Military Gift Ideas

Here are a few different "merit" gifts. I buy my husband a different type of gift for things like basic training graduation, promotions, school graduations than I do for Christmas, birthdays or anniversaries.

These gifts are normally useful and practical, yet personalized and personal.

Customizable Benchmade Knife 
What guy doesn't love knives? They always seem to need or want another one. Benchmade is one of the best knives out there. This website allows you to completely customize a Benchmade knife. There are 4 different knife options. You choose the knife, the blade type, color of the knife, color of the blade. You can even have words or symbols engraved on the blade! I engraved "Stolen From (enter husband's name)" because he has lost and not had returned 2 knives now!! I also had his unit's symbol engraved on the other side. Hopefully no one will take this new one or will return it if he loses it.

Customizable Zippo Lighter
Now, my husband doesn't smoke, but it seems he always has a use for a lighter. Zippo is definitely the way to go! This website, again, allows you to customize the lighter. You can put a picture on it or have it engraved. Or both!

Challenge Coin Holder
Challenge coins are a big deal in the military. Your guy is most likely incredibly proud of the ones he's received and wants to display them. There are many different kinds of holders, and Etsy is the perfect place to find one. Many sellers will customize the coin holders.



Some other ideas include doing a Boudoir shoot with photo book, nice sport watch (G-Shock is a good option), a nice wallet, or challenge coins.

Preparing for Homecoming

Wow, I feel like I have SO much to do to prepare for my husband's homecoming. Yet most of it I can't do until the week before. I've made plenty of appointments though! I'm going to share my preparations with you in hopes that it will help you remember something you forgot!

Appointments I've made:

Brazilian Wax (1 week prior)

Hair Cut (3 weeks prior)

Maid (2 days prior) 

Dog Grooming (2 days prior)

Homecoming Photographer (day of)

Other appointments you may want to make include:

A doctor's appointment to explore your birth control options if you got off when he left (At least 1 month prior)

Pedicure/Manicure (2 days prior)

Hair/Make-up (day of)

You may also want to take care of your vehicle beforehand.

Oil Change

Car Detail

Other homecoming preparations:

In a past post, I mentioned the free homecoming signs. I ordered the 2'x4' instead of the 3'x6' because the 2'x4' was supposed to come with free grommets while the 3'x6' I would have had to pay ~$9 for the grommets. Well, my sign arrived today with NO GROMMETS! I don't know what happened. The sign is beautiful, and I'm sure this is a misunderstanding. But I'm a little disappointing. However, I paid for the 6 week shipping option and received it in only a week!

Again the website is  http://www.buildasign.com/Troops

 

 We all know how much of a big deal the homecoming outfit is, well for those of us with pups, their outfit is just as important! I found this adorable bandanna for my dog on Etsy.

You can purchase it Here.

 The homecoming outfit...

I am having SO MUCH TROUBLE deciding on my outfit.

His homecoming is in September, so it could be warm or it could be cool.

I've decided against a maxi skirt because I'm going to want to run.

I've decided against a dress or skirt because what if I want to jump on him? I don't want to give the rest of the world a show.

I hired a photographer, so I'm going to have these pictures forever!

I think I've decided on something simple, and layers because layers are always a winner.

Light wash jeans

Gold flats

Cream colored cardigan

And this adorable scarf!

I ordered this scarf off zulily a few weeks ago, but I've seen similar ones on Etsy, Amazon, everywhere really...

 I still need to put together a welcome home basket. I'll do a seprate post on that in a few weeks.

I'll need to do a big grocery shopping trip before he comes home. Stock up on all his favorites!

I put a man cave together as a welcome home present, but I still need to wrap all the other little presents I got him.

I'll add to this preparation list as I think of things!

21st Birthday Care Package

These are the LAST care packages!!! AND, they also happen to be Birthday Care packages!!

I did 2 separate care packages.

Since my husband's 21st birthday is a few weeks away, the first is a (Root) Beer Pong box. I didn't want to send actual beer and get him in trouble. Although I have gotten a lot of advice on how to sneak alcohol into these boxes...

Root Beer, Ping Pong Balls and Solo cups (regular size and mini!)

Also included in this box is

A buttload of candy

 Silly String

 Birthday hats and party blowers

Balloons

I had ZERO idea how to decorate this box, so I just settled on something simple.

The second box is a little more fun!

Again I did the cake in a jar.

 This time I bought pre-colored cake mix.

I also included orange and green frosting

And of course, birthday candles!!!

 My batter all mixed and ready to pour

To bake the cake in the jars, put your mason jars in a brownie pan. Fill the pan with 1/4"-1/2" of water.

 Each mason jar ended up being filled with 1c of batter. You can do it in whatever pattern you want. Or just a solid color. You can do this with any cake flavor!

Bake them at 350 for ~40 minutes

 While you wait for the cakes to bake, put the lids in water and bring it to a boil. Not the screw part, just the lid part. Once it's been boiling for ~5 minutes, put the lid on top of the jar and screw the other part on. You will hear a "pop". Don't worry though, that's just the jar sealing!

Wrap them in bubble wrap and stick them in the box with the frosting seprate.

This box I did something special... I wrapped the inside of it!

The flat rate boxes come apart super easy. So, take it apart and lay it out flat.

 Roll your wrapping paper over the box, and cut it to size. You can then glue or tape the paper to the box.

Make sure to cut where the box is cut so you can fold the flaps.

Put the box back together with packing tape and voila!

Here's the box all packed! I added fun bows and confetti for even more fun. Make sure to put the bows on the flaps you fold down first! 

Most everything was bought at the dollar store. Everything except the mason jars (Which I had from the last cakes) cake mix and frosting. 

I can't believe these are the last care packages! I had so much fun putting them all together. I hope I have helped someone in some way! I will continue blogging probably until his homecoming. But this is the last blog post for care packages! Now the real countdown begins!

August SpouseBox review

August's SpouseBox arrived today!! I am much more pleased with this months than I am with last months! First off, it actually got here in a decent amount of time. Second, well, let me just show you...

August's theme was back to school, and these adorable paperclips fit in perfect.

Then there was also this necklace! Now I think I need a new outfit to go with it. 

You know how every box has the By Dawn Nicole print in them? Well, this box has 3 prints, and they're all Adult coloring pages!! Colored pencils included!

The big item this month was a free one year subscription to Thrive! A $60 value! My understanding of Thrive is that it's like Sam's Club or Costco meets Whole Foods.

Also included was a few samples of items from Thrive. 

Not so sure how most of this fits into the back to school themed, but over all it was a great box! I'm excited to see what next months holds!

Don't forget to get your subscription at thespousebox.com 

The beginning of the end

The homecoming preparations have begun!! It's about a month and a half away. How crazy is that?!

I only have one more care package to send!

Nothing says homecoming quite like a homecoming sign!! Build-A-Sign offers a FREE homecoming sign with the stipulation that you pay for shipping.

Visit http://www.buildasign.com/Troops to start designing your sign! You can get it in 2'x4' or 3'x6'.

Normal turn around time is 8 weeks, but they have expedited options as well! You just have to pay extra.