Military Homecoming Gift Ideas

After months of deployment, your service member is finally coming home. The best military homecoming gift gives them rest, their favorite comforts and time with the people who waited, without too much noise. Here are 12 ideas for the arrival day and the first weeks back. Our honest top pick is a song about their homecoming, because it holds the whole story of the months apart in one place.

Hear a real Songbond song before you choose

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry their name and your stories.

12 military homecoming gift ideas

1. A song about their homecoming ($39.90). The calls at odd hours, the things the kids learned while they were away, the first meal you promised them. Songbond turns your stories into an original song, ready within 24 hours. Play it on the drive home from the base.
2. The meal they have been craving. Ask what they miss most and have it waiting: a steak, a pizza from the hometown place or a parent's lasagna. Usually $20 to $60.
3. A homemade sign for the arrival. Big letters, their name and a line from the kids. Make it large enough to read from across a crowded hangar. Under $20, and it ends up in every photo.
4. A night in a good hotel. A quiet room, a big bed and no alarm. Usually $150 to $300.
5. Civilian clothes that fit. Weight and taste can change on deployment. A pair of jeans, a few shirts and comfortable shoes. Usually $60 to $150.
6. A deep-tissue massage. For shoulders that carried heavy gear for months. Usually $80 to $130.
7. Their car, serviced and washed. A battery check, an oil change and a clean interior, so it is ready the day they want to drive. Usually $100 to $200.
8. A photo book of what they missed. School plays, birthdays, the dog's new trick. Add a line under each photo in the kids' own words. Usually $40 to $80.
9. A cabin weekend with no schedule. A place to decompress, just the two of you or the whole family. Usually $200 to $500.
10. Tickets to a game with their friends. Once they are ready for crowds. Usually $60 to $150.
11. A backyard cookout with the people who matter. Small and casual, with no speeches. Let them run the grill if they want to. Usually $50 to $100 in food.
12. A quiet weekend, protected. Ask the relatives to wait a few days before they visit. Free, and sometimes the most welcome gift of all.

How to choose a homecoming gift

Ask their spouse, a close friend or someone who has been through a homecoming before. Everyone comes back differently, and the same person can want a crowd one week and silence the next.

• If they want people around: the cookout, the game tickets and the arrival sign.
• If they want quiet: the hotel night, the cabin weekend and the protected weekend.
• If there are kids at home: the photo book, the meal and the song.

Plan the first days home gently

The first days back are an adjustment for everyone. A loud surprise party can be too much, and so can a calendar full of visits. Let them choose when to see people and where to eat. Keep the house calm and give them easy decisions, like which movie to watch. Expect sleep to be off for a while, and do not take it personally if they need time alone. Save big gifts and events for a few weeks later, once they have settled. A song works in both moments: played quietly on arrival day, or shared later with the whole family. Fill it with the small things from home they told you they missed.

Make a song for their homecoming

Create a homecoming song for your service member. It is ready within 24 hours, or in about an hour with express delivery, so it works even if the date moves.

Also in the Journal: military homecoming songs and songs for a military spouse.