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One year I did cookies and milk (small milk containers and then just a plate of peanut butter cookies).
Honestly, I’m not a big fan of mishloach manot on Purim. Things get too crazy. Last year we gave what was necessary(nice ones) and that was it. I gave more to tzedaka.
To avoid getting too many either, I try to go away for Purim. I enjoy megillah and the seudah and the spirit of Purim, but not the way shalach manot have become.
BS”D
I am with you on this one, SJS – in the US I enjoyed baking my own mishloach manos but here I can’t find ingredients or figure out my oven so all I am doing is distributing junk food that my friends already have. I don’t want any in return because we all get our stuff from the same supplier and I don’t eat that stuff.
Last year I gave only to a few friends on one side of town; this year I’ll give to my friends on the other side unless I’m in E”Y for Purim which is where I’d like to be.
i love the sholach manos…we get sometimes hundreds -its so much fun
Save your money, you’re going to get lots and lots of glossy advertisments about poor families with 23 children a dead mother and a talmid chacham who can’t make ends meet.
I used to give a bottle of Coke and an orange. We should go back to those olden times and perhaps just give to a few people. Our money is better spent elsewhere.
My mother is very creative and artistic one year she did a chocolate theme-
My mother took gold baskets and put dark brown tissue paper, put a little bottle of chochlate liquer,3 big chocolate gold coins, and she put in a little clear nosh/peckalach kind of bag with gold stars/stripes 3 chochalate chip cookies(might be wise to get it from a bakery that makes Yoshon and put a little label on the bag of cookies stating where you bought the cookies)
red,white and blue-use any bag or cute inexpensive container you may get lucky and find a container with an american theme-put in a bag of chips that has a red outside,red loly(s),red,white and blue laffy taffy’s, if you want you can add more things like a chochlate bar whose wrapping has a red,white, or blue color.
fruit/berry theme theme-fruit candies, frut wafers,fruit tea
color themes-example blue and green get a green/blue bag and fill it with inexpensive things that have the appropriate colors.
I like shaloch manos with already prepared food in. Instead of my family eating all that junk we can actually eat something substantial before the seudah.
All the ready made food that we recieve on Purim gets eaten up very quickly!
Enjoy,have fun,be creative, don’t make yourself sick over making the perfect shalach manos!
I was told by an older relative, that the minhag in Vienna was to give salamis. Since salamis are hung (just like Haman, in case you did not make that connection yourself)
Chocolate hamentashin from a bakery in the middle of Yerushalayim,
poppy seed ones from my wife … wow only six weeks!!!
ames: this thread was a great idea, i look forward to hearing everybodys ideas.$
Haman was hanged on the Second day of Pesach, not on Purim. Many have the custom to eat rauchfleisch (hung meat, i.e. smoked) on that day.
they waited a whole year before they hung him? i alway thought that the three days that they davened and fasted before esther went to achashveirosh were on pesach. so how could it be that it was the second day when they hung him?
2 years ago I gave a bottle of grape juice and a cupcake, with the following Purim Torah:
When Achashveirosh asked Haman, “what shall be done for the man whom the king wants to honor”? Haman said he shall be given the royal clothing, the royal horse, and the crown. Why three items, and why these 3? Because Haman wanted a theme of malchus, and a theme requires 3 items (hilchos chazakah). However, Achashveirosh gave him the horse and clothing, but not the crown, because Achashveirosh didn’t want there to be a theme. To celebrate the defeat of Haman in this obscure area, we are presenting a 2-item shalach manos, which by definiton cannot have a theme.
moish, the last day of the fast was on Pesach (not all three days). That night was the feast and the very last night of Haman’s life.
got it. i knew i mess up somewhere. thanks, squeak.
one purim a family came to give us mishloach manos, they were all dressed as beggers and their mishloach manos was a brown paper bag that consisted a bottle of water and 2 slices of bread. (an idea for anyone looking to save money this purim 🙂
one purim a family came to give us mishloach manos, they were all dressed as beggers and their mishloach manos was a brown paper bag that consisted a bottle of water and 2 slices of bread.
I heard of that only they were dressed as prisioners
jam19, ha ha that is really funny!!
Bas Yisroel I like the American idea. It sounds easy and can look very pretty. I just need to find a cute container. I wouldnt mind something small so I dont need too much to fill it…
Let’s go simple this Purim: the theme can be…downsizing (pay cuts, etc.) ;-(
we did the color theme last year, gave all purple items (for malchus), grape juice, purple laffy taffy, grape jelly, etc. and I wrote a poem which I printed out on lavender paper. Some years, I just do my (mom’s) hamantashen, chocolate chip cookies, grape juice ,a fruit, and a box of raisins (not this year,though :p).
