Patriotic Party in a Box 

This shop/post has been compensated by Collective Bias, INC. and The Coca-Cola Company, all opinions are mine alone. #CokeDGSupportMilitary #CollectiveBias

Patriotic Party in a Box.  About twenty years ago, I took an oath to serve in the United States ARMY.  I vowed to protect my country and I was not only excited, but proud to be able to serve.  Unfortunately, I was in a terrible accident just before deployment and was disqualified from service for life.  It was a crushing blow, but I still want to support the troops in every way I can.  My birthday is just 4 days before the 4th of July, and I have always been super patriotic.  I have more flags than I can count, I LOVE red, white, and blue.  I am a proud American.  I am also at the stage in my life where I have friends and friends with children that serve in the military.  One of them is my grade school best friend.  She and I did everything together from first through seventh  grade.  And, I can honestly tell you, despite not having seen her in 20 long years, we still laugh like crazy when we talk to each other.  Her husband and her oldest son proudly serve in the military, and I cannot imagine how hard it must be for her.  This year is a special one for her, because both her son and hubby are stateside.  When I was at the Dollar General Store looking for outdoor decor, I spotted the Coca-Cola™ exclusive 5-can limited edition series 16oz cans highlighting: Veteran, Service Member, Military Spouse, Military Mom, Military Dad.  I was so excited, I forgot to look for outside stuff!  I grabbed several cans; Military Spouse, Military Mom, and Military Dad.  On my way home this same friend texted me and said she wouldn’t be able to come to a party we have coming up, and mentioned how she wished she could make it to a party of ours soon.  So, I decided to give her a party in a box!

Every good party has decor, good food and drinks, and party favors.  I went through my party stash and had almost everything I needed to prepare a Patriotic Party In a Box!  

My friend Pineapple Paper Co. shared her patriotic party printables with me, and that was the perfect starting point for the box.  I printed up the banner, food tents, and party circles.  I had plenty of festive party bags at the house, so I used those to hold favors and even cut some in half and secured them with a tape runner to hold plasticware.  I added a package of plates and napkins, and some fun striped paper straws.  Pretty blue marbled balloons were put in a small cello bag with a party circle attached.   My son cut out some 3-D star table scatter too. 

I also gathered some fun favors, sunglasses, foam rockets, sidewalk chalk, mini beach balls, bubbles, glow sticks, temporary tattoos and more.  

Finally, I added some yummy treats and the Special Edition Coca-Cola cans.  

I padded the box with red wrapping paper, and taped it up.  I can’t wait to hear from her when she opens her box!  (I checked with our post office before sending the box and they all decided it was safe to mail.  They did suggest that I put the Coca-Cola cans in a plastic bag, just in case, though.) 

We are going to make a few more boxes like it for more of our friends, we are also going to pack some boxes for my friend’s son’s friends that are still deployed.  If you are interested in sending a care box to the men and women serving overseas, I was told that playing cards, chapstick, sunscreen, bug spray with DEET, and dental floss are in high demand.  Be sure to click the links for more ideas on how to support the USO.  Additionally, together with Dollar General and the USO, Coca-Cola would like to send over 25K messages of support and thanks to our service members and their families.  Please take a minute to send a special message!