So we’re well into fall semester which means (hopefully) that you’ve all received at least one care package from home/friends. Nothing beats that moment of finding the yellow slip (or five–for us online shoppers) in your box, turning it into the postwoman at the window and ripping that baby open as soon as you leave the building (the box, not the postwoman). Especially when your package looks a little like this:

Okay, well, to each his own.

But, I’ve found that even more fun than receiving care packages is sending out care packages. I’ve sent small flat-rate boxes (it only costs $5.80 to ship!) of cookies to friends at Cornell, muffins to my parents, mix-CDs to friends back home and even Kenyon swag to my art teacher from high school. I get all warm-and-fuzzy while shopping around the Kenyon Bookstore when I imagine the reactions of the recipients:

“Wow! A Kenyon mug! Just what I wanted! Santa really came through this year!”

“Is this, is this a Frieda Kahlo magnet?”

“Yum! Kenyon Bookstore Raspberry Fudge Cordial ice cream!” (Just kidding. Please don’t put ice cream in your care packages).

So here are some suggestions I have about what kinds of goodies to stick in those flat-rate priority mail boxes (words of wisdom: it’s the cheapest way to ship. Take it from the girl who spent $30 on shipping a non-flat-rate-priority-mail box that was only half-full with a letter, bag of chips, and a scarf.)

1. Any Kenyon apparel.
So your loved one can be thinking of and repping you wherever they are on the continent.

2. Amish Homemade Jam.
When your best friend from back home is spreading this gold onto their toast and he/she asks you where you bought it from, tell me it won’t feel kind of pretty awesome to say, “I bought it from the local Amish people.”

3. Peirce dinnerware*.
How many people get to say, “Hey, my cousin/sister/best friend just sent me some quality cups** from his/her college’s dining hall!”
*Actually, no, I do not support this. This is bad. Stealing is bad.
**So is that where all the cups have gone?

4. A mix-CD.
Get one of those 25-packs of CDs from the Kenyon Bookstore and whip up some playlists. Bonus hipster points if you include some of the bands that were playing at the Horn last weekend. “Oh you know track 11 on the CD I just sent you? By Pinegrove? Yeah they were here last weekend. It’s no biggie.”

And if none of those do it for you, get some cookie butter! Cookie butter never fails.