Showing posts with label care package. Show all posts
Showing posts with label care package. Show all posts

Monday, November 3, 2014

Care Package for The Family Caregiver

Thank you for all your kind words on my last post about what was going on in our family. We really really appreciate them and are thankful for you Friends. ^__^

I would like to dedicate this post to all caregivers in the world. My definition of caregiver here is someone who is taking care of a sick person or child, whether at home or in the hospital. Thank you for your kindness and dedication.

I'm preparing a care package for a wonderful youngwoman whom I know will spend a long time taking care of her sister who has a serious illness. I will not elaborate about the illness, but let me say that this woman is a kind and generous soul, she is a single woman who works full time outside the home to provide for herself, her sick sister, her sister's baby AND her ailing mother. Her father and her sister's husband are no longer around, so you can imagine how this young woman struggle to stay afloat and keep her family together, financially, physically and emotionally.

I personally don't know this amazing young lady, I heard about her from a friend, but I really admire her courage, love and dedication to welcome her mother, her sister, and her baby nephew into her care. Things must be really hard for her. If you know someone who is in similar situation, I encourage you to send your own care package. Trust me, it will also make yourself feel good. And care packages are so much fun to prepare! This family lives out of town, so I packaged everything and send them over through the post office.

Grocery store gift card

I bought a giftcard for her to shop at a well-known national grocery store chain, which she could use to buy anything that she or her family might need. Considering that they also have a baby in the house, and the mother cannot give her son breastmilk nor taking care of her own child, this family will spend a lot for disposable diapers and formula, which do not come cheap.  I sent her grocery store gift card before, and it was very much appreciated. You can do the same with giftcard from national chain like Walmart, Target, or online merchant like Amazon. We don't have it in Indonesia, but if you live in the US, and the recipient drives a car, a gift card to buy gas, I'm sure, is also a thoughtful gift.

Emergency hospital bag (for the caregiver)

Have you noticed that when a loved sick one needs to be taken to the hospital, most of the time the caregiver will remember to pack for the patient but often forget to pack her own neccessities? I got her a nice collapsible bag - it's not even new, it was mine and still in mint condition - and threw in all kinds of small neccessities that she might need for an emergency hospital stayover.
Travel sized toiletries, toothbrush kit, hand sanitizer, packs of tissues and wet wipes, body lotion, lip balm, small-sized towel, a nail clipper, a notebook and a pen, a pair of house slippers, a cotton nightgown to sleep in, a strip of vitamin C, two cans of bear brand milk (it's a famous brand of milk here that has been advised to consume to maintain stamina or during recovery period after illness), several packs of energy bars in different flavors, a bottled water, several satchets of instant breakfast oatmeal, tea, coffee and cocoa.
If she ever finds herself in a situation where she needs to rush her sister to the hospital, she doesn't need to think of what to bring for herself. She just needs to concentrate on what her sister might need, grab this bag, and off. Her sister might be able to use some of the bag's content, as well.



A book

Not everyone likes to read like I do, but I think this young lady will enjoy this book I got her to encourage her and lift her spirit. I found it in a used book store. Again, you don't need to spend tons of money for the care package. Just make sure that everything is still in good condition, and will be beneficial for the recipient in one way or another.


A beautiful agenda

This young lady works full time outside the home to support her family, so she would definitely need an agenda. But even if she stays at home, she can use the agenda for journaling or writing to-do-list. Afterall, every woman loves having something pretty like this, even if she will only keep it and not actually use it!



A jar of Nutella

Chocolate is believed to be a stress reliever. Not everyone loves chocolate, but I never met anyone who doesn't like Nutella. Here in Indonesia, Nutella is considered an expensive brand of spread, so it might not be in her family's grocery list. Sending her a jar means that she can indulge in this yummy spread, guilt free.


A big bottle of vitamin C

This young lady is the main breadwinner of the family. She cannot afford to get sick. Considering that in Indonesia vitamin is not common in typical household grocery list, this might help.

Food mix that might not be in her grocery list

I included easy-to-cook mixes of various healthy and delicious soup: cream soup, tomato soup. chicken soup, vegetable soup etc. They come in light packs that are easy to send in package and once received, easy to cook. Just add hot water, stir, and eat. This lady that I'm sending the package to happened to live in a colder state of the country, and hot hearty soup that she can easily prepare for herself at night after work might be a nice change from her usual menu.




