Care Packages on the Cheap

My sister’s at college in New York. She’s an Education major with a cute apartment and a cute roommate, and generally spends her days being excellent and saving the world.

 

Every now and then I like to show my love with material goods by sending her a care package, but the first couple of times I did it, stocking the thing cost a ton—around twenty bucks to put together something nice. Not so long out of college myself, I couldn’t drop that kind of money too frequently.

 

Once I started playing the CVS game, though, it occurred to me that I could actually put together something totally great for a fraction of the cost if I gave it some time and thought. I found a box and filled it slowly over the course of a few weeks, depending on what was super cheap at Stop & Shop and CVS, and was actually sort of thrilled with the contents by the time I was done. I sent the package out yesterday, and it contained:

 

Covergirl Outlast lipgloss (free at CVS)

A bag of Chex mix (free at CVS)

3 SoyJoys (free at CVS: I know, I KNOW, I just posted about how totally foul they were, but I’m hoping she’ll like them more than I did)

A pack of Orbit gum (Leprechaun’s mom sent us a crate not too long ago)

A package of Kotex liners (.49 at CVS)

A box of Barilla Piccolini (.25 at Stop & Shop)

A little bag of Cacade PowerPacks (free sample)

A really excellent notepad pre-printed with Pro/Con lists (weirdly, I got two of these as gifts last year)

A 4-pack of Soleil disposable razors (2.49 at CVS)

A completely fantastic mix CD (if I do say so myself)

 

I had a blast doing it, and for a grand total of $3.25 I can start another one right away. Care packages for everyone, yo.

 

Now, my question for you all is this: the box still wound up costing like eight bucks to send. Any ideas for saving money on shipping?