Birthday Ideas for a Deployed Soldier!

Could you have the kids make birthday cards, even the younger ones. How about pictures of either your favorite places you have been with a memory to go with them or new places with ideas to go with them. If he has access to a computer could you make a video with everyone singing happy birthday. Have fun with it. Also please let him and everyone in his unit how much we all appreciate the sacrifices they make for our freedom. God Bless them and their families.

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N.,
Let him know his Birthday Box will be just a little delayed...THEN you and the kids do a full blown celebration for him, cake, hats, streamers, etc...the WHOLE 9 yards. Have a friend come over and take pictures and video if you can. Get the pictures developed and put them in a photo album or if you are computer savy, make a CD of pictures for him....

make sure you put a baggie of the party favors in the box with the pictures. For gift ideas, I NEVER sent anything that I would be upset if it didn't make it home. I let the kids pick out presents for their dad and of course there were toys and games....so go with that. Just remember the restrictions that apply with customs for A-stan. SO - water balloons, magnetic dart games, checkers, a deck of cards, rubiks cube or similar pass the time game. I sent these things KNOWING that my husband would enjoy opening them and then likely pass the toys and games onto Iraqi children when he went out on missions.

OF course, you don't HAVE to wait to send the box, you can always celebrate his birthday early and then mail it so he will get it on time.

It is amazing the connection your kids will keep when they are celebrating long distance Birthdays.

Good Luck!
T.

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My husband had his 30th birthday in Afghanistan. I wanted to send him a cake but since that was not really an option, I made a different kind of cake. I made a pan of rice crispie treats but did not cut them up. I took Runts candy (my husband loves them) and spelled out Happy Birthday on the cake. It was actually easier than I thought it would be since you can use the bananas for the rounded letters. Then I took the entire thing out of the pan and wrapped it in saran wrap several times. Then I incased it by taping cardboard pieces together around it.
If you do go this route, try to use a pan that does not have rounded edges (like glass ones do). Square edges make packing a little easier. ALso, make sure you put the "cake" on a flat surface in the box without putting too much heavy stuff on it.
My husband said it still looked like the pictures I took of it prior to packing it up when he got it. Hope that helps.
Betsy

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I once gave a small, cool gift to a guy friend of mine but decided to wrap it up--russian doll style--- in about 10 different boxes lol! I think I wrote a little message on a few of them like "Almost there..." "Bet you thought this was the one for sure!" Etc. He got a kick out of it :)

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How about a calendar of the family?!?!?! and let each child make him a special card.

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You can actually have a birthday cake shipped to him in Afghanistan!!! A friend of mine has shipped cakes to her Husband in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as to family members in the US and overseas. It's a great idea and talk about a nice gift for him to receive over there!!! Here is the website

http://mycreativecakery.com

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My husband really liked it when I brought holidays to him since he couldn't be here with us. I sent him a "birthday" cake (decorated box), made an interactive (kinda, he was supposed to pause the video and unwrap presents and you know birthday stuff) birthday video, sent him regular presents that he had to unwrap. He really enjoyed them.

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N.,
One of my friends said that she would decorate the inside of the box first. She glued different colors of tissue paper to the box and/or added glitter. My kids each get two flaps to write messages or draw pictures. Why not add streamers or fun party favors? I'm sure he and his buddies will appreciate the silliest things like balloons, horns, ring pops, even pin the tail on the donkey. Whatever you decide, you need to send that box out ASAP so he gets it in time! Good luck!

A good friend of ours just celebrated his birthday in Iraq, and his family sent him a crazy birthday box. It had hats, party games, streamers, poppers, just about anything that is meant more for kids than adults in it. They also had a cake shipped to him. He (and the rest of his unit) LOVED that they had the opportunity to mess around for a while, and obviously cards and a few small presents were also inside. She also sent out a plea to friends and family to send him cards only. He got LOTS of cards and said it ended up being one of his best birthdays! Tell your husband thank you from all of us here in the U.S. for sacrificing so much for us. It is very much appreciated.

If you have a little time before your package deadline, you could make a calendar on the computer very inexpensively, using only the months left until he returns home. Put silly photos of the kids and/or yourself on top. List funny things in the calendar. I made one for my husband while in Iraq using CalendarCreator, and the program allowed me to upload stuff like when things were invented...like M&Ms or rubberbands...as well as birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. He could remember to email his sister for her birthday that way, enjoy memories (like the date your child started walking or said his first word), and laugh at the funny stuff too (maybe a time they passed gas loudly in church...ha ha). He'll appreciate being able to see all that stuff, and all the time and effort you put into it, and he may just like it so much he preserves it as a keepsake.
Okay, if you don't have as much time, but do have a little money, you could get him a digital picture frame and upload a TON of photos. It's small enough for him to put in his bag coming home, and the photos keep changing all the time. Each time he's back at the barracks (and awake) he'll see different photos and remember different times. And unlike sending photos via email, he won't have to rely on a super slow connection to boot up his computer and connect to the internet just to look at them. Actually, you can get a decent one for not too much money. I'd just make sure it's durable (not sure if sand-resistant quality exists, tho) and pack it really, really well to avoid damage.
Those are my best quick ideas. Good luck, bride-to-be! =)
p.s. www.cherylandco.com sends packages to APO addresses for free (shipping) and I've used them for packages to Afghanistan and Iraq, so if you're determined to send food (and he'll get two packages instead of one) I'd use them. They even have patriotic tins, and the cookies are outstanding. Enjoy shopping!

Whatever anyone else suggests I would make sure to add a photo album of his family. You can include a letter from the 5 yr old. You can include a small tape recorder with their voice telling their daddy that they miss him. You can include some cookies with icing and 'happy birthday' written on them. Write a love letter from you and spray with your perfume and seal in envelope. maybe a phone card so he can call you...not sure how it works out there.....maybe even send a card around to all his family and friends and have them sign it and mail to him w/ all of those wishes and thanks for his service.

I don't know what kind a cake will take the trip. I think you could make a banana cake or pound, make it big. Triple wrap in tin foil and use bubble wrap. If you could find a big round box that looked like a bday cake to put it in that would be cute. Send a salami, crackers, dried fruit, jars of fruit and nut mix and salted nuts, you can get them at costco. Good luck, and thanks ti your guy and happy bday.

When my husband was in the navy and on a long cruise, I made him a crazy care package that was actually a letter, but with a bunch of items that made up the words in a letter. For example: "I cant wait to see you so I can give you lots of KISSES" and instead of the word being written out, there was a blank, and a bag of Hershey's Kisses to go in the space. I used a big roll of butcher-type paper and wrote out the letter really big, so the spaces would be the size of the items. That way I could send a whole bag of kisses. I used every candy or snack food that I could think of that would fit into the letter somehow. When it was done, it was 2 boxes, and the "letter" had to be rolled out down the length of the birthing. All the guys in his birthing helped figure out the letter, and got to share the goodies. He loved it, and he got lots of goodies that he wanted, needed, or could trade to the other guys.

Happy Birthday to your fiance, I wish your family the best!

I would do a video montage of family/friends telling him Happy Birthday and lots of little presents like the "pass the time" ideas posted earlier. Wrap everything in different paper (from the dollar store) and include silly kid party favors for him to share or give away. If none of his family is close enough for you to video them, maybe try a puppet theatre where each puppet introduces themselves and tells him happy birthday. I bet your 5 year old will love impersonating grandparents, etc.