sending my student food in Europe

The cost of shipping will surely outweigh the extra cost of buying deo and food in Copenhagen. Perhaps your son can find equivalent items if he asks the other students what they are buying. As to some food items, sometimes ya just got to wait til you get home. Makes coming home even more special.

When I was studying abroad, I got super homesick for foods from home. I completely remember that feeling... Alas, it will likely be fairly expensive to ship a lot of food and/or heavy items like peanut butter. So, yes, putting money in the account makes more sense. HOWEVER. A girlfriend of mine who moved to Chicago from NYC got intensely homesick for a specific brand of cheese puff that doesn't exist in the Midwest. She was all alone in a new town, and just craved the cheesy goodness. We sent her a big box, filled with economy sized bags of these treats, and (1) it was so light that the shipping wasn't costly and (2) she felt immediately better and less homesick. So perhaps if there is something that isn't heavy, that would give him a "blast from home," you could send him that! (And maybe one container of deoderant... also not super heavy.)

Certainly from a $$$$ perspective, sending money is cheaper and letting him buy it there vs. buying here and shipping. The primary reason to ship is if there is specific items that he is homesick and that is a valid reason to send him some stuff. But costs in Coppenhagen for food and deodorant are significantly higher than they are in Vashon Island, WA. If his budget is based on prices back at home his is likely experiencing quite a bit of sticker shock. If that is the case just depositing more money in his bank account sounds like a better plan than buy stuff and shipping it to him. From the way you wrote the question it sounds like the latter. And he made his request because it is often easier for a kid to ask mom for a care package than an increase in allowance (even though he probably would be happier with the increase in allowance than the care package) One other reason for sending a care package instead of money is you can control what is purchased. E.g. mail him food that is healthy for him will be eaten. Sending more money for food might mean a diet of cheap unhealthy food and more money for beer.

Shipment costs of bulk items are huge. You can't just send a package like it were a package sent to his college dorm across the country. You'd need invoices, and he'll likely need to pay VAT upon collection. Add to that the fact that items that CONTAIN meat, any dairy, most semi-processed food are not allowed to enter Denmark as personal package deliveries. Then you'd have to stick with more expensive courier services. If the question is a "sticker shock", sending him extra money will do the trick much cheaper. In any case, I know the feeling: most exchange students live in areas that are far form major budget retailers (big-and-cheap supermarkets like Lidl and Aldi) and couldn't get anyway because they don't have cars. Some neighborhood stores/supermarkets are very expensive. Still, sending personal items overseas will cost far more.