Friday, January 11, 2013

Care Package #2: Happy Birthday!!

Unfortunately Daniel and I aren't able to spend his birthday together this year. But I still wanted to make his day as special as possible, even if I am 3,000 miles away.

I started out with a US Postal Service large flat rate priority box.  These boxes cost around $15 to ship and you can make them as heavy as you want.  I always decorate my boxes with supplies from Dollar Tree or with things I can find around the house.  I started out decorating the inside and flaps of the box with wrapping paper.  I used a Cricut machine to cut out "Happy Birthday", "Missing You", and "Twenty-three" with construction paper.  The goal of my decorations is to make them as cute and cheap as possible.


I also attached a picture of us from his 21st birthday. I added the party hats :]

I wanted Daniel to be able to have birthday cake on his birthday so I decided to make him "cake in a jar".  After looking at dozens of recipes I decided to make these Paula Deen red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (find the recipe here).  After baking the cupcakes I cut the tops off and layered the cakes with the frosting in mason jars.  I used two jars; one I filled to the top with cake and the other I filled half way and squished 23 candles on top.  I used scrap fabric to cover the lids and tied a ribbon around the top.  I love the way they turned out!
Along with the cake, here is what I put in his birthday care package...

 single serve tuna packets
poptarts
microwaveable soup
nutella
pretzels (to dip in the nutella)
pretzel M&Ms
single shots of Jack Daniel's and Captain Morgan (it is his birthday after all)
red velvet cake in a jar
presents from me
cards from his family
random letters I write to him

After I squished everything into the box and stuffed it to the top with tissue paper (to prevent things from rolling around while being shipped) I popped a pack of party poppers to make the box SCREAM happy birthday (if it didn't already).  I hope he has a great birthday and enjoys the package!

6 comments:

  1. SO SWEET!! I might be crying but I blame the baby hormones haha ;) Love you!

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  2. That is beyond adorable ♥ but im wondering if The m&ms didn't melt?

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  3. I work with a volunteer group that sends boxes all the time to those deployed...M & M's are the only "safe" chocolate they recommend...after all, "melts in your mouth, not in your hand"! ;)

    A sailor Mom

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  4. Thank you so much for posting this! I wondered how I could make my son's 20th birthday feel like a birthday and this was just the ticket. I simply love the decorated box and party poppers. I feel so much better now!

    Marine Mom

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  5. How was the cake when he received it? Was it still ok to eat? I'm just afraid it will mold?

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  6. That's an awesome care package! Do you know if the cake held up pretty well in the jar like that? That's a very creative idea ! I'll have to look at doing something like that for my son's next birthday. Thanks for sharing your ideas with us! http://magnoliadreams.com/individual-item-page.php?pid=24

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