Attention: Baking Gals

Round 8 is onnnn!

Your mission (please accept it!): Brighten the day of a soldier serving overseas. Our soldier for Round 8, Christian, is serving our country with the U.S. Army in Iraq. And you have the ability to bring Christian some "cheer," and to many of his fellow soldiers as well.

How? Well, it's simple. Packages from home. From YOU.

If you're a regular reader, you probably know all about this "Operation Baking Gals" business by now. So many of have participated so far, and I'm hoping you'll all be willing to do it again. And if you've never participated before, please consider joining us!

Christian is a dear friend of one of my faithful readers and fellow blogger, Amy. Once again, I hope you'll knock my socks off with your willingness to help our "Heather Drive" soldier.

All you have to do is go to http://www.bakinggals.com/, sign in (or create an account if you don't have one--so easy, it's free, and you won't get spammed by a ton of e-mails, either), and then register with Team Heather Drive - Castillo. You'll do this by clicking on "Join a Round 8 Team Here" (you must be signed in to do this). Also, please visit "Round Eight Info - Meet the Teams." There is an article in there for our team that contains details about our soldier and his story. This weekend, I'll send out an e-mail to all registered team members that includes Christian's shipping address.

DON'T BAKE? No TIME to bake? Well, that's NO EXCUSE. :) There are plenty of store-bought things that the soldiers can use and enjoy. Please visit the Baking Gals FAQ section for a list of acceptable items to send. I've been told that Christian especially likes Ramen Noodles, so you could most certainly send some of those, right? How cheap and easy could it possibly be??

Ship dates for Round 8 are May 4 through May 13, so you can basically bake (or buy!) and send starting this weekend. So preheat those ovens and start whipping together those baked goods!

Be sure to include a bit of "yourself" in your packages as well. Cards, letters, pictures... anything that will give Christian a little bit of an idea of who you are, and let him know how thankful you are for the sacrifice he is making for all of us. You may even want to include a link to your blog, or an e-mail address. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes, participants receive e-mails from the soldier they baked for!

If you are baking, there is important information for you in the FAQ section, too, including tips on how to ensure that your baked goods get there in good condition. Additional info about the organization and my experience with it so far can be found in my original post from December.

Remember, the best thing to use is a large Flat Rate box from USPS. You should be able to pick one up at your local post office (the box is free). Take it home, pack it full of as many goodies as possible, and then take it back to mail it. You'll get a discounted rate for sending it to an APO/FPO address. Unfortunately, the Flat Rate has gone up $1 (thanks a lot, USPS). Now, it normally costs $13.95 to send a large Flat Rate box, but it only costs $11.95 to send to soldiers (used to be $10.95).

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. E-mail me at roadtotheaisle@gmail.com, or leave a message in the comments. If you do that, though, just make sure to check back, because I will answer you in the comments as well.

As always, if you participate, feel free to tell me about it! If you have a blog, post about your experience--Pictures of your baking, you with your package, etc., maybe post the recipe for the goodies you made. Then send me a link to your Baking Gals blog post, or leave a link in my comments section.

That's all for now. Let's make this another successful round, shall we?

Edited to add: Last round, I know there were some problems with my e-mails (sent through the Baking Gals website) to team members getting caught in spam filters. Please be on the lookout for the e-mail with Christian's address (so check those filters!). If, for some reason, you still don't get it, please e-mail me and I'll make sure to get the address to you.