My son and his sweet wife have just left to teach English at a Chinese University for a year and I would like to send them a care package. Any ideas on what things to include that they might enjoy and would be hard to find there?
My brother and SIL and their two boys just moved to China and they'll be there for a year. What have you found the best/cheapest way to send pkgs to China?
I have friends that teach in Yancheng and the list of things is long lol. Coffee, hair color, deoderant, vanilla extract, cinnemon, peanutbutter...the list goes on and on. Staying in touch is not hard, we do with Skype. Wait till they are settled in and they can tell you what they can't find or have run out of. Some cities in China have internationl stores, some have Walmarts. Your son and wife will have to go and see what's there. Good luck and from what I seen from my friends they are having a real good time there and the money is not bad either.
EDIT: I just asked my friend what else she can't find and I will tell ya what she said. So hang on it may be day or so before I get her back.
Make sure that you cover the bill if they get charged customs for the package.
Dawn
I would send them anything that reminds them of home. If you send food, make sure that you remove any air from the packaging or it will explode because of the air pressure in the cargo area. Just to be on the safe side. Do include a list of what you are packing. We were missionaries in that area and authorities go through the packages and will remove anything they would like (for themselves). China may not be as bad but they do go through everything. So don't send electronic items since they may not make it to your son. On your itemized list include every little thing. They are more likely not to take anything out if it is on a list. Make sure you don't include anything that could be illegal in their country, check the internet to find out what those items could be.
Hope this helps...Good luck and God Bless.
Hi! I'm in Shenzhen now. We have a few good international stores and I can find so much more "American" food than I could in South Africa. One thing that is difficult to find, as someone mentioned is deodorant. Tampons and good panty liners are few and far between (and $13 a box!).
If either of them are bigger than an American medium, shirts and pants are a must!
ETA: Fingernail polish, if applicable. On that note however, remover is also rare and you can't send that...
My sister's friends had their young daughter (age 10) go to China.
We sent her everything.
Be aware: everythign took about 3 weeks to get to her & they go through
everything.
We sent her all kinds of fun things.
What she really wanted was American chocolate.
We sent her an organizer, candy, cookies from here etc.
Anything she wanted.
We sent letters AND emailed.
Emails are censored but everything went through just fine.
It was great.
She was there for awhile so she had a great experience and we had fun sending care packages.
We sent stickers, photos and a neck blow-up thing for the plane ride home (it's long).
Pasta and sauce, chocoloate chip cookies
Anything that won't go bad. You can send them candies and canned foods. Do they like Rotel dip? My husband is overseas and I just sent him tortilla chips, velveeta, and rotel tomatoes. What about calling cards... unless they have a plan in place already. Cooking spray and brownie mix is nice.
Ask them! They'll know what they need from the States. Eventually they'll know what they would love to have that would remind them of home. They also may know if there is anything *not* to send; some countries will not accept certain items. If they don't know about that, stop by your Post Office and ask.
This is the procedure I followed when my son was stationed in Iraq... all three times.
If you can send items in an international flat-rate box, if there is one (!), it might not cost you an arm and a leg - or at least not so much of them.
My daughter teaches in Seoul... she is on her fifth year there! She teaches 2nd grade at a private International School.
She can get just about anything there except clothes that fit her.. she is 5'7" and about 200 lbs, with size 11 (women's) shoe..... they don't MAKE those sizes over there! (She goes into a store, and they grin, cover their mouth, and say... "Ohh... no Biggee Size here!")
As far as food/goodies, they have Costco there, and Lotte Mart and E-Mart (both very similar to Walmart). She can get just about anything there.....
Some of the things I have sent include the instant Apple Cider hot drink mix, occasional candies, stuff like that.
I would suggest checking to see what the shipping costs are going to be... I have found that if I keep it under 4 lbs, it can go First Class, but anything over 4 lbs has to go priority mail, and that gets MUCH more expensive...... I weigh the package on a digital kitchen scale as I pack it to see how much I can put in.
