Birthday Ideas For Deployed Husband

deployment is never easy. trying to figure out what to send to your husband is also never easy, especially when it's his birthday. i had to read countless stupid forums to try and gather an idea of what i could send to my hubby. some of the things you obviously can't send. i mean, chocolate + approx. 7 days of traveling + super hot middle eastern desert temperatures = a gooey warped mess by the time it gets to him. alcohol customs would take (i heard same with porn - but why would you send either one of those to him?? anyway, i placed those two in my blog just in case some reader has the weird idea of sending her husband that). so to make a LONG story short, i'm going to list a few ideas and also instructions on what to send sweet hubby who is overseas protecting our freedom and country.

1. I found this cute key ring  for $19. Fortunately, you can make that for a lot less. I don't have a picture of the one I made because I did one for my husband last year & didn't think to take a picture, and now the key ring is with him...overseas. I have no idea what the name of those pieces are, but all I did was go to Home Depot to the section where the small nuts & bolts are and I just picked the ones I wanted out for him (I had the above picture on my phone & used it to find the different pieces). All of it cost me about $5. I found a small black jewelry box that I placed the key chain in & used fabric paint to write out 'I'm Nuts About You.' He loved it.

 2. Make a happy b-day 'banner' with the help of family/friends. I know it looks ghetto with their eyes blacked out, but nowadays the internet can be creepy and/or people may be sensitive about their pictures floating around internet space. This idea is pretty self explanatory. I called my husband's family/friends and assigned a letter to each of them and then put the pictures together on 'paint' (you don't even need photoshop for this).



web acquired photograph

3. Mason Jar Cake. You will need:
1. Mason jar
2. Cake mix + ingredients
3. Non-stick cooking spray
4. Food coloring (if you want the above results)
5. Ribbon, string, colorful/patterned paper, pen - depending on how you want your mason jar decorated
6. His favorite icing!
7. Sprinkles, Gummies, M&Ms - his favorite topping

Wash the mason jar out (if you are reusing an old jar, purchase a new lid). Prepare the cake mix. Here is where you will use the food coloring if you want the above picture result. You can use small bowls or containers and place a little bit of the batter (this all depends on how much you want of the color & how many colors) in each container and add a few drops until you have the desired color into each of the batter filled container/bowl. Completely cover the inside of your mason jar with the non-stick cooking spray and pre-heat your oven according to your cake mix instructions. Pour the batter into the jar (if you are doing the rainbow cake, some of the colors may bleed together, but it shouldn't too bad). You'll have to eyeball about how much batter to place into the jar depending on how many colors you want to use, so long as all the batter is just under the 1 cup mark  you're good (this also goes for if you are just doing his favorite 'red velvet cake' recipe or 'chocolate cake'). Place the jar into a baking sheet and put into oven after it is done pre-heating. Set the timer for about 15 minutes less than the cake mix instructions, but be checking it since ovens can vary. DO NOT ADD THE ICING. For the mason jar to seal itself off properly, you will need for it to be hot and for the lid to be at least room temperature. Close the jar (not too tightly) and in about 15 mins or so you will hear a popping noise (that's the jar sealing itself). The icing will need to be sent in its own container, so don't open it, to keep it from spoiling.
Now to decorate. You can cut a square out of fabric with, say, your husband's favorite football team pattern or colors and tie it down with matching ribbon over the lid (this can be purchased at Hobby Lobby). You can also print onto (i call it) sticky paper your thoughts and cut it out and stick it onto the jar. You can tie a spoon to the jar also so it's ready to eat as soon as he opens his package up. There are many different things you can do with this, just don't forget to NOT add the icing or sprinkles.

web acquired photograph 

4. Now this next idea is a good one for Valentine's Day but it will work for a birthday too. If you're the kind that doesn't mind, you can have some boudoir pictures done in his favorite team shirt, maybe army uniform...in all that you wear for the session, try to have at least in one picture something of his. There are some photographers that can be pricey, but check for military discounts and also, photographers that are getting started usually have lower prices, or you can sometimes purchase the CD with your photographs in it and you can edit them yourselves on picnik and create photo books with them on shutterfly.

Anyway, I hope this helped! I will upload more ideas according to the season and holiday later.