Hawaii Vacation Gifts by Double Brush-Hawaiian Gifts & Blog

Ship Hawaiian Gifts to APO, FPO, and PO Boxes

The first time someone wrote an APO address for me to ship to, I had to check with my local post office because I didn't know what it was. In case you also don't know what an APO address, FPO address or PO box address is, the following is a short explanation.

APO and FPO address are for US military personnel stationed overseas. The United States Postal Service (USPS) in a partnership with the Department of Defense (DoD) came up with a system called the Overseas Military Mail.

APO, stands for Army Post Office (Army or Air Force installations)

FPO, stands for Fleet Post Office (Navy installations and ships)

and followed by

AA, which stands for Armed Forces (the) Americas
AE, which stands for Armed Forces Europe
AP, which stands for Armed Forces Pacific

A typical Overseas Military Mail address looks like this:

Name Postal Service Center + Identifier APO, AP ZIP

or

Name Postal Service Center + Identifier FPO, AP ZIP

By having all Overseas Military Mail conform to the USPS domestic mailing addressing system, the USPS can easily sort and manage military mail using their sophisticated sorting and distribution machines, just like regular mail.

A PO Box simply stands for Post Office Box, you know, the rows and rows of little metal boxes you see outside of your local post office.

Many companies do not ship to APO, FPO or PO box addresses simply because they only use a private carrier like Federal Express (Fed Ex) or United Parcel Service (UPS).

UPS and Federal Express CANNOT ship to an APO address, FPO address, or PO box address.

Because we mainly ship through the US mail using 1st class or Priority mail, we can easily send Hawaiian gifts to your friends and loved ones stationed overseas. It is more work for us as we pack your Hawaiian gifts extra well, have to fill out a special custom USPS form, and double check that the address is legitimate. Of course we do not charge anything extra for providing this service.

There are some restrictions such as you cannot send anything perishable like fresh fruit and flowers. Sorry, that means no Hawaii papayas, pineapples, bouquets or leis.

However, we can send Kona coffee, macadamia nuts, Hawaiian candies, Hawaiian cookies, Hawaiian snacks, Hawaiian chocolates, Hawaiian gift baskets, Hawaiian candles, Hawaiian soaps, and more. Please visit us at Double Brush or Hawaii Vacation Gifts to see our large selection of products.

To look up restrictions for an APO/FPO zip code and for more information about APO shipping and FPO shipping, check this page at OCONUS Overseas Military Portal.

Win $10,000 Towards the Vacation of Your Choice in Hawaii

NOTE: DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS PARTICULAR SWEEPSTAKES. SEE READER COMMENT BELOW.

How would you like to win $10,000.00 towards the vacation of your choice in Hawaii? Choose your own accommodations, eat in the finest restaurants, and see and do everything on one or all of the Hawaiian Islands--it is up to you.

Enter to win a $10,000 Trip to Hawaii Better Living Sweepstakes at Sweepstakes.com

The "Better Living" Sweepstakes ends on March 31, 2009.

See all of our recent Hawaii Sweepstakes and Hawaii contests. We post a new Hawaiian sweepstakes every Sunday. For your convenience, sign up for our Hawaii blog by email or with your favorite feed reader now.

New Kona Coffee Club--Monthly Coffee Delivery Program Plan

Indulge in an affordable and convenient necessity--great tasting coffee to start your day right! By joining our Kona Coffee Club program, you will receive a bag of authentic 100% pure Kona coffee automatically shipped every month (or every other month) to your doorstep, direct from the Big Island, Hawaii. Choose from our 3 month Kona coffee delivery plan, or 6 month Kona coffee delivery plan, or 1 year annual Kona coffee delivery plan with free shipping to the mainland.

We know you are busy so we have made it convenient as possible to ensure that you receive a dependable supply of gourmet Kona coffee every month for yourself or as a gift to a family member, friend, business associate, or for a happy occasion gift such as a birthday or holiday gift. Besides the convenience of having monthly coffee home delivery or monthly coffee office delivery, you save with discounted prices of 10-20% off of our single Kona coffee package with shipping, and receive free coffee related gifts! Our wonderful Kona coffee fragranced handmade soy candle is included in your first coffee shipment, and a high quality Hawaiian design coffee mug with the 6 month or annual coffee package plan.

When you order a Big Island Kona coffee monthly club subscription online, membership saves you time by letting you choose your options once with our convenient drop down menus, and then sitting back and relaxing with confidence knowing that we will do the rest to fulfill your requirements. (Besides great prices, we promise you excellent customer service.)

