<p>DS’s birthday is next week. I have used both Cheryl’s cookies and dancing bear bakery to send my kids treats and they have had good reviews. Other options are to use campus catering ($30 for cake for 10) or bake one myself and express mail it. Suggestions, recommendations, or experiences? Thanks!</p>
<p>I sent S a chocolate cake (serves 4 to 8, depending) from Costco that came to $22, I think, including shipping. It includes plates and candles.</p>
<p>It just arrived - haven’t heard how it is, but the online reviews were mostly very good.</p>
<p>My kids liked rice krispie treats and brownies. I would package those up along with candles, party hats, decorations, and birthday napkins. Then I’d stick money in it for a pizza…boxed party!!</p>
<p>I used cupcakes for last b/d. I ORDERED MINE FROM A STORE IN sOMERVILLE, Ma. (sorry for caps. kickasscupcakes.com
They had regular size and mini’s.</p>
<p>Lefthandof dog,how are you?</p>
<p>I’ll second the cupcake suggestion. Most towns - even smaller ones - have cupcake shops/businesses these days and many will deliver. When I sent cupcakes I googled her city + cupcakes and free delivery - it was a HUGE success!</p>
<p>I had cupcakes sent to D from a great local place (some for her, then a bunch of minis for sharing.) The wrinkle was that her dorm will not accept deliveries for students, so it couldn’t be a surprise. I had to schedule the delivery for a time I knew she could get a call from the delivery person and go down and get the package.</p>
<p>My sophomore year in college, my mom baked my favorite scratch cake (it had pineapple in it) in a 9x13 pan and mailed it to me, along with a tub of frosting, so I could frost it myself. It’s always fun to get a package from home. See if you can fit in a flat rate box.</p>
<p>A college friend’s mom used to send her homemade baklava every few months. I can still taste is 30+ years later. </p>
<p>If you do have something delivered to her dorm, can you arrange with his roommate or another person to accept delivery for the surprise element? (send them a FB message - best way to contact a college kid. I don’t think they will find it creepy, probably cute.)</p>
<p>Maybe there’s a local-to-your-son’s-school bakery that does deliveries? A former coworker’s parents order a (huge! delicious!) layer cake for his birthday every year, and have it delivered to his office so he can share it with others. One of our biggest regrets when he moved to another job was that we weren’t going to get that cake any more. :D</p>
<p>I do a lot of priority 2-day shipping of home-baked care packages. Cookies, no problem. Un-iced whole cakes, no problem. Anything involving icing or refrigeration (e.g. cheesecake), too much bother. </p>
<p>D1 would second bookworm’s review of kickasscupcakes (running it into one word to avoid censoring 
). Thanks, bookworm–that’s a good care package option to keep in my mental rolodex!</p>
<p>Aw, bookworm, I’m fine, thanks for asking. How’re you?</p>
<p>Once I baked cupcakes and sent them to D1 at college with a couple cans of frosting, sprinkles, and plastic knives for spreading. She loved that.</p>
<p>My college gave a free birthday cake to each student. Bummer for me, since I had a summer birthday!</p>
<p>Last year, I ordered cupcakes from a bakery near campus. They delivered for a fee. The day of delivery, the woman called me all panicked because she had to find parking and walk to the dorms with her two young kids. I guess she had never done that before.</p>
<p>So, if I do this again, I might have to have S meet the delivery person in the reception area.</p>
<p>lilmom, I considered doing this for my D. Her college has a gatehouse or some such, and the bakery I spoke with said they drop off there. At our local big U, it could be a long march up and down hills to a dorm from a parking lot. </p>
<p>I had Amazon Prime during BD season for my S and Ds this year. Amazon has a variety of mailable cakes. I sent a key lime rum flavored pound cake, and battery operated candles.</p>
<p>A few times I made a jelly roll cake, pumpkin with a cream cheese filling. Rolled, in saran wrap and then foil, with the frosting/filling rolled inside, it packed and mailed quite well.</p>
<p>For Costco order: is this available online? I looked on the costco website and didn’t see anything.</p>
<p>I’ll have to check out amazon!</p>
<p>Interesting ideas! I really hadn’t thought yet about what I might do for DS birthday in a few weeks.</p>
<p>Fairytale brownies are excellent. Each one individually vacuum packed. My s prefers brownies to cake …can also be eaten over days.</p>
<p>The Costco cake is Dancing Deer espresso cake, Item no. 410250. If you look for gift baskets, then by occasion (birthday) you should be able to find it.</p>