I have downsized a great deal. I used to give out around 70-80 shalach manos baskets or bags every year. Now I participate in my shul communal shalach manos, and give around 30 out to really close friends and family. I also used to give out around 10 bags to elderly friends of my father-in-law O”H, on his behalf. He couldn’t make shalach manos bags up, and it made him happy to know they were getting something on Purim when they normally wouldn’t. They are all gone, now, but my kids still remember our driving to him and going around to his friends with him, before bringing him back for the seudah.
Tzippi – what a smart idea! You could enclose a note saying “In keeping with the theme of our economy, we are downsizing our shalach manos, too.” either put in only two items needing two different brachos, or put only really mini-items (tiny choclate bar as opposed to a full-size, animal cracker instead of cookies, mini bottles of booze, etc.
On second thought – boy would our neighbors feel cheated!!!!!
For many years I’ve tried to dissuade my married daughters from giving themed m’shalach manos but a “necteger tag”, no one paid any attention to me.
No exaggeration, we receive and give scores of m’shalach manos and at least half of those we receive are cleverly themed. We also receive many pre-packaged types sold by “Tzadaka” organizations, but while the contents and containers are very fancy; I enjoy the home baked/cooked items far more.
M’shalach manos were intended to not, be m’ayin, look carefully, into the kitchen of the sender but to enhance fellowship of friends and neighbors. It is a good idea though to indicate whether the “mezonos” items are yoshan.
Someone once asked my Rav in shiur what he thought of themed m’shalach manos. He responded that the question was once posed to Rav Soloveitchik by a talmud, whether themed m’shalach manos were assur to send. Rav Soloveitchik answered that themed m’shalach manos were stupid and anything stupid is assur.
What would the card say for such a theme? “May the only downsizing in our lives be in our mitzvos”???????
BS”D
How about sending the following letter in place of sholoch mones:
In keeping with the Obama Adminstration’s rapprochement with Iran, and the similarity between the present President of Iran and Homon, we wish to express our sympathy with the innocent victims of the Jewish rampage through Iranian cities during the aftermath of the events of Purim. Therefore, in the interests of tikkun (g)olam we will not be sending sholoch mones this year.
My school-aged children send their friends mishloach manos with items carefully selected to fit the theme of “favorite junk foods” (they are each allowed to send to 2 or 3 friends). Last year my oldest daughter made me very proud when she chose to send to a girl she didn’t know very well, since “that’s the reason for the mitzvah” as my daughter told me.
My husband and I don’t send elaborate mishloach manos, but neither do most of our friends. Generally we prefer to spend more on matanos l’evyonim instead.
When my kids attended a Jewish day care center, my kids and I brought mishloach manos to all of the workers, most of whom were Jewish. That was really a lot of fun, and many of the workers told me it was the only mishloach manos they received.
oomis, you only need one bracha. you know that, don’t you? two minim, but they can both be the same bracha.
Hi! My kids are dressing up as chinese men. Any cute ideas of what I can send for mishloach manos along the lines of chinese?
Gotcha, get those rice containers from a chinese restaurant and fortune cookies. Add a tea bag, soy sauce packets and chinese noodles and you are done!
gotcha-shushi:)
musiclover, i’m not really into sushi, but i think it’s japanese.
Anything stupid is assur- the Rov.
Wow. I’m sure it was a milsa debedichusa, but this line could be used to assur anything you don’t like. I think chazzanus is stupid. Chazzanus is now assur. Great quote, thanks!
Jothar,
Cute! A couple of years ago I heard of a guy that sent a bottle of beer and a package of Osem cookies tied together with a purple ribbon, with a tag saying “Beer’osem yachad techeiles Mordechai.” For all of you trying to downsize…
LAer, corny but i like it
a greit idia for Mishloach Manos: a pie pizzah for lunch
quote: a greit idia for Mishloach Manos: a pie pizzah for lunch
Got that one year with a can of coke. My friend was giving them out before mincha
coke not pepsi,do you really recieve hundreds of mishlochei manos? just wondering how?
Jothar: “Anything stupid is assur- the Rov”.
“.. but this line could be used to assur anything you don’t like. I think chazzanus is stupid. Chazzanus is now assur. Great quote, thanks!”
Jothar, yes but the Rav did not say that Chazzanus was stupid. He did say, however, that it was wrong for chazzonim to repeat words during t’fila.
From the looks of things, you probably don’t care for chazzonis (neither does my wife unless its at a live concert) so it might be assur for you to listen to chazzonis if it’s going to give you tzar.
