What you prefer to receive as mishloach manos

one year we gave a roll, 4 oz package of deli and a soda.

It’s better the increase the matanos l’evyonim and minimize the mishloach manos. Most of the stuff we get is stuff we don’t want.

LB – actually, my point was that you can get away with giving something small, cheap, and nebby if it fits some kind of theme, like in RY’s example above where all they gave was hard candies. It would be much harder to just give someone hard candies for mishloach manos if it didn’t fit a theme.

I think the ideal is to give mishloach manos to a lot of people but to try not to spend too much money on each one. If you do something cute, it’s easier to get away with small and cheap.

The point of mishloach manos is to increase rayus (friendship). It shouldn’t be the size or quality of the gift but the thought behind it.

Does anyone ever give out boxes of Girl Scout Cookies?

That’s a more expensive way to make friends.

Real food.

LB: Girl Scout cookies that have a hashgacha are generally dairy non-cholov yisroel.

I don’t look to impress friends and neighbors nor do they look to impress us. We receive milk and donuts. Milk and cookies, herring and crackers, various snacks with a soda. We overlook that all one has to give is two food items. For years I have asked my wife to do chicken soup with lokshen.

I always thought that MM were made of sweet treats.

Esp hamentaschens and a small glass bottle of Kedem grape juice (which is rather expensive.

If someone gives a can of fish or quart of milk, does that person become the Raisin Lady* of Purim?

*Like that one lady in that house over there who always gives a box of raisins on Halloween.

….Actually, little boxes of raisins is a great idea! Also, maybe a few shiny nickels for tzedakah to make it a gift that keeps giving.

You can def save money. Also get the pieces in bulk at Costco.

Here’s a healthy theme: Lara bar, bottle of water, toothbrush.

Just made that one up B”H 🙂

LB, there have to be two kinds of food. Water doesn’t count (not everyone knows this). Toothbrushes, floss, and shampoo certainly don’t count.

From what I understand, the food needs to be ready to eat, not something that needs to be prepared, so I think that the spaghetti idea is also out. I could be wrong, so someone could correct me because I see layouts in magazines with jars of soup ingredients that you just need to put in a pot and add water, or cookie recipe that you just need to add a few small ingredients, or such things, and I’m never sure if that is allowed, but I thought it wasn’t.

I had a friend who made some kind of tray that had places for a few small round cups (think ketchup or salad dressing from a take-out restaurant) and she put a few different kind of shmear salads in them and had crackers in the middle. The whole thing was shaped like an artist’s palate and her family was dressed up as artists. That is what is meant by a theme, and I think this is a pretty inexpensive way to go.

Three pints of Haagen Daz.

I prefer to receive nothing. I eat Chalav yisrael and Yashan. That’s a near impossibility to expect in my little OOT community. Furthermore, I’m not interested in eating too much junk food.

“I wonder if you can get a heter to pass on receiving MM.”

I get the peanut butter cups.

LB – I though MM meant m&m’s. That’s why I mentioned peanut butter cups. I just realized it’s mishloach manos.

Olam Haba is beyond peanut butter cups. In OH, we won’t understand why we liked peanut butter cups (although we will appreciate the fact that it helped us be ovdei Hashem!)

Don’t feel obligated to get a gift basket stuffed with candies and chocolate (although that’s kind of the “expectation”). IMHO there’s something nice about gifting a classy, minimal gift box, for example a nice bottle of Israeli wine and olive oil such as this one.

But feel free to gift what the people want. These days you can find almost anything that comes in a gift basket, or you can make it yourself.