care package

A package or parcel containing food, clothing, or other items sent to someone who lives or is spending time away from home, such as a college student, a child in summer camps, or a person living abroad. The treats my mom sent in her care packages really helped me get through my first year studying in Italy.

A gift package of food or other items not readily available to the recipient, as in While I was in college, Mom sent me a care package of homemade cookies just about every month . This term originated after World War II with CARE, an organization founded to send needed food, clothing, and other items to war-torn nations. By the 1960s the term had been transferred to sending packages of treats to children at camp, students away at school, and the like.

A gift parcel. CARE, the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, was an organization that sent more than 100-million cartons of foodstuffs to war-torn Europe from the end of World War II through 1962. The phrase was picked up by soldiers, college students, and sleepaway-camp campers for any gift of goodies they received by mail from home.