Help us make Shavuot special!!

DVOM

Mon, May 27 2019, 8:35 pm

Good evening everyone!

We will be home this year Shavuot with just our immediate family (husband and kids). In the past, we've always gone to family for this chag, and some of my kids are very disappointed to miss out this time with grandparents and cousins. I'm really kind of excited about being home. We have wonderful family members who really like to host us, and we don't have the opportunity to be on our own for a Yom Tov very often. When sharing the chag with extended family it's easy to feel a special Yom Tov atmosphere... now we'll be creating that atmosphere ourselves, and I'm feeling a bit at a loss.

So...

What are your Shavuot traditions that elevate the chag for you? Any very special foods, projects, decorations, games that you come back to year after year? Any special ways to help your kids feel the essence of the holiday, receiving the Torah, in an age-appropriate and engaging way?

amother

Babypink

Mon, May 27 2019, 9:06 pm

Can I tell you what I hate ??
My DH stays up to learn - means he sleeps on Shabbat all day. Stays up Sat night and learns - sleeeps all day on Sunday.

When the kids were young my neighbors used to get together to have a pot luck lunch while the husbands slept.

It was nice to hang with them. But I hated that he slept all the time.

imamother153

Mon, May 27 2019, 9:07 pm

I ordered for succos push-up pops from amazon. I put crushed Oreos on the bottom and filled with vanilla ice cream mixed with crushed Oreos. My kids were so excited! I’m doing it again for shevous iy’h.
U can decorate a 10” round cake with chocolate cream, sprinkle those confetti flowers and stick in a large chocolate Lolly in the shape of a Torah in the center.

See if you can find cheap greenery or carpet and place as a runner in center table. You can cut them in small squares to use as coasters as well. Use cheap flowers with bendable stems as napkin rings.

Last edited by imamother153 on Mon, May 27 2019, 9:11 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Taupe

Mon, May 27 2019, 9:09 pm

Someone I know used to make a Har Sinai party on Shavuos, with a cake in the shape of a mountain decorated with frosting, flowers... and invited children's friends for cake on shavuos afternoon Smile

I just make nice food and spend time with the kids... but they are little... so they don't need anything major.

ima22

Mon, May 27 2019, 9:12 pm

Annual tradition is our har Sinai cake. A neighbor hosts an annual kiddush for women and children the morning after the men stay up to learn. It is a beautiful way to get out, hear a short dvar Torah, reconnect and enjoy that late morning. It is potluck and all the neighbors contribute.

amother

Ginger

Mon, May 27 2019, 9:13 pm

Growing up we had har Sinai ice cream every year for dessert. Just a scoop on top of a cone with flower sprinkles and a wafer cut in half stuck on top. We kept the tradition up for years after we outgrew it (I think my youngest sibling was 17 when we decided to make cheesecake and act our age Smile

)

amother

Gray

Mon, May 27 2019, 9:40 pm

I know someone who does a har sinai cake for milchig kiddush. In a bowl, she lines slices of jelly roll cake & fills bowl with a cheese mixture & then overturns the bowl ( slices cake outside.

dankbar

Mon, May 27 2019, 9:47 pm

I buy napkins/plates with floral print on it.

I create different type of flower crafts with my kids before yom tov.
One year we did a topiary, small foam ball stuck with mini silk flowers on a stick in a small flower part.
One year we put rubbery felt flowers in plastic ornament clear balls with pebbles & leaves inside. Stuck few sizes on a marble look flat tray.

We decorate the home with foliage around home, hanging from chandelier, behind paintings sticking out.

dankbar

Mon, May 27 2019, 9:51 pm

You can do har sinai cupcakes. Brown cupcake, green icing, flower confetti with a Choco mold luchos stuck in with a toothpick.

I was a guest by someone who served two Frank's & blanks stuck together as a torah

amother

Royalblue

Mon, May 27 2019, 10:09 pm

We do fleishig meals, because it's YT. But we're supposed to have dairy on Shavuos. So that means we have cheesecake dessert first and then the meal after. That's pretty exciting for our kids.

Also they go crazy with the flower decorations. It's fun.

amother

Sienna

Mon, May 27 2019, 10:50 pm

1) Har Sinai cake- chocolate cake baked in mound shape- metal mixing bowl, green icing, flower sprinkles, Luchot chocolate mold.
2) pretzel log/fruit roll up torahs
3) house looks like a succah with the flower decorations (not so attractive from a grown up perspective, but really fun. We have a flower garland that we made years ago that run the length of the staircase, foam flowers which hang upside down from light fixtures, paper flower center pieces (I hate real flowers-allergic to the smell and pollen), fabric flower napkin rings and we use beautiful flower paper plates for amazing savings. -it is a lot but it makes me and the kids happy and DH doesnt care about these things /sheps nachas from the kids.
4) I buy many assorted Costco cakes which they always want but I don't buy year round (clearly I am not chalav israel) and multiple flavors of Ice cream (usually it is one at a time).
5) I break out into spontaneous song - favorites are little har sinai and Hashem gave us a present.

cozyblanket

Mon, May 27 2019, 11:18 pm

Get dollar tree fake flowers and tape them up on walls all over the dining room and living room.

One year we made "Thank you" cards to Hashem for the Torah and hung them up.

amother

Coffee

Tue, May 28 2019, 2:40 am

If the kids are little and you have a backyard or access to greenery, let the kids pick branches and (after checking for bugs) decorate the house with the branches and flowers that the kids have picked. There's something about helping to transform the house that is very magical.

And of course, ice cream!!

DVOM

Tue, May 28 2019, 6:19 am

Such sweet ideas, everyone!

My kids are very artistic. I love the idea of intensive decorating, and flowers is such a fun theme to run wild with. I also really like the idea of using each kids special thank you's to Hashem as part of the decor, though I think my big boys will find that 'embarrassing' so we'll see...

And I'm totally making the 'getting the torah' tablescape! That sounds so cool!!

Keep the ideas coming, guys!!

DVOM

Tue, May 28 2019, 6:20 am

amother [ Babypink ] wrote:

I'm so sorry darling. I hope you can communicate some of this to him and that he'll be able to hear you.