Coupon Books
Make a coupon book for your missionary with different
redeemable coupons. Make a coupon for a batch of their favorite
cookies. They send you the coupon when they want the cookies and
you fill the order. Other ideas:
Birthday Box
Add a boxed cake mix, candles, balloons, money for ice cream (if
it’s available at a local store) party horns (why not?!)
and crazy, party hats. Make a custom birthday card and a present
and you’ve got a birthday in a box that your missionary and
his/her companion will love.
Laundry Supplies
Do laundry is never fun, but it helps to have all the tools of
the trade. Create a box with laundry detergent (preferably dry),
dryer sheets, pre-treater (the kind in a stick that won’t
leak), a roll of quarters (if they can use them) and a few plastic
hangers. Bundle together with a note about how much you love them
and how much you love the fact that they’re doing their own
laundry.
Make Your Own Cookies, cakes, etc
Many people are giving gifts of canning jars with the dry ingredients
for cookies, cakes, etc. Why not give this gift to your missionary?
Instead of putting dry ingredients into glass canning jars, try
plastic or Tupperware containers to keep ingredients dry and fresh.
Don’t forget to include a recipe with the dry mix of what
wet ingredients they need to add and how to bake the special treat.
Business Cards & Stationary
Business Cards are a great way for missionaries to give their
contact information to investigators and others. Create simple
business cards from a word processing program’s template
or find a graphic design friend who can layout a custom one just
for your missionary. Take the master to a copy shop and copy onto
sheets of cardstock (a thicker paper that is used for greeting
and business cards). Cut out, and you’re ready to go.
Stationary can be a simple project that can really mean a lot
to your missionary. You can make the stationary (similar to the
business cards) as simply or as elaborately as you like. Using
any word processor, you can easily create elegant stationary that
your missionary can use in a variety of scenarios. Know an artist?
Have him/her draw a caricature of your missionary for the stationary
or business cards. These can be a very cute and personalized way
to show your missionary you care.
Wardrobe Staples
You missionary wears “mission” clothes almost every
day of the week. These will certainly wear out in time. Try sending
one wardrobe stable to your missionary once in a while to replenish
their stock. One month you could send a white shirt, the next
month a tie, the next, a pair of pants.
Tie of the Month Club
Ties are basically the only creative outlet that elders have (when
we’re talking wardrobe, that is). Why not give him a huge
selection with a Tie of the Month. Send the first tie with a special
certificate labeled “Tie of the Month,” and then send
him a new tie each month (or so) after that. Remember, there are
certain rules for ties. Be sure to check with your elder on his
rules in his mission.
You could even make your own tie.
Twelve Days of Christmas
Create a “Twelve Days of Christmas” gift for your missionary.
Wrap small presents individually in colorful solid Christmas paper.
Using a paint pen in a contrasting color, label each present from
#1 through #12. Include rules about he/she is only supposed to
open one present each day till Christmas.
Special Things They Can’t Get on Their Mission
Missionary all have favorites that they can’t get on their
missions. Find out what special things they would like that you
can ship to him/her safely. You never know how excited the little
things will mean to him/her.
“The Missionary Times” Create a Newsletter Just for
Your Missionary
Missionaries love getting news from home. Create a “The Missionary
Times” Newsletter for your missionary and include important
events about your family, city, ward, and stake. You could include
weddings, births, new jobs, sibling’s sporting events, etc.
(Note, make sure you try to keep the news uplifting. There will
be bad news you will have to include, but try to keep in brief:
Uncle Roger got his left hip replaced last week. He is doing fine
and Aunt Jill can’t wait for him to mow the lawn again.”
You get creative. You can even include pictures to spruce up your
newsletter.
You can create the newsletter in a very low tech way or very high-end.
You can handwrite and draw your newsletter, photocopying pictures
into it. You could also use a page layout program or word processor
to create a more professional one. You could even print it out
in color to give it that added flare.
Record Your Voices
There’s nothing your missionary wants more than to hear your
voice. Using a video or audio tape recorder, talk, sing, share
or whatever your missionary would enjoy. You might want to record
a Family Home Evening so your missionary will feel part of the
family.
Signed Book of Mormons and Send Them
Missionaries are constantly giving out Book of Mormons to investigators.
Why not help you missionary by having your family put their picture
and write their testimony in the front cover of several Book of
Mormons. You can even get free copies of the Book of Mormon from
your ward missionary leader to do this project. Are you the YM
or YW leader and need an activity? Why not have your mutual do
this project to send to the missionaries in your ward.
Create a Special Bookmark
Your missionary will be pouring through his/her scriptures on
an hourly basis. Why not create for them a special bookmark made
by you. Every time they flip through their scriptures they will
think of you.
Family Calendar, Make a Calendar of Mission pictures
A calendar might be something your missionary would really like
to have. Create a personalized one for him/her out of family pictures.
Take the pictures to a copy shop and have them do the rest. It’s
quick and easy. You could also make a calendar of pictures your
missionary has sent you on his/her mission. This might be a fun
memory for him/her towards the end of the mission.
Candy Messages
Okay, so this idea isn’t new, but what missionary wouldn’t
like candy?! Create some cards with special messages for your
missionary. Create messages like, “You’re a real SWEETHEART”
& “Wow, what a HUNK,” replacing the words in capitals
with the candy.
Message in a Bottle
Get a water bottle(make sure it is plastic), any size will do,
and tear off the label and put the return address and the mailing
address on it. Be creative, burn the edges of some paper to make
them look old. Put sand in it, maybe even some sea shells. Then
tape the lid on tight, and you have a very unique letter. (Note,
this idea might not be feasible for some overseas missionaries.
Do it at your own risk.)(Be sure to have the envelope weighed
at the local post office to see how much postage you will need.)
- Submitted by Mormonchic reader, Amberlee
Puzzle Perfect
Buy an inexpensive child's puzzle that is less than 30 pieces
or so (too many pieces will take too much time to assemble). Put
the puzzle together and write your letter on the back with a permanent
marker. Take the puzzle apart and place the pieces in an envelope
and mail. (Be sure to have the envelope weighed at the local post
office to see how much postage you will need.)
- Submitted by Mormonchic reader, Amberlee
Valentines Package - Great Idea for Primary Kids
Primary children in the Highland 16th Ward in Utah, USA, had this
fun idea. They sent missionaries a package for Valentines Day
that included a cassette tape of them singing "I Hope they
send Me on a Mission" and "I am a Child of God",
a huge paper heart which each child
signed and then was cut out like a jigsaw puzzle for the missionary
to put together and a white pillowcase with the words "SISTER
FOSTER" at one end and "THUMBODY LOVES YOU!" at
the other end and each child placed their thumbprint, in bright,
primary colors, all other over the pillowcase and then wrote their
name next to it. The pillowcase was the Sister Missionary's favorite
and she says it looks spectacular and on her bed and brightens
up her room.
- Submitted by Sister Foster (Canada
Winnipeg Mission)
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