Shaloch manos (and costume) gallery 2022

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You may be wondering why this post has 2022 in the title, right?

With the Jewish holiday of Purim coming up in a month, I thought it was time to catch up on my Purim gallery posts. I missed my 2022 post because we lost a close family member at Purim time. And somehow the past year has been so busy I have not blogged much at all.

Purim is one of my favorite Jewish holidays, second to Sukkot. I love preparing costumes and shaloch manos and doing things together as a family. For the past 7 years we have done a family costume with matching shaloch manos.

OUR COSTUMES:

We agreed again to do a family costume, but it was hard to come up with an idea that everyone agreed on. I suggested that a game costume might be fun. What game have we all played and my boys love? Settlers of Catan! I could not find any instructions online, but did find two photos of costumes other people had made for this game. We used that as inspiration and headed to the craft store.

Here is how we recreated the costumes:

MATERIALS:

• Foam boards – Dollar Tree
• Acrylic paint*
• Foam paint brushes*
• Hot glue and glue gun*

For the brick resource:

• Burgundy felt*
• Construction hat
• Reflective vest (Amazon)

For the wood resource:

• Fake eucalyptus branches*
• Wood chips*
• Aluminum foil (for the ax)
• Thick string (wound around the ax handle)
• Foam board scraps (cut to make the ax) – Dollar Tree
• Flannel shirt

For the ore resource:

• Small rocks*
• Aluminum foil
• Foam board scraps (cut to make the pick)
• Hard hat
• head lamp

For the wheat resource:

• Dried wheat grass*
• Straw hat
• Flannel shirt

For the sheep resource:

• Fake grass*
• cotton balls (Dollar Tree)
• Straw hat*
• Broom handle (to represent a staff for sheep)

For the robber:

• Sand*
• beret

My husband cut the foam boards down to hexagons. He is great at technical things like this, so it was a great task to delegate! We had a family craft night and each of us painted our foam hexagon to match the resource piece from the game. We let them dry for a night before adding the other materials. We then glued on various items to again match each resource or piece (see above). We chose matching clothing as well. All items with an * were purchased at Michaels.

OUR SHALOCH MANOS:

For the matching shaloch manos, I tried to find food items that matched each resource. This was no easy task, especially when you are looking for kosher items. We included the above note (made in Microsoft Publisher) with the description of the foods/meaning and hectures of all the food items (on the inside of the card).

MORE WONDERFUL SHALOCH MANOS:

My favorite Purim tradition is to highlight all the creative shaloch manos and costume ideas that we received or saw during the holiday. We always enjoy opening each generous shaloch manos, photographing them, and sorting the contents. Check out the wonderful ideas our friends and community members had!

PEOPLE:

Pilgrims – Our friends Bella & Yosef always come up with a great historical or geographical theme each year. They find great costumes and prepare goodies that coordinate perfectly with them. This year was no different! They were Pilgrims and included fall-themed Kit Kats, a pumpkin muffin, and candy corn jelly beans.

Reaching everyone – Our Early Childhood director at the school where I work made shaloch manos for the Early Childhood staff with the inscription: “To the Morah who reaches everyone – the sweet, the salty, the crunchy, the soft, the bubbly – thank you for all you do!” She included chips, fruit bars, fruit/nut mix, fruit leather, and Trader Joe’s jelly beans in a beautiful utensil sorter. So clever!

Marathon runners – R’ Gershon & Shayna included everything a runner might need for before and after a run – a fig bar, a fruit leather, trail mix, water, and granola bites.

PLACES:

Mexican – Our friends Alberto & Karen made a Mexican feast for friends to enjoy. They included Mexican peanuts, tortilla chips, guacamole, beer, tequila, apple juice, beans, sour cream, salsa, rice, hot tamales, churros, and Mazapan! Delicious!

Ukraine – Our friends Angela & Tzvi made their shaloch manos in honor of Ukraine, complete with products from the country: a sponge, hamantashen, vodka, a duster cloth, and sunflower oil.

TIME OF DAY OR MEAL:

Breakfast – Our friends Shanna & Yaakov made homemade frappucino and a layered yogurt cup; and Rochel & R’ Daniel made their meal complete with tuna, a bagel, and orange juice.

Lunch – Who doesn’t love a ready-made meal? Our friends Korey & Scott always make homemade borekas and this year she included olives and soda. Debbie & David always make a delicious pizza that everyone in the house fights over!

French Picnic – Our friends Ben & Nikki made a French feast complete with wine, cheese, and croissants.

JEWISH:

Four mitzvos in a bag – Tzipporah & R’ Binyomin focused on the major components of the holiday including a fruit roll up for megillah, challah roll for the seuda, a bag of jelly beans for mishloach manos, and chocolate coins for mattanos l’evyonim. Very clever!

LOVE:

Wedding (Black & White) – R’ Yitz & Racheli made a very elegant shaloch manos with a beautiful card, too! They included black and white taffy, jelly beans, lollipops, gumballs, a hamantashen, and a ring pop.

Be Kind – Our friends Vicki & Marc made their shaloch manos coordinate with a great motto to live by. They included Kind bars (Being kind), Hugs and Kisses (Show love), and hamantashen (Have simcha). They wore matching “Be Kind” tie-dye shirts.

Love is in the air – Jessie & Daniel were planning a wedding for one of their children, so the love theme seemed appropriate. They chose heart-shaped items and nuts to go along with the poem they wrote for the occasion.

ANIMALS:

Bunny – Our friends Devora & Jonathan dressed up as bunnies and gave their friends a bunny eraser, carrot container, grape juice, carrot seeds, and baked goods.

ELEGANT and HOMEMADE BAKED GOODS:

Several of our friends and community members gave us elegantly-packaged baked goods! These are always great for a treat or Shabbos dessert!

OTHER THEMES:

Jokes – R’ Yosef & Mimi created a very clever joke-themed shaloch manos with foods matching each of the jokes they included!

The Gold Standard – Our younger boys’ school made shaloch manos relating to their theme of the “Gold Standard in Education.” It included a can of Bartenura wine, a unicorn pop, chocolate coins, gold-sprinkled hamantashen, dried fruit, gummy bears, and Rolled Gold pretzels. The packaging and gold touches made for a beautiful presentation, too!

Medicine – Elana & Jimmy went with a medical theme this year giving Kool-Aid in a blood bag and m&ms in a pill bottle! Sounds like good medicine to me!

Purimopoly – R’ Mendy & Daniela created a very original Purim version of Monopoly! Their homemade cookies were delicious and beautiful! They included raisins, a colorful candy cane, a ring pop, homemade cookies, and water.

If you want some inspiration for your own costumes and shaloch manos, click here for my past Purim posts.

Please share your clever ideas in the comments section!