How many people do you give mishloach manot to?

amother

Orchid

Mon, Mar 13 2017, 11:31 pm

Q for those from rabbinic families- do you get too much MM? We tend to give to people who we don't think will get a lot / any, and leave the popular people off the list. Is that a mistake?

amother

Floralwhite

Mon, Mar 13 2017, 11:38 pm

amother wrote:

120 plus the kids give to their friends, say another 35ish. Plus we send some through companies to family living in different countries.

Purim is a big deal on our house!

I don't think I even know 120 families, wow!!! Do you have alot of relatives and friends?

Mon, Mar 13 2017, 11:46 pm

mommy3b2c wrote:

I obviously give to everyone who gives to me. It's rude as hell not to.

It's polite to respond "Thanks, and happy Purim to you too!" when receiving MM from someone unexpected, so you don't have enough. Or if you fulfill the mitzvah by giving two kinds of food to one person. Or if for personal reasons you cannot or choose not to participate in gift-giving on the same scale as your neighbors.

pizza4

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 12:10 am

We gave about 30 mishloach manos, including parents, siblings, teachers, a few neighbors and friends.
I did homemade cookies and a chocolate bar on a nice plastic plate, it was pretty inexpensive.

3232

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 3:53 am

Did 35 simple mm. Plus 2 parents/ in laws Another 3 for grand parents which were a bit fancier.
Plus 16 additional for the kids friends.
Don't have total budget since I baked and did homemade. But the wrapping was pretty simple.

Iymnok

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 3:55 am

I made 40.
I would have given all of them but I was saving two for two neighbors I never got to.
We gave and didn't receive, at times we received but didn't give.

I had the kids prepare little ines for their friends. They way I didn't give mine to families I don't know and my child could be happy to give to their friends.

amother

Powderblue

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 7:06 am

amother wrote:

I don't think I even know 120 families, wow!!! Do you have alot of relatives and friends?

No family (other than the overseas ones). We live in a small OOT community so know pretty much everyone here and give accordingly.

Because the community is smaller we give to more people. Everyone is important to us and to each other.

Also makes the schlepping not so bad. Everyone lives in the eruv so the geographic area is not huge and families tend to live on certain blocks.

My husband and I spilt up with the kids and do all the delivering in a couple of hours.the kids love it.

amother

Ecru

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 7:59 am

Had materials for 5, gave two planned and one unexpected visitor. We gave to almost everybody we know through the shul fundraiser. Homemade so hard to estimate the cost.

shanie5

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 9:21 am

rlm wrote:

For people who spend less than 2 dollars per SM how do you do it!? Let's hear some ideas!

Homemade choc chip cookies-about $10 (2 types of chips were the expenseive items here)
Bag of chips (2 cases of 50-$17 total)
Fireballs (box of 150-about $13)
Twine ($3 or less)
Snack bags ($5-$6)

Thats less than $50 for 75 MM. (could have made at least 5 more before I ran out of cookies and fireballs. There were more than 150 in the box of fireballs)

For explanation of this combination, read here;

Shanie5's Purim 2017

keym

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 9:56 am

We give around 60 to neighbors, friends, and relatives. 12 sparkling grape juice and chocolate for rebbis and teachers. 40 for the kids friends.
But I keep it cheap and homemade.
Homemade choc chip cookies, choc cookies, hamantaschen, peanut butter cookies, sprinkle cookies, or even shaped cookies that the kids help roll out. Each year I do some or assorted. One year I did muffins. A few arranged on a clear plastic plate with a juice box. Wrapped in cellophane, tied with curling ribbon both of which I buy in bulk.
The kids, I do a bag of chips, lolly, and juice box in "pekelach" party bags from the dollar store. 10/$1. I make a few extra.for myself since in my line of work I never know who will stop by. And when I run out, I just say thanks for stopping by.
I always make loads extra for anny of my kids friends who drop by because kids do give with the expectation to receive and its heartbreaking to see a kid who was told, sorry youre not on my list.

Ruchel

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 10:07 am

I'm from a different culture. We give 2 to 6 MMs to who we want. Neighbours, people we see on that day... we don't drive around, visit teachers, or ever give them anything except monthly tuition. bh Smile

Love it

imasinger

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 10:28 am

I made salad, and gave it with fruit. 10 bigger ones for close friends who love salad, 17 smaller ones for DD in HS to give to her teachers (and some friends). I also gave DS and DD (my last 2 still at home) $5 apiece to spend on candy to make bags for their friends. Pasta accompanied the salad/fruit for our seudah hosts.

I recycled nosh to make bags for my unexpected givers.

Checking veggies took time, but the whole project wasn't expensive.

amother

Rose

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 11:47 am

Many, many people these past few years have been giving get a bag of chips or a drink and a few homemade cookies, tied or taped in a cellophane bag. Easy and cheap (and I've gotten this from many well-off people, who would rather use their money for other things like matanos l'evyonim). Also easily prepared ahead of time, and storeable. I love receiving MM like the one pictured, but I have a personal rule never to send anything I have to actually put together on Purim.

We made about 40, plus each kid did 5-10. Teachers (including those who give the shiurim dh and I regularly attend), therapists and our rav made up around 15 of those. People on the block (not everyone) and general area were another 10. Then other good friends. And yes, we put something together for those who give us.

No close-by relatives. We send online orders to grandparents and siblings, and to rebbes/head Morahs who don't live in our town when the school doesn't organize something.

amother

Peach

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 12:46 pm

Our shul has a flat rate that you pay to give m"m to everyone, so we give our friends and neighbors through the shul. We give to teachers through the school.

That leaves mostly family and a couple of old friends who don't live in the neighborhood. We make 20, but tend to only give out 18. Most of what we make is homemade and goes along with whatever wacky theme we come up with so we only give to people who really know us.

We only have one child who is school aged. The others are still too young to give m"m. Our oldest prepared 15 m"m to give to her neighborhood friends. She has good friends living in other neighborhoods but we refuse to drive all around town. The latest thing around here is for classmates to have a meetup at a prearranged time in a central location so that they can exchange m"m all at once. It tends to be a grab bag type of thing so parents don't have to worry about preparing 20+ m"m or having their children accumulate far too much junk. It's also more equitable and makes sure that no one feels left out.