Hug in a Box: How to Send a Hug to Someone Far Away (and What to Put Inside)

We sell a $35 personalized mug gift box, printed, packed and shipped to each person's address. This guide covers the other options too.

Key facts

• Four parts: something warm, something sweet, one thing to keep, and your words.
• A "hug in a mug" packs the drink and the treat inside the mug, so the keepsake is part of the packing.
• Watch the handle. The mugs we've seen break in shipping broke at the handle, and the rim is the other weak spot.
• Mailing it yourself: USPS's retail Ground Advantage price for a parcel up to 2 lb runs from $11.30 to $19.80, depending on distance (USPS Notice 123).
• Chocolate and heat: Lake Champlain Chocolates adds insulation and gel ice packs for summer shipments and for warm places year-round (Lake Champlain Chocolates).

What is a hug in a box?

It's not a product with a rulebook. It's the name people give a small parcel that stands in for a hug when the distance is too far, or the timing too hard, to show up in person. One Reddit poster whose sister got bad health news wrote: "I already sent her a 'hug in a box' gift, which she appreciated" (r/GiftIdeas).

A care package and a hug in a box overlap, but they aim at different things. A care package stocks someone up: snacks, supplies, the things they're running low on. A hug in a box is built around one moment, the moment they open it, and what they feel then.

That's why it should be small. Ten useful things say "I shopped." Four things chosen for them say "I know you."

What to put in a hug in a box

If you only get one part right, make it the words. A specific memory ("the night we got lost driving home from your sister's wedding") does more than anything else in the box.

What to leave out of a hug in a box

• Homework. Journals, workbooks, kits to assemble, lists of affirmations. A hug asks nothing back.
• Strong scents. A candle can be lovely, or too much for someone who's ill. If you're not sure, skip it.
• Food they can't have. Surgery, treatment and new diets change what someone can eat. Ask a partner or a close friend before you send treats.
• Unpadded breakables. If it can knock against the box, it will.
• Advice. Not in the card, not in the gift. "This book changed my life" can wait.

A hug in a box for every kind of week

The hug in a mug: our version

A hug in a mug is the same idea packed into one keepsake. Our hug in a mug gift box with hot cocoa is built that way:

• The mug: one 11 oz white ceramic mug printed with a name or a few words, such as "Sending you a hug, Sam", in a choice of 3 fonts, or with a photo up to about 3 in tall, on one side or both.
• Inside the mug: a 1.5 oz packet of Ghirardelli premium hot cocoa and 4 Lindt LINDOR milk chocolate truffles.
• The card: your message and your sign-off, printed (not handwritten), in an envelope closed with a gold wax-seal sticker, lying on the gift box's lid, so it's the first thing they see.
• The box: a matte-black gift box with a magnetic lid, with black tissue inside closed with a gold "Happy Holidays" seal sticker.

The mug stands on a 2 in foam pad, held in a 1 in foam collar, with a 1 in foam pad on its rim. The gift box travels in a plain white shipping carton with crinkle around it. The label's return address shows PersonalizedGiftsDelivered.com, never your name; your name appears only on the card inside.

Choose a personal gift, add your photo or type your words, check the preview of your mug and card, add the address (or a list of addresses), and pay $35 per box. We print, pack and ship each box to its own address.

It's $35 per box, delivered, with no minimum, to the lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now. Ships within 2 business days of a complete order (your design, your address list and payment). Ships by USPS Ground Advantage or UPS Ground, with tracking, and usually arrives 2–5 business days after it ships. Delivery dates are carrier estimates, not guarantees, and run slower in mid-December.

If a box arrives broken, send us a photo within 7 days of delivery and we'll reship it free. If a box goes astray because of an address on your list, we'll reship it to the corrected address for what the reship costs us, with no markup, and tell you the amount before we send it.

LINDOR truffles contain milk, soy and barley malt (gluten); read the labels.

Can I pack a hug in a box myself?

Yes: you can pack a hug in a box yourself, and most of the risk is in the packing, not the gift.

