How to Simplify Making Mishloach Manot (Basket of Treats) for Purim

By Jennifer Babich, Contributor

Of all the Jewish holidays, Purim has always been a favorite! As a child it stood out among all the rest- a day of pure fun and joy, celebrations, treats, costumes and feasts. Purim is the day that the Jewish people celebrate a miraculous turn of events in which we went from having our very existence threatened to being saved an celebrated. Each year on this joyful day we commemorate this miracle with four practices. We hear the story read aloud from a megillah, or a scroll, in synagogue; give charity to the poor; partake in a joyous feast; and give out baskets of treats to friends and family called mishloach manot.

How to Simplify Making Mishloach Manot (Basket of Treats) for Purim | The Mama Maven Blog

The last practice of giving mishloach manot, the delivering of food packages to fellow Jews, is the one that the “wannabe pinterest mom” deep within me struggles with the most. The simple law is to give two other foods to another Jewish person. Sounds straightforward and easy enough right? Well living in a thriving Jewish community has so many perks! It also exposes me to some of the most creative and genius minds out there- MOTHERS! Mothers who have devoted months to organizing and coordinating costumes for the entire family. The costumes are complimented by thematically appropriate mishloach manot hand delivered by the costume clad children!

When last years’ snow storm hit on Purim I figured we would just sit tight. I was wrong! One of the brave individual who came out was my amazing friend Robin who plowed through a blizzard with her 4 wheel drive. When she stopped, a piñata clad child hopped out to deliver a miniature handmade piñata with accompanying instructions. When my children dressed as Elsa (very original I know) and a pajama wearing pirate (his idea not mine) pulled on the strings, they were showered by candy! We quickly handed the piñata a generic goody bag and turned our heads in shame.

This year when my friend Jenny, another true thematic mastermind, ran an idea about ballerina lolly pop bouquets by me, I knew that I was in over my head. While some people are made for this and help enhance the holiday for all of the rest of us, the time had finally come for me to accept my role as bystander and just let the mother geniuses do their jobs!

How to Simplify Making Mishloach Manot for Purim

This year I decided I was going to simplify Purim. It is on a weekday, meaning my husband will be at work and unable to help with the festivities. With a birthday girl born the day after the holiday and an active role in a community wide fundraiser for the holiday, I decided to take my new “simplified Purim philosophy” in stride. My family will still celebrate and have a wonderful day, but Pinterest shall remain unopened as I follow my own, newly established guidelines:

How to Simplify Making Mishloach Manot (Basket of Treats) for Purim

Let the children choose their own costumes from the array of costumes already hanging in their closet. We will all be happier!
Participate in the community wide mishloach manot fundraiser that I am dedicating so much energy to! All of the people that I am able to send to there do not need another bag of goodies from me.
Take pride in my generic goody bags! And while I am at I will keep them simple and small. One trip to Costco this year for all of my shopping needs. I picked out a few items that I thought my kids’ friends would enjoy and stopped there.
Relish the benefit of simplicity! Since the packaging is so simple, I have free labor at my disposal. My almost 7 year old could easily guide his sisters, ages 5 and 2, as they put the snacks in the bags. I will resign my desire for uniformity and simply shake it off if an extra Laffy Taffy winds up in a bag! My daughter also proved herself quite skilled at placing the labels with our names on the bags.
Participate in the “moms night out”. This is a genius idea where all of the pre-K moms gather with a contribution and make a goody basket to bring home. On Purim we each deliver to one child in the class on behalf of the whole class and call it a day. No need to make 19 stops!

As my kids and I make our final preparations for the holiday and I live by my own philosophy, I have resolved to sit back and appreciate the amazing efforts of others. I can dedicate my organizational strengths to where I can truly make a difference instead of making a meager attempt at living up the high standards set by friends and neighbors that I can only call “artists” . I hope that when my kids get older they will look back at the fun they had in their amazing community!