OSOT - Operation Support Our Troops

These are a few ideas that we did last year for our holiday boxes. I know how creative you all are, so please share some of your own special ideas that we can all use to make our boxes, fun, full of smiles and full of love for our troops this year. If you have ideas to share, please send them to support-our-troops@west-point.org or support-our-troops-owner@west-point.org. MK

Postal Service lists deadlines for holiday mail to Middle East.

Parcel post addressed to military APO and FPO addresses worldwide should be sent by November 13
First-class letters and priority mail to APO and FPO addresses with Zip codes beginning with "093" should be sent by December 6. The deadline for other military zip codes is December 11.

It was our experience last year that the postal service did a superhuman job of ensuring that all packages reached their destination ~ our troops ~ in time for the holidays ~ even those mailed a tad late.

HINTS FOR HOLIDAY BOXES

(1) Instead of Styrofoam peanuts, use wrapped hard candy for packing material.

(2) Holiday Cookie Kits: Although we cannot send home baked goods to troops, we recognize that having decorated holiday cookies is an important part of our holiday traditions, and so we decided to send the "fixins" and let the troops do the decorating. Simply buy a package of sugar or oatmeal cookies, a can of frosting and some colored sugars and sprinkles, add a few small paper plates, seasonal napkins and plastic knives so a group of troops can have a "cookie decorating party". Put everything in a large freezer weight plastic bag, decorate the bag with a few holiday stickers and a piece of ribbon and include in your holiday box. The troops will love it!

(3) Tree Decorating Kit: Buy some ornaments (not glass), some garland, make a star out of cardboard and tinfoil, a string of tiny lights, a CD of holiday music, some tinsel, some "snow" and cotton batton and anything else you might find to decorate their room or their office. Try to get a little 18"- 24" tree, so that they can have their personal tree. Last year, I found everything in the dollar store, including the trees. I also added a Santa hat and a stocking that I filled with toiletries and silly little gifts.

(4) Advent Calendar: Pop a commercial advent calendar in the mail.. gives the troop something to open to "Count down the days", or better yet, send 24 tiny gifts all wrapped with a number on each one so each day your troop opens something. A pack of gum, a bag of peanuts, a pen, some stationery or notecards, a deck of cards, a cigar, a bottle of bath gel. Let your imagination run wild. Let your kids help. Let them draw a picture or make a homemade ornament. The choices are endless, but know that each day, your soldier will open up his gift and know that someone was thinking of him or her.

(5) Help the Platoon Leader Play Santa: A great idea that one of our members suggested is sending enough small gifts for a platoon leader to give out to his troops on Christmas. Since the sender has no idea who the troops are, they labeled each gift with a different description to be voted on at the time of the distribution of gifts, For example, "Biggest blue eyes" "Whitest teeth", "Tallest troop" "fastest runner", etc.. Can't you hear the laughter and the inside jokes as the platoon makes their choice for each gift?
(6) Silly Stuff and Memory Makers: I found some reindeer antlers at the dollar store that lit up and played Jingle Bells. I laughed just thinking about a troop with them on his head. As a member noted: It does pay to go a little crazy in the boxes One solider wore his to PT one morning and said that the extra push ups he had to do were worth it because of the smiles he got.

Also, don't forget the disposable camera in each box because the pictures they take years from now will be priceless memories of a time they will never forget.

(7) CAMO Stocking: A dear friend made me a stocking out of CAMO fabric. He added a fur cuff around the top and then instead of putting my name on the fur cuff, he had a actual military fabric name tag made and sewed that across the front. The name strips could get expensive, but if you wanted to do this, you could use a nametag kit that you find in a fabric shop, (the kind for marking kid's clothes for camp) a sharpie and instead of their name, you could write a message (HAVE A HOOAH CHRISTMAS! etc.) and then iron it to the front of the stocking.

(8) Homemade Ornaments: If you make homemade ornaments, make some out of construction paper and put pictures of you and your family, including the pets, on each one, so the soldier has a visual of the people who sent him the box.

(9) Comic Books: It may sound silly, but … trust me, they are truly appreciated ~ and everyone needs a break from reality ~ especially in those conditions