Gift ideas for Sponsor families

lovethenavy

5-Year Member
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Feb 12, 2010
Messages
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My son has been blessed to have an awesome sponsor family who does so much for him. I have ordered them food items for the holidays and had them shipped to them as well as gift cards to favorite local places. Does anyone have any ideas for something else that I could do? I am running out of ideas. They have small children as well, so I always try to send something that all can enjoy. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
I sent a Whirley popcorn popper, popcorn, popcorn oil and bowls to DS sponsor family at Christmas. They like it since they seem to be constantly popping popcorn and watching movies with mids.
 
not sure what your budget is, but a television upgrade might be something to consider, depending upon what they have now. assuming your mid enjoys watching tv when at sponsor's home.
 
Here are things we have found most useful from our years of sponsoring 4-5 mids every year, with an average of 5-7 at the house any given weekend or at the dinner table on Saturday night. We always tell our sponsor mids we don't need them to give us anything, but when they are able in future years, to do the same thing for others.

- If you are going to be seeing the sponsors, Sam's Club sized laundry detergent, snack size chip assortments, cookies, pretzel or popcorn tubs, tubs of licorice ropes, etc.
- Gift cards to Sam's Club, WalMart, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond (replace towels and sheets that get mystery stains from acne medicine and other stuff), local ice cream store (we often stop at Maggie Moo's when taking a carful of plebes back to the Yard), local grocery stores, gas stations (we did 6 trips between house, BWI and USNA during this most recent Reform).
- Gift packages with hometown specialties. Michigan parents sent a selection of great stuff from Cherry Republic. South Carolina parents sent peaches. Florida parents sent citrus fruit. California parents sent Mrs. See's candy. Pennyslvania parents sent Amish preserves and pretzels. New Hampshire parents sent maple syrup. Vermont parents sent great cheese.
- Easy-wash fleece throws for those group sofa crashes.
- And, a most memorable treat given at graduation, one family gave us a gift certificate to http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/ since we "didn't seem to get our own weekends away very often."

We currently have 5 mids booked in for 2 overnights this coming long weekend, and expect to see 2-3 plebes on Saturday, Sunday or both. We will cheerfully go into "heads and beds" mode, stock up the reefer and pantry cabinets, and enjoy the chatter punctuated by serious winter napping. :shake:
 
It's a great thing all the sponsor families do! My DS is still waiting to hear if he gets accepted. If he does, I certainly hope he ends up with as terrific a sponsor family as you seem to be. Thanks for all you and the other families do for the mids.
 
Capt MJ, thanks so much for the wonderful ideas, knowing what is appreciated from a sponsor directly certainly helps! My son has been blessed with an amazing sponsor family and its difficult to express how thankful we are for them!
 
It's our pleasure to support the mids in this way. The sponsor program is not for every mid, depending on their personalities and needs. We lose a few each year and gain adoptees, but for those we can provide a "we get it" ear and a friendship that lasts for years, it's rewarding on both sides. We are not replacement parents, but perhaps their first adult friends/mentors in their military career. I can happily announce we just welcomed #13 and #14 sponsor "grandson and granddaughter" to an '05 "daughter" and an '06 "son," in December and January. We have also formed lasting friendships with some of the parents, who still want to come back to Annapolis though their son or daughter is 10 years gone.

Oh...and one family gave us a chocolate fountain. We tend to break that out during the Dark Ages, line up the fruit, pound cake and peanut butter filled pretzels and have a group event. I'm not sure I would ever have gotten a chocolate fountain, because it's rather a pain to store and clean, but the pictures of chocolate-smeared laughing faces are usually worth the couple of times a year we use it.
 
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Capt MJ:

I want to take a moment to thank you and your family for your efforts as a sponsor. Our daughter will be mid as a part of the class of 2015, and I can only hope that she is fortunate enough to have a sponsor family as caring and thoughtful as you folks.

Best regards.
 
:smile: Thank you Capt. MJ for the great advice and for being a sponsor. I don't know what my son would do without this wonderful family that has done so much for him this year. I love the ideas that all of you have given me. I know that he is taken care of and that means the world to our family! Keep those great ideas coming and I should be good to go for at least the next four years! :thumb:
 
Oh...and one family gave us a chocolate fountain. We tend to break that out during the Dark Ages, line up the fruit, pound cake and peanut butter filled pretzels and have a group event. I'm not sure I would ever have gotten a chocolate fountain, because it's rather a pain to store and clean, but the pictures of chocolate-smeared laughing faces are usually worth the couple of times a year we use it.

This would have been my gift to you if you were DS' sponsor! (I own a chocolate fountain rental business) Let me know if you ever have questions or problems with it! And the secret to cleaning--keep the fountain running as you drain the leftover chocolate into a microwaveable container, once empty, turn off, wear gloves, disassemble into empty sink and "melt" the chocolate off by spraying with the hottest water possible. Putting it into a sink full of warm soapy water just makes a bigger mess! :thumb:
 
falconchic88, thanks for the chocolate fountain "gouge." There's only so much chocolate we can all eat before we say "gah," and have to deal with clean-up.

Enough thanks from everyone :wink: - we get plenty of hugs, postcards from around the world, Facebook notes and invitations to weddings, christenings, winging ceremonies and promotions to make it all worthwhile. Had our hearts warmed this past month when we went to a sponsor daughter's change of command ceremony, and she used my husband's Command at Sea pin. It was time for the pin to go back to sea anyway and renew its saltiness, and it was great to see someone who used to struggle with navigation at the kitchen table saying the words "I have assumed command...."
 
Tried to PM you but no luck. Hope it was a great visit.
 
Our Sponsor Family (dad a USNA grad too) was AMAZING and still host our now 2ndLT grad since she is still close by. They are a wealthy family with much more than I could ever hope to get for them. So I decided to give them a 'local' gift from our area of San Diego/SoCAL. Everyplace that is a trademark, be it Disneyland, or SeaWorld, or the Zoo, etc - I would buy things for different family members. I also bought San Diego t-shirts in each person's size. I ordered a customized USNA tote bag which our local Parent Club was doing as a fundraiser, knowing that they would not have THIS one.. put in several California winery bottles of wine, too.At Commissioning Week I presented the family with this large, overflowing basked of San Diego/CA items. They seemed genuinely excited. So maybe that's another tact to think about.
 
Love the idea of "local" gifts for sponsor famlies ... thanks for posting!
 
Capt MJ:

I want to take a moment to thank you and your family for your efforts as a sponsor. Our daughter will be mid as a part of the class of 2015, and I can only hope that she is fortunate enough to have a sponsor family as caring and thoughtful as you folks.

Best regards.

I also would like to thank you for sponsoring these kids. Our son will be mid for 2015 as well and it brings comfort knowing that there are people out there giving our kids a place to go that isn't a part of the academy:redface:
 
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