These were made for two fellow shluchos and were a gift to them after our day to celebrate our birthdays! I would use one of these baskets as a center piece for the tables and even look for larger ones for the buffet table to help pull the theme together. I think it’s a good investment as you can use these baskets for so many events including Lag B’Omer and even a Community Picnic event or Spiritual Hike!

Purim is on my mind!! I just thought of this idea and had to quickly share in case someone out there wants to do something really different!

I would love to do this theme one day and although I am set for this year I may consider this  theme for the future because I think you could make it really cute and inexpensive too!

So here it goes!

You will have to imagine how it looks with me as I haven’t created it yet and have only some photos to share of some picnic things I made for an outing with two fellow shluchos (who live each an hour from me) in celebration of our birthdays!

But seriously, this would be one fun Purim Party…even if some shluchos are in the snow….consider it bringing the summer a little closer!

I imagine…

• Round tables filling a room with red and white picnic style table linens. OR a square of red and white Gingham fabric, bandana or large square fabric napkin in the center of a round table covered in white table linens.
• A wicker style picnic basket filled with brown tissue paper to help fill almost to the top, then I would strategically place large hamantashens along the edges of basket with the basket closing a bit on the hamantashen. OR I would line the basket with additional gingham fabric and fill the basket with wine, hamantashen, wood cutlery, some home made cookies, brownies and fresh fruit. (An option would be to raffle off these baskets at the end of the party!
• For Mishloach Manos, I would give out mini Picnic baskets or if too expensive, mini wooden berry baskets (you can find these easily online) with a simple square of gingham fabric inside and basic purim nosh! Trail mix, hamantashen, chocolate, a mini water bottle…or even a nice vegetable wrap with a hamantash and some candy….the ideas are endless…
• For entertainment I would choose maybe a basic magic show or go a step further and have a science person come in to do some show on Nature, science experiments, a workshop on leaf rubbings etc.
• For a craft I would do gragger making using whatever medium you wish to decorate, a paper towel roll with covered ends etc. and decorate with nature stickers, picnic stickers etc. or do leaf rubbings and glue on! Another idea would be to choose something clear, like those vending machine capsules to use as a shaker and let kids fill with natural things like, dried potpourri style items…mini twigs, rocks, acorns etc. This would make the gragger rattle and make noise.
• For food I would do either a variety of wraps, like salmon and vegetable, maybe even mini take out containers of salads, like orzo, lettuce, israeli, potato….
• A lemonade Stand would be so cute! Don’t forget the colored paper straws!
• Dessert could be an ice cream bar!! How fun for a picnic!!

I love these wooden, organic:) cutlery! I found these in a boutique store but they do exist online!

A peek at the inside! Because I was only making three of these, I could splurge and made Sushi, a chicken salad, berry cups, cookies and a healthy drink….but really anything with a taste of Purim will make it that much more fun for a Purim themed picnic!

If you want to make something like this for your buffet, it would be simple to just fill with salad of your choice and a dressing by the side although it would take a couple hands to pull it all together…maybe too much for a large crowd….but it could work as your Mishloach Manos with a nice label on the front lid.

Simple California rolls, but I would not suggest this if you are making it! It was our first year on Shlichus that I decided to make Sushi for all of our Mishloach Manos and all I remember is being 8 months pregnant and crying at the dining room table at 2:00am because all my Sushi rice wasn’t coming out and wondering why in the world I decided to do this!!….we live and learn:)