A pampering gift card

This lady has a very tight budget. Most likely, she spends all her earnings from work for her family and doctor bills. She will have a very limited budget for herself, and she really deserves a break from time to time, having so much responsibilities on her shoulders. So why not sending her "spending money" to splurge on herself, again, guilt-free?
Perhaps a Starbucks gift card for a cup of macchiato and a piece of espresso brownie that she can enjoy before work? A day at the spa gift card might be too much for a caregiver, because she won't have that much of a free time, but what about gift card for one-hour massage? Surely she can spend one-hour to relax her tired limbs and muscles, and to be attended to, inhaling nice smelling aromatheraphy and listening to soothing music? One hour of free, uninterrupted time to invest in herself, so she could leave the spa with lighter steps and more bounce and sunny smile! Bookstore gift card might do well, too. Nowadays they sell everything in the bookstore like beautiful stationeries and knick knacks, not just books. You can do well with so many options, from Barnes & Nobles to Krispy Creme to Sephora.



It's just some ideas. I'm sure you can come up with many more. It helps if you know the caregiver personally and know what he/she likes, so you can customize your care package to suit the recipient. As I mentioned, I don't know the lady personally, so the care package that I'm preparing is quite general.

If all else fail, and most of the things I'm preparing are not suitable for her, at least she knows that someone cares enough to take the time and resources to create this gift for her, and appreciate her struggle and sacrifice.

Last but not least, below are two pictures of cool care packages that I found over the internet. They are amazing, aren't they! Of course it's what's inside that's important, but as you can see, presentation and packaging creates a huge first impression, too!



I'm linking up to these wonderful Ladies:

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Monday, September 22, 2014

Care Package: For The Broken Hearted

Some time ago, a girl friend of mine suffered a broken heart. She broke up with his first ever serious boyfriend, whom she thought would turn a husband. The thing is, my friend is the type who had always wanted to marry young. As long as I can remember, all that she wanted was, she wanted to meet a man, she wanted to fall in love, she wanted to get married and build a family at a young age. She still does, but now she's thirty-something years old and lives a glamorous life as a single, successful, career woman who travels all over the world instead. Her life looks so glamorous and exciting, yet she wailed to me: "This is the life that YOU wanted and YOU used to live and enjoy! You never wanted to get married, I did, I do, and look at us now. I enjoy this life, and I try to live the life that God gives me now, but this is NOT what I want!"

So you can imagine how sad she became, when, after getting serious with this one man, after introducing both sides of the parents, etc., out of the blue the man broke up with her, when she was waiting for a proposal!

I cared about this friend dearly, yet I also know my limitation. I had just had a baby at that time, and had limited time nor energy to go out with her or even listen to her for hours over the phone. So I searched all over the house and bought several things from a nearby mall, wrapped it nicely, and sent it over to her office. Nothing too fancy, just some odds and ends that I thought would help to make her feel better, to make her feel special and loved, even if by a lady friend, not by a boyfriend!

She was ecstatic and thankful. "Usually you married people are so self-centered and inconsiderate to us single people. I never excepted you would make the time to do this for me. Thank you!"

Oh.

Self-centered and inconsiderate married friend.

Well...


Once I watched an episode of Sex & The City, I think the title is "A Woman's Right to Shoes". Carrie was invited to a baby shower - a third child - of a lady friend, where she was required to take off her Manolo Blahnik shoes prior entering the house, because "The twins always pick up things off the floor." She did, and at the end of the night, her shoes were gone unknown, and her hostess acted like she could not care less and shamed Carrie for spending so much money on shoes. Also "We have a family now, so we have real responsibilities." To which Carrie wailed to her friend Charlotte "I did a mental calculation, and in total I have spent more than 3,000 dollars for her celebrating her choice of life in wedding shower gift, wedding gift, three baby shower gifts; and she shamed me for spending a lowly 400 dollars on myself to buy shoes? Think about it, aside from birthdays, after graduation, if you are single, you don't have any celebration dedicated for you."

That's true.

All over the internet, I read posts on "The Rules to Visit a New Mother", and "How You Can Help A New Mother", and "What To Bring a Friend Who Just Had A Baby" and "Wedding Gifts Ideas". I read a lot of posts on mothers giving advise to single women how to tolerate friends who just got married or just got a baby.

So I wrote from the other side of the fence: "How it feels as a single friend, when your friend got married and had a baby." I hope it can gives a different perspective on married ladies and mothers to think about how the other party feels. You can read the post here.

Still, what my friend said stunned me. She didn't expect that after husband and children, I would be that much of a friend to her. In her state of singleness, she didn't except that I would have time to remember her in her trials. She expected that me having "real responsibilities" would take her broken heart lightly.

Now I'm the one who got brokenhearted. Who won't, if your dear friend said something like that!

I've been thinking of what I can do for others lately. We have received so much from Heavenly Father. We believe that in every gift, He slipped something extra for us to share to others. We did some charity for flood victims and we wrapped package of clothes and shipped it to a natural disaster shelter, but we want to do something more. So what to do?

Sometimes an act of kindness doesn't require you to send a check to orphans faraway overseas. You can give a smile and kind words, but if you really want to give a real something, consider to send care packages. You don't need to know the recipient personally. You can create a pretty package, and give it to someone you don't know. Perhaps a sister of a coworker just had a baby and her husband is overseas? Send her something via your coworker. You heard that an elderly aunt of a neighbor's friend who live alone is ill? Ask for her address and send her something.

