Care Packages Are Nostalgia In A Box

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

Amidst the rediscoveries we've made during our adjustments to socially distant living (matching sweatsuits, puzzles, wine subscriptions), there's one that feels particularly comforting above all the rest: care packages.

The boxes filled with everything from utility buys (toothpaste, gee, thanks!) to trinkets (another stationery set?) and treats (OMFG, Reese's PB Cups) were sent by loved ones (hi, mom) while we were away from home, often for the first time. Today, even though it isn't a sleepaway camp or college freshman year, many of us are currently separated from the important people in our lives. So, we're making a case to re-embrace the care package (toothpaste optional).

Ahead, how to bridge the social distance between partners to friends and family members in the form of a curated care shipment. There's everything from soothing-beauty to sexual-wellness and fresh-baked cookies to New-York bagel boxes — and with budgets in mind, we tried to keep it to all the worthy under-$90 options we could find. Scroll on to send a little feels-like-home lovin' to someone who could use it right about now.

[AdSense-C]

L'Occitane Rose Care Package

Best For: Mom
Budget: $20
The recipe to brightening her day is just a rose-infused shea-butter soap and nourishing hand cream away — packaged in a pretty pink box inspired by "the houses in Provence with their colorful windows and doors," of course!

Shop L'occitane

L'Occitane Rose Care Package, $, available at L'Occitane

Seattle Chocolate You're My Hero Care Package

Best For: Mom
Budget: $36
This curated chocolate box will make her smile for more than just its sweet packaging and contents — the goods are crafted by a woman-led company based out of Seattle that not only sustainably sources its ingredients, but also gives back. In addition to partnering with The Pink Umbrella Fund, which donates to food banks in cities across the country, Seattle Chocolate is also donating 5% of all proceeds from this particular purchase to supporting homeless women and families in need.

Shop Seattle Chocolate

Seattle Chocolate You're My Hero Care Package, $, available at Seattle Chocolate

Uncommon Goods Birth Month Flower Grow Kit

Best For: Mom
Budget: $34
Instead of going with the more obvious surprise flower or plant delivery, try a shipment of greenery tailored specially to her birth month. This thoughtfully curated care package is crafted in Idaho and comes complete with seeds (from lavender to poppies and mini sunflowers), a glass planter with a coaster-cork lid, soil-less growing medium, care instructions, and a writeup on what her birthday bloom symbolizes.

Shop Uncommon Goods

Born to Bloom Birth Month Flower Grow Kit, $, available at Uncommon Goods

VineBox Vineyard Fresh Wine Tasting Box

Best For: Mom
Budget: $79
You may not be able to take her out to dinner, but this artful box of individual tasting vials will still delight her inner sommelier. Each of the nine wines is the newest vintage and fresh release sourced from VineBox's favorite European vineyards.

Shop VineBox

Vinebox The Quarterly Wine Club, $, available at Vinebox

Mini DIY Farmers' Cheese Kit

Best For: Best Friend
Budget: $14
This mini DIY farmers' cheese kit from Urban Cheese Craft in Portland, Oregon is a hit with over 200 happy reviewers who are now fromage-making connoisseurs. Send one to your best friend before your next much-needed virtual cheese and whine sesh.

Shop Urban Cheese Craft on Etsy

Urban Cheese Craft Mini DIY Farmers' Cheese Kit 3-5 batches, $, available at Etsy

LOLA Period Essentials

Best For: Best Friend
Budget: $29
It isn't quite toothpaste status, but this period-essentials collection is a more elevated nod to those comforting utility packages of days past. Send the lineup of breathable tampons, ultra-thin liners, and cleansing wipes crafted from 100% organic cotton and packaged in recyclable plastic to a friend in need of some extra support this month.

Shop LOLA

Lola Period Essentials, $, available at Lola

Milk Bar Dozen Assorted Cookie Tin

Best For: Best Friend
Budget: $36
Christina Tosi's famous NYC bakery will make your bestie's day, no matter where they are, with a shipment of fresh-baked and shipped-direct sweets — like this tin of 12 assorted Compost to Cornflake, Corn, Blueberry & Cream, Chocolate-Chocolate, and Confetti cookies.

