldiers.
Yes, this is a great lens and a great idea. Thank you for putting this together.
What a great lens. This gives me some really good ideas for care packages to our deployed troops. It's always a good idea to support the troops.
So important to support the troops . . congrats on yet another purple star. Fabulous ideas here (and they don't have to be expensive, either).
This lens is impressive and interesting. thanks for sharing
Wow!!! Thank you for this lens. It is great!
I've always enjoyed reading your lens and am surprised that this one doesn't have a purple star yet, I just got another one and have the opportunity to nominate a good lens, I'm using this lens as my nominee, see ya around!
This is a great lens and great ideas. This would have been wonderful for everyone in the first Desert Storm when I was there. I had 4 different jobs and being a mail clerk was one. It is extremely important to any and all soldiers to get something from either family or friends or anyone at that matter. Just to know that someone was/is thinking about you is a good feeling. Thank You for doing this. I am in the process of writing a book of poems and a portion of the royalties will be going to the Wounded Warrior Project. Am listing this lens on my page as well. (hope that is ok) God Bless you and all involved.
Great set of ideas. Thanks!
Very nice lens and excellent ideas for our soldiers. Thanks for your creation of this lens and Merry Christmas to you and your family Frankster!
An Important Lens.
Wonderful lens with lots of interesting and helpful ideas! Nice work. Thanks for sharing.
really great suggestions here
My neice is in the service and I hope people remember her for Christmas.
Really great ideas for soldiers. Blessed ;)
- AUTHOR
@KimGiancaterino: Thank you Kim! Bear hugs, Frankie
I'm featuring this on Top Ten Best Tips for a Bless-Worthy Squidoo Lens. God bless our brave troops!
Stopping by again to appreciate your efforts and insights on gifts for our soldiers.
Our soldiers do a lot of hardships when they are sent to battle. I guess we need pay tribute for all their efforts to protect our country.
what a cool post. Thanks squidoo
A great thought and a great team work.
Your list of organizations to turn to to send items to soldiers is wonderful. My nephew always appreciated books, magazines and beef jerky. (And don't forget to throw in some baggies so they can break down larger packages of food for travel).
nothing negative about this lens! Really liked looking thru it, brings a feel good feeling when you read and see stuff like this being done. If you can, check my lens out, its about making awareness of cystic fibrosis genetic disease. Would love to get feedback or your comments on it.
Nice Lens............!!!!!!!!!!!11
As the daughter of 2 Vets, I salute you for making this lens! Thank you so much! You are awesome! I agree with pinkrenegade that the very best gift is prayer.
The best gift for soldiers is prayers.
Awesome ideas! Thanks!
great
I will lens roll this to my new lens Really Support the Troops. Thanks for taking the time to help the troops.
Great ideas here!
Great Lens Thanks for Posting.
AWESOME!!
Very cool! I love this lens! Blessing it!
Blessed by the Charities Squid Angel.
LOVE YOUR LEN ,,PLEASE www.squidoo.com/military-women-homeless VISIT MY LENS MILITARY WOMEN VET NOW HOMELESS
This is an excellent idea. And...better late than never.... finally compiled my SquidAngel Lens from my 'angel flight' last Fall. :-) So.... returning to tell you that this lens has now been 'featured on' and 'lensrolled to' "SquidAngel Blessings by an Elf".
Excellent, a truly needed lens, and do wish everyone would read it!
I was sure I'd been here before. Thank you for this excellent work with your "insiders" view, excellent! Lensrolled to my Support Our Troops and Veterans lens.
This is the best lens so far I ever have seen on Squidoo. Although I'm not American (I'm from Hungary), I have a deep respect for American Service Members. They have liberated countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. I think they are not only fighting for America but for the whole free world in this GWOT. Words can not express my respect for them. Thank you for this lens.
My tears are floating down to my face when watching the above video. Bear hug!
What a great lens!!! A HUGE thank you to all of our service men and women!
A return trip to this fabulous lens! Congratulations for being showcased on the Best of Cyber Monday on Squidoo lens by SquidTeam - Kathy
- AUTHOR
@blujeanmomma: What a great idea. We have several very involved women in our little town that have established packages that go to the the troops every years. It is a great rallying cry in town. thanks for the congrats. Bear hugs, Frankster
When we lived on Kauai during the 80's, I had started an "adopt a soldier" program where at the gift shop I owned we kept a box and anyone who had a soldiers address could list their address and what they would like to receive in a goody box. Then a visitor to the store would "adopt & pledge" to send the soldier the item on their want list plus other items. We had several merchants and manufacturers donating tons of stuff to ship at Christmas time. It was so much fun and was especially nice to receive word back from families that their sons and daughters had received gifts from strangers. Beef jerky and kook-aid seemed to be the most wanted items and I see them in the photo you have above.
I'm glad that this lens was included in the Best of Cyber Monday on Squidoo lens and was showcased.
What an 'Outstanding' lens. It fully deserves all the recognition it has received, including the latest - inclusion on the 'CyberMonday Best of Lists'! Congratulations, and ~~Blessed by a SquidAngel~~
PS: The video of Luke's surprise visit was wonderful! It definitely shows us how much the love & support of our family and friends means to our soldiers!
We have unique solution for soldiers to stay in shape anywhere, anytime. Our 1 lb mobile gym kit fits easily into a rucksack. Visit www.rubberbanditz.com for more info.
Great lens, the greatest gift we can give them is bringing them home as soon as possible, but until then a small gift and love goes a long way for moral...well done to all those who have sent something.
Great Lens! Thank You!
Lovely lens, wonderful cause. Happy Birthday also.
I will certainly put this lens up in Gifts that Make a Difference
- AUTHOR
@ICanCook: There are usually local groups of mothers (usually) who write and send care packages to the local men and women. You could check with your newspaper possibly. Also, try AnySoldier.com (http://anysoldier.com/howtosend.cfm) or penpals.net (http://www.penpals.net/soldier-penpals.asp) and the better known Soldiers Angels (http://www.soldiersangels.org/) where you can adopt a soldier to write to, etc. Let me know which you try to how it worked out for you. Good luck and thank you for taking the time to do this. Bear hugs, Frankster
How do I find a Soldier to write to?
LOVE these ideas!! Thanks for sharing!!
These look like fabulous gift ideas. I remember when I was a teenager my older sister moved to Germany with her husband (military) and we used to make audio recordings and mail them to her. Letters are great, hearing someone's voice is even better.
Wonderful lens. Gifts from the Homes of the Brave. Britain, Canada, US.
Thank you. Brilliant Lens!! Have rated, faved and lensrolled to Soldiers_Angels
Best
Donnette
Nicely done. Leaving Squid Angel Blessings :)
Re-blessing!
With Christmas coming round all too soon this is a great lens which should prompt people to think about those faraway from home. SquidAngel blessed
This is a very cool lens. I have students in my school with parents overseas. We try to do some of these things, especially around the holidays. Thanks for caring enough to share your passion for the GIs away from home!
Some really great ideas here! Lensrolled to Care Package for a Sailor and some of my other military lenses. Well done!
The soldiers need more people like you. Keep up the good work. 5 stars.
Great lens - you've been blessed by a squidoo angel :)
Blessed by a SquidAngel today!
www.squidoo.com/squid-angel
~ Colleen :o)
Great lens! I'm sure soldiers appreciate items like this:)
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