Frugal & Creative Mishloach Manot Ideas, Part 2

Did you catch Part 1 of Frugal & Creative Mishloah Manot Ideas yesterday? Aren’t my readers AWESOME? I love every single one of the ideas.

I’ve got even more today, so sit back, grab a drink and dig in. If you’re at a loss for Purim mishloach manot ideas, you won’t be by the time you finish reading this post!

Homemade Kettle Corn by Rivky

We make homemade kettlecorn with nuts. We were given a stove top popcorn maker as a gift (so free). Unpopped popcorn is crazy cheap. Sugar is cheap and we put in peanuts, which are the cheapest of the nuts. We put them in those movie popcorn boxes, which I buy in bulk online for $11 for about 100-150. We started doing it when we lived in Israel, when we really had no money at all and people like it so we have kept doing it. For a second food item, I generally buy Halloween candy on sale and stick  it in the box.

How Does Your Garden Grow? by Ellen

Last year, we made a garden. We took large clear plastic cups and filled the bottom half with mini chocolate cookies (dirt) and then filled the top half with different shades of green jelly beans (grass). We added gummy worms on top and stuck in a flower lollipop.

Sushi by Sora

Photo Credit: Candy Warehouse (not Sora’s picture)

The most fun thing I ever did was candy sushi! To make candy sushi: buy fruit roll-ups in your favorite flavor. Next, make rice crispy treats according to directions. After the rice crispy treats are made spread them out on top of the fruit roll-up.

Next, you have to add your ”veggies”! You can use any candies you would like. Licorice, gummy worms and jelly beans are good choices. Place the candies in the middle of the sushi and roll it up. After it is rolled up cut the roll into pieces and place in a container. Along with the sushi, I sent some chopsticks and soy sauce. The chopsticks were log pretzels and for soy sauce, melted chocolate. It was a huge hit and lots of fun to make!!

Curious George by Adina

The only food I put in were bananas and home-made hamentaschen, but I bought a big stack of paperback Curious George books from Barnes and Noble during a sale. Then I found, online, for free, a lot of Curious George activities – coloring pages, crossword puzzles, etc, and the story of the creation of Curious George – the life of H.A Rey. (He and his wife escaped from the Nazi’s on bicycles, just hours ahead of them. They only took a few manuscripts with them.)

I also made up a story in the Curious George style about George getting into trouble in Purim. I formatted it to look like a real book (matching font, curious george clipart) and personalized it from my family. Everything was packaged in a white paper gift bag- the kind you can buy in bulk.

Up, Up & Away by Aviva

Our theme was travel/airline. If you do this, you can even dress up as a stewardess or pilot. I put all our mishloach manot items inside a “barf bag” (unused, of course), which I had collected a few from when i flew. Otherwise, use a white lunch bag. Inside were a bottle of water, a bag of peanuts, pretzels and a napkin from the airline (my parents flew to Israel, I had them grab me a whole bunch of napkins from Continental). For the tag, we scanned in a real boarding pass but then changed the info on it.

Reuse & Recycle by Sara

This year, we are collecting mushroom containers from our neighbors to use as baskets and will be wrapping them in the fun colored saran wrap. We will also be giving in our packages lots of tea bags…all of the wrapped bags that we have bought over the last year that we didn’t like!!

Flower Bouquet by Sara in Akko

{You must enlarge this photo and check out the incredible detail! Wow!!!}

This year, our family will be sending a “flower bouquet” of goodies to everyone. I bake ahead of time in large batches and freeze for simplicity. This year’s cookies are plain sugar cookies on sticks, but mounted with Gerber Daisies made of sugar dough (gum paste in the US). The smallest bit of sugar dough goes a long way and I can make a few dozen flowers a night. Plus, once they dry they don’t go bad and can be used any time if kept in airtight tupperware.

I’ll also be making butterfly cookies on sticks and some bumblebee cake-pops because one batch will be enough to decorate a dozen baskets. Homemade caramel corn is kind of rare and unknown in Israel, so this will act as the stuff to hold up the flower cookies and other elements (edible dirt I guess).

I’m crafting an Anne Geddes-like photo of my children sitting inside flowers (simple photoshop trick)  to make a family wine label to cover the tiny cheap bottles of grape juice and act as the Purim note in each bouquet.

The whole thing goes into little metal pails that I found in the Israeli version of a dollar store. Viola!

Comfort in a Cup by Shorty

I was going for a comfort theme for the ladies I learn with.  I took a coffee cup (package bought at the dollar store), bought a bag of Hershey kisses, a box of mint green tea (individually wrapped), and a box of Oreo wafer cookies, that come two in a package in the box. The dollar store also happened to have these cute napkins with masks on them, perfect for Purim, so i used one to jazz up each cup.  I probably spent less than $20 on everything. In each cup, I put in a couple of Hershey kisses, a package of the Oreo cookies, and a tea bag, along with the following poem that I found online:

When your day seems topsy turvey
And as stormy as can be
There’s nothing quite as tranquil
As a nice hot cup of tea

While you savour this ambrosia
Your problems fade away
Its warmth will bring you comfort
And brighten up your day

