It’s time for Purim and we are really celebrating in our house this year!  We are kicking off things off with my son’s preschool parade (he goes to the JCC) today, then we’ve got our synagogue megillah reading (complete with super-hero theme) Saturday night and finally to top it all off our big temple carnival on Sunday!  I have one very excited 3 1/2 year old boy who’s been gearing up all week working on a grogger, hamantaschen and mishloach manot.

Now, as you know from my previous posts, I don’t have an issue with Jews choosing to celebrate Valentine’s Day and I myself love it.  But, I will admit that I was a bit surprised to find so many valentines in my child’s cubby at the JCC since the past couple of years it hasn’t really made an appearance and isn’t something the school recognizes.  I suspect this year’s increase was a combination of older sibs in public school, keeping up with peers and just a general desire to celebrate.  So, I decided that rather than join this trend, we’d give everyone a little something for Purim since, after all, it’s one of the holiday’s mitzvot to give gifts of food to friends.

Technically, the idea is to give food so that everyone has enough for a Purim feast but in essence, the idea is to share love and harmony and we are talking preschoolers here.  So, I decided to come up with my own mini mishloach manot (think class valentines meet Purim) that we could put in everyone’s cubby.  Now, I realize hamantaschen are the traditional Purim food and I do love me some tasty hamantaschen – for my fave recipe, check out Martha’s hamantaschen dough and add your favorite jams, lemon curd or cherry pie filling.  But, for this project I decided on bright, cheerful mini Unicorn pops.

A while ago, I bought this great clear set from Amuse Art Stamps that just said Purim parade to me (note: the line is now discontinued, sorry).  I used these stamped simply in black ink on a variety of  3 1/2 x5 colored cardstock, wrote “Happy Purim!”, made a slit with my Exacto and then taped the lollipop to the card, making it look like the noisemaker being sounded by the little boy.  The perfect mini preschool mishloach manot!  Happy Purim!