With our drop down menu, choose from our all purpose grind or whole bean, the start month, monthly or ever month delivery, shipping to same address or a different one every month (flexible delivery plan).

One of the best coffees in the world with a stellar reputation is 100% pure Kona coffee from the Big Island of Hawaii. If you have never tried Kona coffee, or think you have and was not impressed, chances are you were served a Kona coffee blend. Most Kona bends use as little as 10% Kona coffee beans, and 90% inferior cheaper foreign country coffee beans. The taste difference is like night and day.

The taste of pure Kona coffee has an amazing rich distinctive flavor and aroma. This is due to the perfect growing conditions for coffee in the Kona district of Hawaii Island with its rich volcanic soil, mild island breezes, afternoon shade and cool gentle rains.

The "Farmer's Choice" brand of coffee purchases their coffee cherries direct from the many small Kona farmers here on the Big Island. This fair trade coffee is then roasted to perfection and packaged in freshness valve bags to lock in the quality and flavor, then placed in a nicely designed printed burlap bag, perfect for gift giving.

Read our other blog posts about Kona coffee and Kona coffee recipes.

Win a Hawaii Vacation Sweepstakes from Win Free Sweepstakes

This is an easy Hawaii sweepstakes to enter, but the catch is that by submitting your information, you will receive "special offers from selected third parties" so I recommend that you use a free email account, in case you get too many "offers."

It does not say when this contest expires so I am assuming it may be an ongoing contest.

By submitting the form above, you are accepting terms and you will be automatically entered into the Win Free Sweepstakes $10,000 cash prize drawing. Win Free Sweepstakes is open only to legal residents of the United States and the District of Columbia who are at least 18 years of age. These Promotions are void in Puerto Rico. Offer void where otherwise prohibited by law. Winners are responsible for taxes on all prizes. No purchase necessary to play or win the sweepstakes. Copyright © 2009 Win Free Sweepstakes. All Rights Reserved. *By submitting your information above, you will also receive special offers from selected third parties.

Enter this Hawaii Sweepstakes at www.win-free-sweepstakes.com

See our complete list of our weekly Hawaii sweepstakes postings.

We find and post new Hawaiian sweepstakes contests almost every Sunday. Give your dream to vacation in Hawaii more action by signing up for our Hawaii blog now! (Look in the far right hand column)

Hawaiian Valentine's Day Gifts and Gift Ideas from Hawaii

Valentine's Day is less than 2 weeks away--February 14. This year, if you are planning to give your Valentine or lucky someone flowers and chocolate candy, why not change it up with a tropical twist? At HawaiiVacationGifts.com and Double Brush we have a wide assortment of fresh Hawaiian flower bouquets and Hawaiian leis made with flowers grown on the Big Island of Hawaii. Anthuriums, orchid sprays, bird of paradise, exotic heliconia and tropical foliage, are all long lasting and a good value for your money. Our Hawaiian flowers will last for 2-4 weeks compared to traditional cut flower roses which only last  a few days to maybe a week.

If your Valentine sweetie has a sweet tooth, we offer all kinds of delectable chocolate candy goodness. For that touch of Hawaii, all of our chocolate candies from Hawaii are made with macadamia nuts. We carry 2 boxes of chocolates: Mauna Loa Mountains--macadamia nuts covered in milk chocolate, and Mauna Loa Clusters--Caramel and Macadamia nuts covered in milk chocolate. We also have Mauna Loa shortbread macadamia nut cookies dipped in milk chocolate and other chocolate Hawaiian treats.

How about sending him or her a bag of Valentine kisses? Our Hershey kisses chocolate candy with Mauna Loa macadamia nuts are only sold in the state of Hawaii. You can kiss someone 50 times with a bag of chocolate kisses (amount of candy kisses in one bag).

If you cannot make up your mind between flowers and chocolate candy, here's a way to send both. We can deliver to your recipient's doorstep, our completely original Hawaiian candy bouquet. Made with Mauna Loa chocolates and vintage silk flower parts, we create and assemble unique chocolate Hawaiian candy bouquets
displayed in a pretty and practical Hawaiian coffee mug instead of a vase.

If candy and flowers aren't what you had in mind for Valentine's Day, we also have handmade soy candles, beeswax candles, solid perfumes, and other delicious treats sold separately or in custom gift baskets.

Please visit our Hawaiian stores, we look forward to assisting you with your Valentine gift needs.