When Philippine national Toni Ariza was a child, she used to love opening the huge gift boxes that her mother would send home from the Middle East, where she worked.
Now, the 30-year-old works in Singapore as a housekeeping coordinator in a hotel and it is her turn to carry on the tradition that has become a part of Filipino culture.
Known as "balikbayan" boxes, these parcels are typically shipped by overseas Filipinos to friends and family back home, especially during the festive season at the end of the year.
"The festive period starts in September, when Filipinos start to buy things for their loved ones at home," said Ms Rose Sharon Tordesillas, country manager for LBC Express Airfreight.
The company, which has a branch in Lucky Plaza, receives around 100 boxes in quiet months, and more than double that during the peak season.
Ms Slade Telan, manager at K. C. Dat Balikbayan Express, said her firm collects about 30 boxes a day during the non-peak season. In busy months, this can go up to 40 or 50 boxes.
Balikbayan boxes come in a variety of sizes, ranging from smaller parcels to jumbo cartons big enough to fit a television set.
They are shipped by sea and can take several weeks to arrive at their destinations.
Unlike conventional shipping companies that charge by the weight of parcels, couriers typically charge according to the size of the box and where in the Philippines customers want their boxes to go.
"We don't go by weight, we go by volume," Ms Telan said. "You are paying for whatever you can fit into the box, and it's good to go."
She added: "Some of our customers even send boxes home every month."
The word "balikbayan" refers to Filipinos living overseas. According to the latest available data from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, there were around 10 million Filipinos living overseas in 2013.
Two per cent of them - or around 200,000 - were living or working in Singapore.
Balikbayan boxes are rarely filled with expensive gifts. Instead, many Filipinos fill them with food, clothes and daily items.
"I pack things like dried goods, canned food, old clothes from my employer and chocolate, which my children like," said domestic helper Racquel C. Pascual, 37.
Ms Pascual has two teenage children and has gone home only three times in the eight years that she has been working here.
Meanwhile, freelance video editor Dinx Carin has filled her box with Singapore-themed items such as instant laksa and mee goreng, instant coffee sachets and bak kut teh spice mixes.
"These are for my mum," said the 46-year-old, who is a permanent resident here. "Every time I go back home, she will ask me to send these to her.
"It's not about what we put inside the boxes but the thought behind them. It's one of the ways of showing how we care and how much we miss our family back home," Ms Carin said.
