Hygeine items are a good thing. Stuff you’d find in your own bathroom is sometimes in short supply over there. Female stuff to help the women (Outlawettes) feel like women has done well. Magazines do very well, but avoid any nuditities, and nothing overtly political (yeah, I know that’s hard to do given the nature of this blog). Make sure that if it is a subscription magazine, your address is removed from the cover.

I’ve found that copy paper boxes filled with bags of good quality tortilla chips are a big hit. Cookies are good, as long as you pack them well enough so that they don’t turn into pulverized crumbs by the time they get there.

If you ship liquids, such as salsa or shampoo, be sure to run a wide strip of tape over the cap, so that it can’t unscrew itself during transit (learned that the hard way with some cheese dip – what a mess). When the postal police taking the package and customs form from you asks if there are any liquids, you will have to say ‘what, no liquids here…’, or your package will be turned away.

Microwave popcorn, chili (no beans, thank you very much – they’ve got enough fart wars going without adding ammunition), hearty soups. The night shift there rarely gets to eat hot stuff at the chow line due to hours, so stuff decent to microwave does well.

I would suggest not shipping anything that you expect them to keep after their tours end over there. Gifts or keepsakes are nice to receive, but their luggage space on return is VERY limited, so whatever ships over there will probably stay over there (if not consumed).