Shop Milk Bar

Milk Bar Dozen Assorted Cookie Tin, $, available at Milk Bar

Fire Box Isolation Mystery Box

Best For: Best Friend
Budget: $49
This mysterious care package was strategically curated by zany U.K.-based gift-brand Firebox for brightening up any isolation situations — it comes filled with around $65 worth of boredum-ending activities and smile-worthy trinkets your BFF will adore.

Shop Firebox

Firebox Isolation Mystery Box, $, available at Firebox

Olive & June The Everything Box

Best For: Best Friend
Budget: $80
If she gets her nails done every week (and is probably panicking over her cuticles right now) then this kit has, well, everything — from six different polishes to a polish remover pot, clean-up brush, flat-edge clipper, dual-grit file, buffer cube, polish-bottle handle, topcoat, and cuticle serum.

Shop Olive & June

Olive & June The Everything Box, $, available at Olive & June

Mystery Fun Pack

Best For: Long-Distance Partner
Budget: $12
This illustration artist from Milwaukee makes stickers, temporary tattoos, zines and other cheeky bits of artwork. Buy a Mystery Pack or an X-Rated Mystery Pack if you're feeling extra saucy, to surprise your more-than-a-friend with something unexpected in the mail.

Shop RAD Illustrates on Etsy

Rad Illustrates Mystery Fun Pack!, $, available at Etsy

Craft A Brew Premium Beer-Making Kit

Best For: Long-Distance Partner
Budget: $48
Your beer-bud may be far away, but they can still pour one out for you — once you ship this DIY craft brew kit their way. Using 100% malt extract, specialty grains, fresh hops, and high-quality yeast, this care package has everything needed (growler included) to whip up and crack open a cold one at home.

Shop Craft a Brew

Craft a Brew Premium Beer Making Kit, $, available at The Grommet

Trade Coffee Subscription Gift Box

Best For: Long-Distance Partner
Budget: $60
Since they can no longer drop by their favorite corner-coffee shop, a customizable gift subscription of curated coffee beans delivered directly to their doorstep c/o of their sweetheart will more than suffice. Also, in addition to donating $2 from every first coffee bag purchase to their roaster employee funds, Trade just launched a page to support local roasters and baristas inviting its customers to show their gratitude by leaving a tip for Trade's third-party roasters.

Shop Trade

Trade Monthly Coffee Subscription Box, 3 bags, $, available at Trade

Maude The Solo Kit

Best For: Long-Distance Partner
Budget: $75
Whether you're sending this curated self-pleasure kit to a single friend in need, or as a sexy surprise for your long-distance SO, its contents are sure to not disappoint — including the brand's best-selling vibrator, organic shine lubricant, and hypoallergenic compostable wipe towels. (There's also a tamer tub kit option, too, for sensual soaks.)

Shop Maude

Maude the solo kit, $, available at Maude

Williams-Sonoma Herb Garden Seed Kit

Best For: Grandparents
Budget: $29
This sweet little care package will deliver them all the ingredients and tools necessary for cultivating their very own herb garden — from six different culinary herbs to soil and pots.

Shop Williams-Sonoma

Williams-Sonoma Herb Garden Seed Kit, $, available at Williams-Sonoma

The Bouqs Co. Standout Bouquet

Best For: Grandparents
Budget: $59
Go with the most classic care-package material to brighten their day: a vibrant bouquet of fresh spring flowers.

Shop The Bouqs Co.

The Bouqs Co Standout Bouquet, $, available at The Bouqs Co

H&H Bagels Half-Dozen Cream Cheese & Lox Care Pack

Best For: Grandparents
Budget: $70
For true bagel enthusiasts (aka New Yorkers), the name H&H means something — and an actual shipment from the NYC institution means even more. Although it'll cost you a pretty penny to ship them only six bagels, each package comes with a selection of cream cheese and Nova Scotia smoked salmon. Oh, and a guaranteed brunch to remember.

Shop Goldbelly

H&H Bagels Bagels, Cream Cheese & Nova Scotia Salmon – Half Dozen, $, available at Goldbelly

Kid Made Modern Beach Bash Jewelry Kit

Best For: Best Friend With Kids
Budget: $16
When the recipient has little ones running around, sometimes the best care packages come in the form of craft kits — and we're loving the looks of these DIY beach-style jewels.

