<p>Is anyone aware of a company that has a pretty good deal currently? I don’t care about pumpkin/Halloween toys, but a good deal on either cookies, brownies, little cakes, fresh fruit, groceries that can be sent, and so on. Thanks.</p>
<p>sevmom has ideas - good buy of the day thread.</p>
<p>Here’s the one mentioned most recently on the other thread:</p>
<p>[Popcorn</a>, Gifts - ThePopcornFactory](<a href=“http://www.thepopcornfactory.com/]Popcorn”>http://www.thepopcornfactory.com/)</p>
<p>Click the October National Popcorn month link…</p>
<p>Just sent d3 the Student Care Package from Stew Leonard’s at stewleonarddotcom. The best care package I’ve ever sent (she specifically requested it after getting one last year) - delicious granola, chips and salsa, other sweet and salty treats, even a couple of cans of Red Bull. It cost $50 plus $10 shipping.</p>
<p>frazzled, I was just on their website! I thought it was a bit steep and was sort of bargain shopping, but now I will rethink that. Do you know the name of that package?</p>
<p>I was on that popcorn website (mentioned above). They are also offering about 1/2 off huge tubs of popcorn if you are willing to let them choose the what the tin says. That could work for my son, as he would not care if it says Happy Birthday, etc. as long as the popcorn is fresh (they assure that it will be fresh).</p>
<p>Think it’s the Student Care Package - it should pop right up on the Gifts section of the site. My d talked about the granola all year. $60 is pricey (though you’d probably be looking at at least half that if you made stuff yourself and shipped it in a timely manner :)). It’s a 9 pound package (probably because of the Red Bull), which makes it cheap per ounce, anyway!</p>
<p>Thanks frazzled. I shipped some “liquids” through alice dot com (because they have free shipping) for that very reason! At that time they also offered 20% to me.</p>
<p>frazzled, thank you. I think that what I am going to do is make my own car package this time. I think that it will cost less and I don’t want to send my kid Red Bull (which he is probably consuming anyway).</p>
<p>Good ideas. I like the etsy website where they have so many handmade sweets and treats that you can have shipped directly.</p>
<p>I’m getting ready to ship a small cooler filled with frozen, homemade, beef empanadas (son’s fav) packed in dry ice. Never shipped food in dry ice before- has anyone had any experience with that?</p>
<p>Have never personally shipped anything with dry ice but have received many things over the years from Omaha Steaks. They use dry ice and it seems to work well in keeping things frozen until delivery. Those empanadas sound great. I’ll have to look at that Etsy site. Thanks. Am not aware of that. I mentioned the Utz site on the Good Buy of the day thread as well as Popcorn Factory(free popcorn) and Cheryl’s Cookies(free cookies)-just pay shipping. Hope we keep the suggestions coming. It’s always nice to get a surprise treat!</p>
<p>My Ds love to get goodies from Alice dot com. They love to get rice krispie bars, gum, toosie rolls, lollipops, poptarts, etc. The older D, who has graduated, likes when I send laundry detergent, shampoo and hair products or anything she doesn’t have to buy from her starting salary! ;)</p>
<p>sevmom, they have empanadas on etsy, but the ones I’m sending my son are my own that I made yesterday. They have all kinds of food on etsy, like some of the most adorable cookies I have ever seen.</p>
<p>Hi, FLAmama, I did notice that you said the empanadas were homemade. That is extra special for your son to get something that he likes that you made! The etsy site does have some really tasty looking treats-french nougats, chocolates, fudge, cookies, lollipops,etc. I will have to keep that site in mind for some gifts potentially at Christmas. Thanks!</p>
<p>North Minnesota, does Alice dot com send out occasional promotional discounts, and if so, what type of discount?</p>
<p>They have coupons on the site offered by the manufacturers and always free shipping. The coupons change all the time.</p>
<p>I asked because they sent a discount offer to my kid with the order that I sent to him. I found this out through an email reminder about this discount. I called them explaining all of this, and they did offer a small discount offer (it was not much). Thanks though. You might want to check with your kids to see if they are getting discount codes with their shipments!</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestions. For this package I decided to buy and send my own mix of things. I went to a discounted gourmet candy and nut shop near my home and spent about $15 there (chocolate lentils, chocolate covered pretzels, hard candy assortment, mini chocolate bars, candy coated pecans). I added some things that I had in the house to that (popcorn-unpopped, crackers he likes, breakfast bars). I jammed the box full (I did not send in a pre-paid box because I found that weighing and paying the postage can be cheaper). Total cost was $25 (shipping was $10 for the 5 day delivery and there was no reason to pay extra for quicker delivery). I would say that I if I count what I had on hand from Costco, it cost closer to $35 for everything.</p>
<p>northeastmom makes a good point for us frugal ones - it makes sense to check the rate charts for Priority Mail and Parcel Post for different weight packages to see if using a flat rate box is a good deal for you or not. For me, mailing to zones 5 or 6 for my 2 kids, it usually is a good deal (especially when sending perishable home-made goodies). But if you’re sending something fairly light, and/or not too far away, or pre-packaged food, you may be better off using your own box.
For me, the break-even point for zone 5 for Priority Mail is 3 lbs or more for the medium-sized flat rate box, 5 lbs or more for the large size. If I don’t mind the 5-days or so for Parcel Post (sometimes it gets there faster), the cut-off points are 5 lbs for medium, but <em>14</em> lbs for the large size. It would be hard to cram 14+ pounds of food, clothes or little gift-y things into one of those boxes.
Parcel Post is a REALLY good deal for heavier packages, when you don’t need the 2- or 3-day service.</p>
<p>One kid’s school sends out brochures for different care packages for finals-time. To me, they seem really overpriced (and they don’t include homemade cookies, or homemade banana bread, or lemon-blueberry bundt cake, or…). I prefer the do-it-yourself approach. YMMV.</p>