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

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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!