Hi Nathan, I love this question! It’s nice when someone thinks about ways to support the spouse at home.
There used to be more options, but Milso Box and Brave Crate have both closed shop.
Counting Our Heroes home has individual boxes or a monthly subscription box, for $46.
If you’re looking for better deals, maybe order small items on Amazon: favorite snacks, lotions or pampering items, crafts, coloring books, etc. Have them shipped to the house, and they will be surprised when they open their gifts from you!

It is great to see so many companies and organizations that send care packages to those on deployment, but are there any companies or organizations that send care packages to the military spouses/children that are at home while their spouse is on deployment? Perhaps I missed the link or comments for it or some may have just not loaded due to my currently limited internet connection. I am on my second deployment, but first deployment being married. Knowing I have my wife and son to come home to is all I need to get through the deployment, but my wife and son are going through a few medical problems and do not really have much support in their life from family or friends. I would really love to send surprise care packages to my wife and son, and getting an email from them being surprised by that and them hopefully enjoying it would very much make my deployment so much more endurable. I do not have specific items in mind to send. Perhaps ones that are free or rather budget friendly, if possible. Thank you very much!!

Is your sister in law and their children in EFMP? If so then they should be helping your sister complete her forms. She is also through the program eligible for respite care their children and help for her.

Maryellen, I’m so sorry to hear of your daughter’s passing, but I think cards to encourage military spouses would be a beautiful way to honor her memory. I have some ideas of non-profits you could connect with to start this initiative. Please email me at Lizannlightfoot@gmail.com so we can discuss it more.

You’re welcome! She should definitely continue to pursue any legal process of diagnosing her own disability and the kids’ special needs. She must also contact the local EFMP program for her military base. EFMP stands for Exceptional Family Member Program. It does not cost anything to register, but it opens doors to a variety of resources for special needs families. For example, with special needs children, she would qualify for Respite Care, which is free professional childcare or therapy a certain number of hours per week, per child. She could request that the respite care help take the children to appointments. Also, if he is Army of Air Force, there is a separate Respite Childcare program any spouse can use during deployments. That would be though the local CDC, and she would have to inquire if they can accommodate her children’s needs.
I’m not sure if EFMP offers any vouchers to help with cooking or home cleaning, but that is a good question for their local office. There is usually additional pay during deployment called the Family Separation Pay, which he will begin to see in his paycheck after he has been gone for 30 days. I strongly recommend they use that extra pay to hire a house cleaner to come in once a week, or someone to help prepare freezer meals that she could easily heat up on her own.
If they are temporarily low on funds, the military branch’s aid society (Army Emergency Relief, Navy/Marine Relief Society, etc) offers service members interest-free loans. These do need to be paid back eventually from the service member’s paycheck, but because there is no interest, it is a safe way to get emergency funds if needed. They can talk to the aid society office on base to get more details.

You’re welcome. No, I don’t believe there is a database or method to confirm deployment, besides requesting a letter from the individual service member’s chain of command. That would be tedious for them and for you. But for safety and security purposes, I don’t think we compile a list anywhere of all the deployed service members. If you find other businesses offering a similar deal, you could contact them and ask what methods they use to reach deployed troops on their site. I have a list of deployment resources here that might be a good place to start: https://seasonedspouse.com/the-giant-list-of-deployment-resources-for-military-families/