1. Choose a box with room to spare. Leave about 2 in of padding on every side of the mug (our suggestion), not a box it just fits into.
2. Fill the mug and wrap the handle. Put paper (or the treats, bagged) inside the mug and through the handle, then wrap the whole mug. The handle is where the mugs we've seen break in shipping broke.
3. Bag the treats. Nothing loose rattling against ceramic.
4. Put the card on top. It should be the first thing they see when the box opens.
5. Shake it. If anything moves, add padding until it doesn't.
6. Ship it with tracking. USPS's retail Ground Advantage price for up to 2 lb runs from $11.30 to $19.80, depending on distance (USPS Notice 123).

Before any of that comes the shopping. For one gift, the printed mug and counter postage alone cost $28.46, before the cocoa, truffles, gift box, tissue or card (DIY cost comparison, as of Oct 29, 2026), and the parts usually come from several stores, plus a week or more waiting for supplies to arrive. A mug packed without a collar can break at the handle and must be bought, packed and shipped again. Sending hugs to a whole group? By our estimate, 25 mug gift boxes take about 9 hours of hands-on work.

With Personalized Gifts Delivered, you add your photo or type your words, add the address, check the preview and pay. We print, pack and ship each box to its own address. The four ways to get a gift to another state, compared, with what breaks and what melts: how to send a gift to someone in another state.

What to write in a hug in a box

Two or three sentences, in your voice. Each one below is under 300 characters, so it fits our printed card (up to 300 characters).

When there's nothing to say

No need to call or reply. This is just a hug that had to travel. Make a cocoa, put your feet up, and know I'm thinking about you.

When you can't be there

I can't be there, so I sent the next best thing: one cocoa, four truffles and all my love. Call me when you feel like talking, not before.

For a birthday you'll miss

Happy birthday from too many miles away. Open this on the day, make the cocoa, and call me so I can sing badly at you.

For no reason

I found a reason to send you something: it's Tuesday and I miss you. That's the whole reason.

For a hard week

I heard this week has been a lot. I don't have advice, just cocoa and chocolate. I'm here whenever you want to talk about it, or about anything else.

From a group

From all of us at Thursday book club: we miss your laugh. Consider this a hug from six people at once.

What to know before you order

• The seal reads "Happy Holidays". This season every box's tissue closes with a gold "Happy Holidays" seal; your card carries your own words, and you see it before you pay.
• The treats. LINDOR truffles contain milk, soy and barley malt (gluten); read the labels. Every box holds the same 1.5 oz packet of Ghirardelli premium hot cocoa and 4 Lindt LINDOR milk chocolate truffles, so one question to someone close to them settles it.
• Your mail carrier. Each box is $35, delivered. USPS's 2025 Holiday Ethics Guide says postal employees "can accept a noncash gift valued at $20 or less if the total value of gifts from a single customer in a calendar year does not exceed $50" (USPS News, Dec 2, 2025, read Oct 29, 2026). Its Ethics FAQ allows "A retail gift card valued at $20.00 or less" and bars "Cash or cash equivalents (money order, check, Visa or American Express gift card, etc.)" (USPS Ethics FAQs, read Oct 29, 2026). This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or check with the recipient's agency ethics official) before you send.
• Hospitals. Hospitals set their own rules about food and parcels. We ship to the address you give, so send it to their home.
• Where we ship. From New York to the lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now; no Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, other US territories, APO/FPO or international addresses. P.O. boxes are fine; they ship by USPS.
• The day it lands. Delivery dates are carrier estimates, not guarantees, so send it a few days early. Write "Open on the day" on the card: it lies on the lid, so it's the first thing they see.

Where Personalized Gifts Delivered fits: a hug that has to travel

When you can't be there, the hug has to be packed to travel, sound like you and ask nothing of the person opening it. Personalized Gifts Delivered sends it finished: your photo or a few words on an 11 oz mug, Ghirardelli cocoa and 4 Lindt LINDOR milk chocolate truffles packed inside it, and your card on the lid, sealed with a gold wax-seal sticker, in a matte-black gift box with a magnetic lid. We pack it by hand in foam, ship it to their door in a plain white carton whose return address shows PersonalizedGiftsDelivered.com, never your name, and email you the tracking number. It's $35, delivered, and one box is a complete order.

More ways to stay close from far away: personal gifts for people you love who live far away. Ready to send one? Start your order.