Turkey Pops & Thanksgiving Decorations

These were super simple and a big hit when I passed them out 

the week before thanksgiving.

Materials:

Brown paper bags (cut into 4x4ish squares)

Rubberbands (hold in neck)

Fake leaf decorations (bought 1 bag at the dollar store)

Carmel Kisses (specialty item in November)

Google Eye

Red Paper

Glue Gun

A few hours (depending on how many you make)

The house is decorated and I am ready for my favorite time of year!

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Military Boxes--September & October

Halloween Box 

OCTOBER

Included:

Halloween Blanket

Scary Movie

Few Decorations for the Office

Bags of candy, chips, chocolate to handout to friends/coworkers

Military Boxes--June/July/August

JUNE

Baseball Box

Included:

Baseball Pillow (found at Salvation Army & Washed)

Padres Apparel (TJMaxx or Ross)

Basball Themed Items (Dollar Store)

Baseball Treats (peanuts, candy) in bags to pass out

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JUNE #2

Relax Box

Things to unwind with.  The first 6 months were spent in afghanistan and he was always exhausted and worn out.  Slippers, new socks, movies, coffee mix and container, book and back massager.

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JULY

"VEGAS" Box

My mom had this cards themed blanket...so I ran with the idea.

Included:

I found casino napkins and cut them up to decorate.

Texas Holdem Handheld Game

Cards and Poker Chips

Funny Poker Hats

Card Game Books

Movie--21

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JULY #2 

Replenish Box

More socks, shirts and underwear (we pre-bought) and more of the food items he loves (so boring for me, but what he always requests).  Also he needed foot powder in the summer...130 degree heat and lots of sweat in the big boots.  

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AUGUST

Soccer Box

My boyfriend loves soccer!  So I would pick up soccer themed items and shoved them all into a manila envelope.  That is way cheaper to send if you don't have lots of heavy items!

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AUGUST #2

Mind Games

Pulling out all the mind teasers and time wasters.  I dug out a bunch from the box of random things I had been collecting.  A few dollar store runs, garage sale Saturdays and scouring every clearance section helped me to find enough to make a box out of these items.  

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Military Boxes--Apirl/May

MAY

Anniversary Box

Found this heart and sound box at Build a Bear.  Easy to record a message and send my voice.

Also saw this somewhere...you fill each one with some special and then they have something to open every day for a week.  it was hard to find meaningful things that would fit and this was the xlarge pill box.  Maybe choose a smaller size and just add notes in each one.

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MAY #2

Superhero Box

Bought a cheap picture frame and used old memory game pieces to glue all around.  Then I photoshoped a superman logo on a photo of him the day he deployed.  it turned out so cute.

Next to the fram is a CD case.  He left with a big case (to hold 100 DVDs) and we decided to open and put CDs into dollar store cases to save space in the boxes.  He then moves them over to the big one and will be able to bring them all home.  

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APRIL 

San Diego Sun Box

We live in San Diego right now...so I went to the tourist shops and picked up a map, postcards, a shirt and some other fun tourist things.  Then I rounded out the box with sea themed items.  I even found margarita flavored packets (no alcohol is allowed) and a plastic margarita cup.  

The bags in the second picture have chips and candy to pass out.  

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APRIL #2

Easter Box

Lots of pastel colors, an easter basket, eggs and little goodies.  

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Military Boxes--Jeffie Doll

I realize deployment is different for everyone.  Many times those left behind have support systems on base or friends who understand from experience what they are going through. 

This was not the case for me.  My boyfriend lived on base, but worked in a small office with much older staff.  We met through dancing classes and have a great group of friends outside of base (not military affiliated), so there is no one I know who has someone else on deployment to share stories with.  

I have watched many of the "military" related shows while he has been gone, because it feels like the characters understand better what it's like.

The first few months were really hard, with limited communication and a sense of loneliness.  I stumbled across this website that makes military themed dolls https://www.daddydolls.com/.  I ordered one of my boyfriend and started taking it everywhere I went.  I would capture images and then put books together about what "we" were doing.  This let him be at every big event (birthdays, trips, holidays) and still feel a part of it.  He would comment how nice it was to know he was not being forgotten.  I have gotten so many stares when I pull him out, but does it really matter?

For our anniversary in March, I made one of myself and sent it over.  That way I will be with him for all of the big events (birthdays, trips, holidays) and he won't be alone celebrating.  

May not be for everyone, but it has helped us to feel connected!

From the color run my family did (so he didn't get dirty).

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Military Boxes--March

Before He Left Letters

I wrote notes for every week all year (it took forever!).  Not knowing what communication would be like, I figured this would give him a sense of home no matter what happened.  I send them in his bag before he left, so he has been opening one every week.  I also included special ones for holidays/birthday.  

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Before He Left Box

I didn't take photos of this, 

but we bought the following and shipped it before he left:

Toiletries he loves in large bottles

Mattress Pad (think college status)

Comfy Sheets (dark colors)

Extra blanket (fleece type)

Good Pillow

 It arrived about a week after he got there and he says this was the best box he ever got.  It makes it so much more comfortable to be there for a long time.  

After the arrived he asked for the following:

Serge Protector

Small lamp with clip for bed

Alarm Clock that runs on Batteries

FootLocker to store things in

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The Start of Boxes

Once we knew he was really leaving, I started grabbing ideas for boxes when I could find things cheap.  I kept them in a big bag under my bed and then the first week he left popped up all the boxes and started sorting.  It was a good start to the themed boxes and left plenty of space for perishables I would buy to add in every month (food requests and such).

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March #1 & #2

St. Patricks Day and Castle Themed

I wish I had kept better record of what I added in these.  

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I am so thrilled to be starting a blog about all my creative adventures.  Thanks for joining me!  It's been a long time in the coming and I am ready for it.