What's In The (Balikbayan) Box!? – Common Items OFWs Ship Home

All OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) love sending home products and items in the form of a 'balikbayan' – literally 'repatriate' – box. This is typically a 2-by-3-by-2-foot cardboard box stuffed fit to burst with all sorts of items – food, clothes, gadgets, and so on – that the Filipino worker saw fit to buy and send back home to his loved ones.

So when one sees a Filipino online shopping in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or to any coutries, it's safe to assume that he or she is probably shopping for his or her family back home. Here's a list of goodies commonly found inside a typical balikbayan box.

Chocolates and Candies

We are a race of sweet-toothed human beings. Even the stuffiest of Filipino dentists can't help but dance in delight (on the inside) when they see the mountains of chocolates crammed in that box. Whether the brands sound classy – think Van Houten, Lindt, or Ferrero Rocher – or simple and familiar – like Hershey's Kisses, Smarties and Nestle Crunch – the excitement of sugar-overload remains the same.

Cosmetics

These items are usually for ate (older sister), tita (aunt), and mommy dearest. Love – or at least excitement – for beauty creams, lipsticks, eyeshadows, and perfume is an integral part of the female genetic make-up. Even if the brands – like Maybelline and E.L.F – are readily available in the Philippines, everyone loves freebies. Seeing a mountain of it blush powder alongside the Tobleron just adds to the oooh! factor. 

 

Canned Goods

If you have a relative working abroad, prepare your pantry. If chocolates and cosmetics are common items found in balikbayan boxes, canned goods are staples. It isn't really a b-box if there aren't stacks of canned corned beef, luncheon meat, Campbell's soup, and sardines inside. And of course, what follows the cans are the chips and cookies. Piles of Cheerios, Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Pringles, Lays and Ruffles are the cushioning around the other box items.

Clothes and Shoes

Usually bargain-basement finds, but whose complaining? Rolled up and stuffed in the corners of the b-box are t-shirts, blouses, sweaters, shorts, and socks – usually bought with a 'whoever likes it can have it' mentality. It's not the brand that counts so much as the fact that it was sent with love. And it's free! We Filipinos do love our freebies. Slightly used Nikes and Addidas get mixed in with the fray as well, for the basketball-loving kuya (older brother) and bunso (youngest child) following in kuya's footsteps.

Miscellaneous Items

Also known as the item that broke the “C” pattern, Filipinos often include – among others – the following items in their typical balikbayan box: gadgets, worn appliances (that can be fixed at home), books, DVDs, cheesy souvenirs (think keyrings and magnets), alcohol, oddly-shaped cookie jars (for all the cookies they sent) and the occasional bundle of toiletries.

With all the kababayans (countrymen) working abroad, how come a good chunk of the b-box items are similar? No one knows. Maybe there's a common overseas Filipinoworkers online grocery store where all OFWs log on to discuss the next ingenius surprise they want to stuff in that poor box. Maybe balikbayan boxes are just pre-packaged, and no one's saying anything. Whatever the answer, there's no denying that the balikbayan box has become an important part of the Filipino culture.