So take a private moment
There’s a calmness as you’ll see
All because you briefly stopped
To sip a cup of tea

-Anonymous

The Wizard of Oz by Tali

The year I was in eight grade was the year I dressed up as Dorothy. I convinced my mother to let me put together Wizard of Oz-themed mishloach manot for the whole family to give out. Wrapped inside green cellophane (reminiscent of the Emerald City) were the following items, accompanied by a poem to explain it all:

  • Miniature water bottles (to kill the Wicked Witch)
  • Straws for the Scarecrow
  • “Munchkin” donut holes from the Dunkin Donuts branch that still had a hechsher in those days
  • M&M’s for “Auntie Em”
  • Hershey’s kisses (shaped like the Tin Man’s hat)
  • Because I needed to somehow incorporate the ruby red slippers, I painted jumbo Barbie shoes (thank you, Oriental Trading) with red glitter paint and stuck those in for good measure

***

Wow! Did I tell you these ideas were awesome?!

So, can you pick a favorite? It’s tough, I know! Leave me a comment telling which mishloach manot idea you like best – bonus points for creativity, frugality and originality 😉

Don’t worry if you picked a favorite yesterday – you can pick another one today!

Remember, the reader who submitted the idea with the most comments will win a $10 giftcard to Amazon from me!

Comments

  1. Carin Gottlieb says

    Love the Wiz idea!

  2. I love this idea! It is so creative! This one is definately my favourite!

  3. So I’m debating between Sushi by Sora, Curious George by Adina and
    Up, Up & Away by Aviva
    In a way I LOVE that Adina gave bananas and home-made Oznei Haman which kinda remind me of “The Man’s” big yellow hat so its really cool + all the work she put into the book… amazing !

    Up, Up and Aways boarding pass is really great too and she gets points for making peanuts, pretzels and water so much fun!

    but I think the one I would most want to eat is the Sushi 🙂

    Thanks for posting all these fun ideas I really enjoyed reading them;)

    Daniela
    http://isreview1.blogspot.com

  4. Oh my, the Curious George idea is just especially wonderful in a list of great ideas! I love Aviva’s idea because it is unique, not too much junk food, most of the “goodies” are food for thought – plus we get to learn about the Reys. And a Curious George/Purim story, to boot! (And, it’s not too expensive)

  5. my vote goes to the wizard of oz idea!!

  6. I love comfort in a cup…I was thinking of something like that after reading the hot chocolate in a bottle entry yesterday, and that is exactly what I will plan to do this year. Thanks for sharing all of these great ideas.

  7. These are all great ideas, but the candy sushi is my personal favorite. Any of these talented people are welcome to be in charge of my mishloach manot anytime!

  8. Wow Tali! What a cute idea! I like this a lot!!!

  9. My favorite is the sushi idea. I like when I can eat everything in the shalach manos!

  10. Okay, these ideas are totally amazing (the ones in Part 1 too). I had no idea about Curious George! Love the personalized book and all the activities included. You know what I made last year (um, and every year)? Oznei Haman and candy on paper plates (cute ones at least, on sale at Target) wrapped in cellophane. Yikes! Now I am more determined than ever this year.

  11. up up and away is pretty good, but I think the wizard of oz idea takes the cake

  12. My absolute favorite idea is the Wizard of Oz by Tali!

  13. this idea is my favourite! so original!

  14. Carrie G says

    I love the Wizard of Oz idea!!! Certainly takes the basket!

  15. All the ideas are great, especially the Wizard of Oz one. I think I know someone who could even cover the slippers with fondant.

  16. Who wouldn’t want a pair of oversized Barbie shoes covered in red glitter? Casting my vote for The Wizard of Oz!

  17. I love the Dorothy idea! My wife will have so much fun with it!

  18. I like the Wizard of Oz one!

  19. I love the wizard of oz idea!

  20. Wizard of oz is for sure my favorite!

  21. Shira leah says

    Wizard of oz tops all!

  22. Loving the Wiz of Oz idea. How cute! And painting barbie shoes — what we do to make our themes work!

  23. Racheli S says

    Wow, I LOVE the wizard of Oz idea, so creative!!

  24. Esther Golub says

    The wizard of oz idea is just so cute!

    I also like the garden idea.

    They’re all great – well done to everyone

  25. Jackie Kahn says

    I’m off to see the wizard..what a wonderful idea! Such a creative mind!

  26. I know I’m late to the party, but I love the “comfort in a cup” idea so much that I just spent $15 at the dollar store and got enough stuff for 2 dozen mishloach manot! Cups with lids, to be filled with mini-packs of kosher oreo knockoffs, mini-packs of M&Ms, and three kinds of tea (chamomile, green, and rose/lavender, I think).

  27. Wizard of Oz is very easy to connect to Purim as you can do green rock candy for oz and poppy seed hamantashen and of course Oz is not what he appeared to be what better way to showcase Haster Panim….the best part if having a little girl to dress up as dorothy!

  28. I really like Adinas curious george ideas with a book inside. How can I get a copy of the story?

  29. Suzanne Lubin says

    I need help with my Incredibles theme!!! Thanks

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