Lauras Care Packages
I am currently on furlough in the US for 2011 so PLEASE DON’T send anything to Vanuatu for this year. If you desire to help with care package sorts of items during my furlough, the following practical things would be a blessing:
- Straight Talk (Walmart no-contract cell phone) monthly top-up card
- Gas card
- Gift card – Walmart/Amazon
Otherwise, drop me a postcard, letter, pictures drawn by your kids, or picture of you and your family! My snail mail address for this year is:
Laura Thulesen
214 Cemetery Rd
Miles City, MT 59301
- PLEASE NOTE BELOW IS FOR 2012 ONLY -
CARE PACKAGES: For Vanuatu in 2012:
Please e-mail me with questions or for specifics at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
- Dry bags (to keep items dry when transporting between villages or islands)
- First aid kit item refills
- Spray sunblock or any non-greasy sunblock
- Hard capsule sugar-free chewing gum
- Dried fruit
- Chocolate chips
- Female products (e-mail me for details)
- Taco seasoning, Ranch dressing packets, marinade packets
- Crank flashlights
- Bandanas
- Yummy lotions (small bottles)
- Music (iTunes cards)
- DVDs
- Ziplock freezer bags
- Chocolate
- Lindt Lindor milk chocolate truffles
- Hershey bars
- Reeces peanut butter cups
- Milky Ways
Thank you so much for giving us a taste of home!!
Notes: please mark all customs forms as “gift” and keep value below $75 so we don’t need to pay duty, be general on description of items. Anything described as “food items” gets quarantined so please mark as “sweets” or “baking items”. (Animal products are their concern here.)
My VANUATU address:
Laura Thuleson
PO Box 7011
Port Vila
VANUATU
South Pacific
HOW TO SEND A CARE PACKAGE TO VANUATU:
Please read the following guidelines before sending a package, and check back often as we will be updating them as we gain more experience.
• Please fill out the customs forms provided by the shipping company as completely and accurately as possible. It is best to mark everything as "a gift".
• Vanuatu charges a Value-added Tax (12.5%) and Duty (5-45%) on all items that are shipped into the country. Thankfully, the Custom's Dept has determined that packages valued under 10,000 vatu are exempt from these charges. With the current exchange rate, that means packages valued under USD$85 will not have these fees. Thus, we request that all packages be valued at less than $85.
• USPS, FedEx, DHL and UPS are the available means of shipping items from the States. USPS is the cheapest, but does not offer any type of tracking services as the other three do. We have found the postal system to be fairly reliable, but a few packages have arrived very late.
• Typically, air parcels/letters arrive in 12-15 days. (Surface shipping is not available in Vanuatu.)
• If you are shipping anything glass, please wrap the item(s) extremely well.
• If your package requires some filling, please consider using Zip lock bags or paper towels, as they are very useful to us.
* It is wise to pack everything in zip-lock bags as it is extremely humid here and it could damage anything if (when) exposed to humidity.