As many of you know, Princess Four is serving as a Missionary in Japan! She has been out for coming up on a year in the next few weeks.
With the holidays coming, I want to send her a package. When we got her packet before she left, it made all sorts of comments about NOT sending packages and how it cost more for them to get them out of customs than it was to purchase new stuff in the country etc.
I called one of the moms who had her daughter in the same place and she said she had no problem sending packages so I went ahead and sent her a Bluetooth keyboard for her ipad. She got it no problem.
A month or two back, she wanted some sunflower seeds and some hot Cheetos along with some other items, so I sent those and she got the package within two weeks or so. I got a video of her opening the package and was happy with how quickly she received the package.
I started gathering items I wanted to send a few months back trying to get things from each holiday. I went to the dollar store and purchased some Halloween items and then gathered the ones I had already purchased to send.
It made me laugh that most of the items were made in China, Japan, and Taiwan for the dollar store but we are the only country that celebrates Halloween and they are making all our decorations. It just seemed funny that they can't buy them in Asia even though they are made there and then I am sending them back at $70 a box. I bought lots of "eye" items they would be able to wear as a "costume" to share our holiday there. However, I wanted to share how I save funds doing this and some other tips we have learned over the years.
Don't send prescription items to Asia. There was one missionary mom who thought she would be smart and sewed them into a stuffed animal and the son was arrested for drug smuggling. They can't get even over the counter medications there without a prescription so DON'T sent them. 
If you are sending something expensive like shoes, send two packages a few days or a week apart and put one shoe in each package. My brothers never got things we sent until we split them up. If you want to give them a gift but they will have to send it home, don't send the gift. Send a picture of the gift! I sent her about five pictures of items I purchased for her for Christmas so she can have the excitement of opening a gift, the excitement of the gift but will have to wait until getting home to touch the gift. 
Send things they can leave behind. I sent things that she can "gift" to others or leave for another missionary. Most of the Christmas decorations, I look for at second hand stores or clearance after Christmas sales and purchase ahead of time knowing that the holiday will be coming or they will be on their mission for two Christmases, I bought stuff after the holiday last Christmas for this holiday. Tiny ornaments for the little tree. Funny hats for them to wear. Small games they can play with teens and kids, balloon animals, or origami paper and books etc. 
If you send it early enough, you can send it by sea but it isn't that much cheaper anymore so I just do airmail knowing that it will be anywhere from $40 to $80 depending on weight as the flat rate packages have gone up and down on weight and cost over the past few years. Also, if they go by sea, customs may be more of an issue. 
Send it early. Don't send liquids. Don't send any medications. Don't send anything of value or that is unreplaceable. Open the bags of treats and get the air out of them to make them smaller. Put any chocolate or things that may get smashed or broken that are edible into zip baggies in case it melts or the hard candy gets smashed and you have sticky messes in the humidity. I put all candy or food in zip bags. Roll any clothes into small rolls as they won't wrinkle and take up less space. Squeeze any airy items out and put in a zip bag to take up less space.
Before closing your box, write down everything on a scrap paper as you pack the box so when you fill out the customs form, you can easily recall what is in the box as that can cause problems if you don't mention an item they see on x-rays like the prescription bottles in the stuffed animals I mentioned earlier. 
Don't send plastic / toy guns to any country. We had friends that were arrested while missionaries due to the family sending air soft / water guns to their missionary in Europe and someone thought they were real and that the missionaries were spies. So, never send things that could look like weapons. Feel free to ask any questions. We sent Halloween costumes, candy and decorations. We sent Thanksgiving decorations and I had all the girls and myself write "What we give thanks for about Princess Four" letters for her to open on Thanksgiving. We sent Christmas decorations for her to put up on Thanksgiving and then I sent a package to open on Christmas Eve and then a stocking and gifts for Christmas day. If they have a companion that is not American, it may be nice to send gifts for the companion as well as I did with the Halloween stuff as I know her companion won't be getting a package for the American holidays.
Like I shared, I sent pictures of anything that was expensive and the rest was stuff that we could handle loosing if it was stolen, damaged, or lost in the mail. I hope you have a BLESSED Day!
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