With all the holidays coming one month after the other, it can seem like there are too many times for treats and gifts. Especially if you’re trying to follow a healthy diet or make less of an environmental impact, celebrating holidays can get difficult!
Are you getting ready for Valentine’s day? or Purim? Want to gift your sweetheart, your children, friends or family with something to celebrate love and friendship? Try putting together a healthy care package.
All the details on how to put together a care package, and some options you can buy, below!
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What is a Healthy Care Package?
I would say, any care package you put together can be healthy! A fruit basket can be a type of care package. A gift bag with small gifts or snacks can be a care package.
Anything you put some positive feeling into works! You are showing you care! In this case intention is king and your thoughtful energy is a gift unto itself.
Today I’ll show you how we put together our healthy care packages for kids, and also give you some store bought options if you prefer to go that route.
Why Gift a Care Package?
One thing we try to avoid with our children is mindless consumerism. We try not to constantly buy them things (and they seem perfectly fine with it)! The precedent we have set from the very beginning is that they get gifts (from us) on birthdays and holidays.
That said, I enjoy making holidays special for them. It’s nice to make special meals or decorations and put together care packages for them.
So today I’ll break down things you can include in a healthy care package, be it snacks or gifts, to make your next holiday with kids special!
How to Put Together Your Care Package
- Gather the contents for your package (snacks, food, gift ideas below).
- Get a container like a shoe box you can decorate, a basket, or my favorite simple container: a gift bag!
- Put together your care packages.
- Make a homemade card or write a note to go along with it!
For Valentines Day
For Valentine’s Day we like to make home made cards! This can be as easy as setting out construction paper and finger paint for a baby, stickers for a toddler, or scissors and glue for preschoolers and older!
In the past, our kids have made valentines to celebrate “Love and Kindness Day” at school. Previously, when we lived in Mexico, we celebrated “Dia de Amor y Amistad” (Day of love and friendship). I love these iterations of Valentine’s Day because they are more inclusive!
Even before I was celebrating Valentines Day with kids, I would also usually make us a baked treat! So I still do that because who doesn’t like chocolate?
For Purim
Purim is the ultimate holiday for putting together a care package! For anyone that is not familiar: it is called a mishloach manot meaning “sending portions”. Or as they would say in Brooklyn – shalach manos.
It is a mitzvah to give Purim baskets to friends and neighbors to make sure that everyone has a means to celebrate the holiday. (Also gifts to the poor!) Depending on the year, we have made gift bags or baskets for friends, teachers, classmates, or siblings.
Traditionally, we include hamentaschen in our mishloach manot, wine for the adults, and of course get dressed up to celebrate Purim.
Healthy Food Care Packages
I always include food in care packages. Food is love! So here are some options. I will definitely be getting some of these for my own kids this year (will update the post after the holidays).
- Healthy Trail Mix bags or this pink one!
- Larabars Cherry Pie flavor is pink/purple color!
- Thunderbirds bars (Super yummy, a bit expensive)
- Bearded Brothers bar (Blueberry is my fave, again a bit expensive)
- Meat sticks: Beef Jerky, Chomps Turkey Stick
- Seaweed snacks
- Chocolate: Heavenly Organics, Honey Mama’s, Trader Joe’s Honey Mints (but get them at TJ)
- Moon cheese snack– (I got these to try; update-we were so-so on them)
- Beet chips (So good!)
P.S. I decided that since we were staying in this year, we would have a little tasting game and the kids could rate the new snacks I got! They absolutely loved this activity!
Non Food Items to Include in a Care Package
Care packages for kids can be super inexpensive. If you’re looking to put together a cheap care package here are some ideas of things to include:
- A small toy from the dollar store or bullseye playground at Target.
- A book! (Always books in this house!)
- Writing utensils: pencils, pens, erasers, crayons (all can be bought for cents).
- Stickers for kids or a fun decal for a college care package
- Things that are useful yet fun to get: socks, hair bows, etc.
- Magazines!
This year we gave our 4 year old High Five Magazine, our 7 year old got Highlights Magazine, and our 9 year old got National Geographic kids. This was a huge success!
Ideas for Care Packages (you can buy)
Perhaps you’re short on time this year, or you don’t have the energy to put together your own homemade care package, then hitting the shops is for you. Here are a few options that look pretty good!
*Unless noted, I do not have personal experience with these.* They are all highly rated options I found and would consider buying myself. No shady ingredients!
Healthy Food Baskets
- Bella Orchards Organic Gift Crate
- Organic Fruit Gift Basket from Harry and David
- Simply Organic Fruit Basket from the Fruit Company
- Organic Cheese Gift Box from Wisconsin Made
Healthy Snack Package
If you’re looking for snack care packages it is a little simpler shipping wise as snacks are non perishable. These are all snack gift boxes that are not subscriptions, so you can buy just one box. That said, I have not vetted every ingredient of every snack.
- Paleo Snack Box by the Good Grocer
- Vegan Snack Favorites by Vegancuts
- Whole30 Approved Snack Box by Barefoot Provisions
- Paleo Snack Box by BunnyJames
Amazon Care Package
Ok, I know how it goes. You forgot. You have an emergency. You need a gift basket within a day or two and you can’t go out shopping. That’s where Amazon comes in.
Do you like to make care packages, gift baskets or little gift bags to celebrate holidays? What do you like to include in yours?