Today I will talk about creating a care package for a friend who just suffered a broken heart. Here are some ideas and tips.

What a broken heart needs, here and now, is a positive distraction.

Anything that can keep her occupied, anything that can keep her mind away off loneliness, romance and tears, is good. Anything uplifting, positive, encouraging and "girl power". She can deal with growing up, "this is for the better", "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" mentality later on. What she needs right now, is keeping her mind away from anything that can remind her of her ex, and gives time a chance to heal her heart, and perhaps, her dignity. The worst time is night time, when everyone else is asleep and she is completely alone. So think of something that can keep her occupied, even when no one else is around. Even her Mom will not be able to stay up the whole night listening to her venting and wailing! There will be times when she'll be alone and needs something to do.

Think of pretty packaging

Get several lovely, girlie things and wrap each individually. Embellish with flowers, ribbons, bows, lace, colorful papers, and stickers. Can you imagine how happy she would be to open the main package and find so many beautifully wrapped gifts inside? She would wonder and curious about what each package contains, and every unwrapping will put a smile on her face! It's like opening a surprise gift, filled to the brim with small surprises! Enclose little love notes and encouraging phrases, too!



Funny and encouraging DVDs

Your friend will suffer many lonely and teary nights and Saturday nights. Be considerate and don't send her mellow, romantic comedy. Send her a movie that can make her laugh and forget about her sorrows for ninety minutes, like "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". Or send her something that can rebuild her hope and positive energy, and want to make something of herself despite her man leaving her, like "Legally Blonde" and "Door to Door". They don't even need to be new movies. You can give her yours to keep.



A lovely manicure set and colorful nail polish

If she's a beauty girl, she will have a lot of fun playing with pretty nail polishes. Send her happy, cheerful, and funky colors, even crazy ones like electric blue, add some nail stickers and nail art kit. It will cheer her up for hours when she gets busy with those. Even grown up girls still want to have fun!
A box of chocolate

Not the Valentine-y, heart-shaped chocolates! Just some old, good, delicious ones. It's not the time to count calories, girl friend! Just let it go and indulge yourself. Or you can give a big jar of Nutella. Everybody loves Nutella. Works every time.



A gift certificate to her favorite online shop

It doesn't have to be much. Even a ten dollar voucher will do so she can buy a nice toe ring with it. Why online? I remember that for brokenhearted souls, the hardest part is not when they go out eating with their friends, working out, or shopping at the mall. The darkest hour is late at night when you have nobody to talk to and no place to go. But online stores open 24/7! So instead of crying her eyes out, she can surf and buy something nice and inexpensive for herself.

Easy art and craft supplies

A mini project kit like scrapbooking, cute stickers, pretty stationeries, colorful papers, fabrics, odds and ends to make something in a quick and creative way. If she can crochet or knit, give her some beautiful yarns and patterns. She can spend hours doing it and forget about Mr. You-Know-Who.





Some light reading, anything non-romance

Chicken Soup series. Shopaholic series. Debbie MacComber non-romance collection like Twenty Wishes. Mystery novels like China Bayles series. Books on travel and faraway lands like A Year in Provence or Under The Tuscan Sun. Funny comic books.  Even all time classics like The Secret Garden, Pollyanna, A Little Princess and Little House series. Some might consider them children books, but they are good and comforting reading, as well as inspiring and brings back good memories of childhood, when things were much simpler and there was no complicated relationships between boys and girls!

If your friend is a Christian, give her anything that can remind her that she is a daughter of A King afterall

Some CDs of Christian music, because any pop music might remind her of her ex. A little book of prayer. A book of daily devotion.

Multivitamin

In a state of mild or heavier sadness, she might eat less or eat more, but not very healthy. She might need additional multivitamin to keep her healthy even if she cries all the time.

Soup in a jar or cookie dough mix that she can heat and bake herself

There will times, either late at night or during the day when she is alone and has some time to kill and needs comfort food! Cooking is an excellent teraphy! Especially if what you need to do is just add some water and throw all the ingredients together in a pan. Simmering, savory, hearty soup is an all time comfort food that everyone loves.




Girlie, fun, pretty looking, sweet smelling, self pampering beauty kit

Body lotion. Body butter. Scented candle. Bath soap. Peel off face mask. Anything that can make her feel like a pampered princess, even from the solitude of her own bedroom! It needs not to be expensive products. The name of the game is fun, fun, fun.



I'm sure you can also come up with a long list of amazing ideas! Of course, you can also offer mental support with prayer, an ear to listen, some time to hang out with her, and lots and lots of love!

Note: all the pictures are not my own.

I'm linking up to these wonderful Ladies:

Monday

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Sunday

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