Shop Maisonette

Kid Made Modern Beach Bash Jewelry Kit, $, available at Maisonette

DavidsTea Cold Survival Kit

Best For: Best Friend With Kids
Budget: $28
Send her a little something that will help revitalize and soothe her drained mom-duty system — this curated kit comes packed with four loose leaf teas and filters, ten throat-soothing honey sticks, and a hydrating lip butter infused with eucalyptus tea.

Shop DavidsTea

DavidsTea Cold Survival Kit, $, available at DavidsTea

Modern Sprout Unwind Live Well Gift Set

Best For: Best Friend With Kids
Budget: $50
This care package was curated to help her unwind after a long day cooped up inside — featuring a calming collection starting with a DIY Lavender grow kit she can plant with the kiddos, a soy-blended candle, sleep mask, and aromatherapy pillow spray.

Shop Modern Sprout

Modern Sprout Unwind Live Well Gift Set, $, available at Verishop

Mr. MiSocki Pair of Socks + Comic Book

Best For: Dads/Brothers
Budget: $12
This charming oddball gift from independent designer Munish Taneja is a pair of mismatched socks that come with a comic book about a sock who wakes in the dryer only to realize that he's lost his other half. The "volumes" are limited, so snatch up what's left for the guy who likes a gift with a story, comic illustrations, or simply a funky pair of socks to brighten his day.

Shop Mr. MiSociki

Mr. MiSocki Pair of Socks + Comic Book, $, available at Mr. MiSocki

VarietyFun Snack Assortment Care Package

Best For: Dads/Brothers
Budget: $30
If he's a serious snacker, then he will deeply, deeply appreciate this surprise shipment of 50 bags of assorted cookies to chips and beyond.

Shop Amazon

Variety Fun Snack Assortment Care Package (50 Count), $, available at Amazon

Mouth Sunshine In A Box

Best For: Dads/Brothers
Budget: $70
And if you want to go the more elevated-snack route, then this gourmet sunshine-themed box has him happily covered — including everything from lemon sugar cookies to popped-by-the-sun popcorn, ginger tea, and other sweet and salty goodies.

Shop Mouth

Mouth Sunshine In A Box, $, available at Mouth

Loved & Found Gentlemen's Curated Gift Box

Best For: Dads/Brothers
Budget: $82
Even more of a premium care package (maybe Father's Day material?), this premium gift box for the fellas comes with an Izola engraved brass comb, Sugarfina dark-chocolate caramels, Virginia Cocktail Peanuts, and a pack of Three Jerks filet-mignon jerky — packaged in a twine-tied wooden box with greenery and a hand-written note to boot.

Shop Loved and Found

Loved and Found Gentlemen’s Curated Gift Box, $, available at Anthropologie

Healing Crystal & Stone Kit

Best For: Pregnant Best Friend
Budget: $26
Bestow this small but mighty collection of high-vibrational healing stones and crystals on her — each lovely kit is hand-packed and charged with Reiki energy from positive fertility vibes to love.

Shop Elementals Botanica on Etsy

ElementalsBotanica Fertility Crystal Kit, Healing Crystals & Stones, $, available at Etsy

Farmacy Beehive Kit

Best For: Pregnant Best Friend
Budget: $28
If you make any sort of contribution to Feeding America right now, Farmacy will match it. The indie beauty brand is also donating 10,000 meals a day for 30 days as part of its commitment to serving communities and individuals facing hunger across America. Any one of Farmacy's sets makes an excellent gift for expecting mums due to its clean ingredients.

Shop Farmacy

Farmacy The Beehive Mini Set, $, available at Farmacy

The Honest Company Baby Arrival Gift Set

Best For: Pregnant Best Friend
Budget: $49
For any expecting moms in your life, these socially distant times take on an entirely different meaning — reach out and show your support with this helpful baby-care package full of essentials, from all-natural diapers to plant-based wipes and organic body products.

Shop The Honest Company

The Honest Company Baby Arrival Gift Set, $, available at The Honest Company

Moon Juice Cosmic Provision Collection

Best For: Pregnant Best Friend
Budget: $58
Bless them with a bounty of vegan-friendly snack material and surprise ship this sampler collection of organic and raw hand-crafted noms — from antioxidant-rich savory crisps and nuts to sweet dried fruit strips.

Shop Moon Juice

Moon Juice Cosmic Provision Collection, $, available at Moon Juice

Click HERE to read more.

You can publish this article on your website as long as you provide a link back to this page.