I gave a mini deli roll and a mini bottle of chivas one year.
everyone loved that one.
other things i’ve done:
choc. chip cupcakes w/ a j&j ice coffee
xlarge oatmeal cookie w/ bottle iced tea
Choc. mint cake w/ mini can of diet coke
choc. chip cookies w/ choc. milk
ideas i’ve given others:
grilled chicken or deli salad – buy those clear round plastic salad containers, add some croutons and some dressing in separate mini containers, and you’re done
falafel – pita, falafal balls, tahini or hummus, and salad
apple turnovers and apple juice
candy sushi – rice crispy treats with licorice in the middle and fruit rollup on the outside. can use candy sticks as the chopsticks
veggie sticks, dip, and bottled water (put in a tall, clear container, sticks surrounding the water)
if you’re going to someone for the seudah, bringing along a salad trifle with a choice of dressings goes over really well.
Can’t give away what i’m doing this year, but it is meaty.
last year we didn’t have time to bake anything so we all dressed up as stewards and stewardesses and gave out a little roll, small can of tuna, small pickles, and lil can of soda and chips in an airline container. It came out adorable.
I usually give the following:
A hot dog on the bun with chili on the side
a bag of chips
a pickle
a hamantaschen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
to each the Rebbis and Morah we give:
a variety of fruits and grape juice
annonwriter, whats the kesher bet the stuff you give together or is there none and its just random and watever your in the mood of?
myshadow, cute! we recently just made packages like that for a function where the theme was “flyin high on cloud 09 (was in jan 2009)” except we filled with more nosh stuff, not tuna and pickles!
A family member once gave a really beautiful mishloach manos, with a lemon theme. She bought cheap glass pitchers in the dollar store; filled the bottom with 3 real lemons, added a lemonade snapple, yellow rock candy, 2 lemon tea bag, a little bag of lemon, yellow jelly beans and she baked cookies and topped it with yellow frosting. It looked BEAUTIFUL!
We have a relative that does the same thing every year, it always looks really nice. She buys pkgs of pretty napkins. She give a bottle of wine, a nice box of chocolates, and a pkg of pretty napkins that can enhance your purim table! She wraps it in celophane with a nice ribbon. It is very classy looking and is I am sure is not too expensive.
Phyllis, I’m just trying to do the math. A bottle of wine costs anywhere from $3 something to the sky’s the limit, a nice box of chocolates on sale will start at $2, pretty napkins might go on sale at Party City for $1, cellophane + ribbon will be I don’t know, a quarter or more? I can’t do $6 or 7 for just anyone. That by me is an expensive package.
For many years we did whole fruit, fruit baskets. They are not expensive and everyone always appreciated them. Find a nice , inexpensive basket (we used to keep our eyes open all year)(approx $1-$1.50), then pick fruit- The key here is a variety of colors: green, red, yellow, brown, orange- They do not have to be exotic or expensive. Some suggestions: apple (1 or 2 colors), pear, kiwi, grapefruit, orange, banana, try to stay away from grapes, even though they are beautiful, they take much more work and end up costing a lot more than you think they will.(we never spent more than $2-$3 depending on the size of the basket). Wrap in clear cellophane and tie with ribbon. Total cost per basket: usually less than $5. We sometimes added sparkling grape juice or wine if there was someone we wanted to spend more on.
The only problem with this is that the baskets really can not be wrapped before Purim as the gasses cause the fruit to over-ripen very quickly. But if you are the type who wraps their Mishloach Manos Purim night anyway or if you are willing to do that then this can be beautiful!
Last year we melted chocolate chips and put them in a rose mold on a sick. Tied little cellophane bags over. Put them in a small vase from the dollar store with marshmellows on the bottom. It was cute easy and inexpensive.
This year I am making Pesach at home, GASP! (have been away for the past couple of years), so I want Purim to be under control as soon as possible. I have so much cleaning to do! Since it is almost Tu B’shvat, I went today to our local kosher candy place and asked him to prepare twelve dried fruit platters with a few colorfully wrapped chocolates on them. He will vacum seal them and they will be ready tomorrow. It costs plenty but I will be DONE with shaloch manos early and can do more pesach cleaning! I have done this before and everyone LOVED it. I refuse to spend money on nosh that everyone throws in the garbage next day. Why should dried fruit be only for Tu B’shvat?
keepinentertained – i usually give things that people will like to eat and drink together. if you look at my list, all the drink bring out the flavor in the baked goods…
except the chocolate mint cake – over there, i put crushed peppermints on a white glaze, so the can of diet coke matched color-wise
One of my non-religious Jewish co-workers suggested that we give out Pesachdik food for shalach manos so that we don’t end up dumping all leftover chometz at work right before Pesach 😉
Curious: ha brilliant idea!!!
curious lol k so if I get some macaroons and ladyfingers this year I’ll know who to thank!!
If your whole family dresses up as a theme, then you might want to tie your Shalach Manos to the theme. We know someone that their family dressed up as Mexicans and they gave Salsa and Tortilla chips.
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