What do you do to make the Seder fun?

ttbtbm

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 7:41 am

On another thread someone wrote that the way she stresses about Pesach is to make the seder fun. Love that! What do you do to make your seder enjoyable?
For us it’s singing. Lots of singing.

amother

Magenta

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 7:50 am

ttbtbm wrote:

On another thread someone wrote that the way she stresses about Pesach is to make the seder fun. Love that! What do you do to make your seder enjoyable?
For us it’s singing. Lots of singing.

I do believe the singing is what makes a Seder special. I’ve been to many sedarim in many circles. The most memorable are the ones that had lots of singing. The others were simply boring and a drag.
In my home we all sing the songs together. Some of the guys are pretty tipsy after a few cups of wine and the singing gets louder and more harmonious. I love that we sing Hallelujah out loud together , there is something so beautiful about it. It’s not necessarily “fun” but it’s what makes the Seder more enjoyable for sure.

rachelli66

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 7:50 am

There are table liners with the pictures of the splitting of the Yam Suf. For children at the table, you can have mentchies of all ages near the table liners. Let the kids dress up and prepare for Krias Yam suf. Singing. and of course, for the little ones, marshmallows, chocolate pieces for sitting so nicely (for a bit ) at the table. Just hearing them sing and tell us what they learned over the past couple weeks .

amother

Bisque

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 10:32 am

rachelli66 wrote:

Where do you buy the table liners? Any online links?

amother

Clear

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 10:35 am

We bought plastic imitation kaaros for the kids and we put KP nosh having to do with pesach. We bought lots of animals and animal puppets for the maakos. We make it child friendly. Divrei Torah is mostly by shulchan orach so the kids don't get restless.

amother

Mustard

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 10:39 am

I think I was the one that wrote that. Lol
We do a lot of singing and we give out treats a lot during the seder as well for divrei torah, questions, just for fun, etc. We make it very kid friendly. We do a lot of acting out of going out of mitzrayim with everyone running around and one person is pharaoh. We make a huge deal of the makkos and the kids help me prepare it. We dance around the house singing nirtza. In general it's just a super fun night that the kids really really look forward to and want to be up and help prepare for.

I also make sure that the meal is very kid friendly and that all my kids have a part of telling me what they would like to have and I tried to accommodate them.

In general though, even on a regular Shabbos I always ask the kids and put on the menu and if they ask me for something specifically, always get it.

The other thing I do to make the kids excited in general is that I bake a lot for Pesach and the kids have all their favorites that they help with. I have a pesach kitchen but I only use it for baking before and my kids love coming down there and sampling and helping.

amother

Canary

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 10:41 am

DH Keeps a big bowl of candy next to his plate, and throughout the Seder gives to any kid that participates, like answers a question, or comments with something they learned, or joins in singing.

amother

Firethorn

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 10:56 am

We give sugar cubes and mini marshmallows for answers and vorts and for questions. Use a plastic tablecloth over your regular one and have the kids draw pictures or patterns to put between them as table decor- you can do at people's places, a line of them for a runner in the middle, etc.

Singing at Hallel is the obly thing that makes hallel doable for me. We're talking the olders by then, and still it's just ten minutes of reciting or murmurring without it- we sing most of it. For the youngers, I like to have a bunch of sets of building toys around. Kids can sit on the floor and build pyramids and cities and the river Moshe got put in. Add some little people and animals and you've got a whole play. They can do it as they listen or we can narrate or get down and play with them.

Squishy frog koosh balls are good for everyone.

amother

Plum

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 11:02 am

I’m looking to bring the plagues to life. If anyone has an ideas I would appreciate it!
I grew up with a lot of stress and dysfunction, pesach was another level and even with many years of therapy the trauma runs deep.
I want my kids to have the best memories of our Seder and also looking to make it exciting and fun for them!

amother

Alyssum

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 11:09 am

Happy247 wrote:

Get a couple of hagaddahs with really good makkos illustrations. Kids love it. Some are really hilarious.

Can you share which ones? My kids would love hilarious illustrations.

Ema of 5

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 11:22 am

I didn’t read through all the responses, but this is some of what we do.

- the first year we were home, I bought a white paper tablecloth and crayons and markers, and the kids decorated it while I cooked.

- I have a blue tablecloth (smaller than the white one) and a thin, long gold runner that we put on top of the white cloth (like water and sand)

- we have makos finger puppets, masks, sunglasses, toys….

- we sing a LOT, and use a lot of the stuff from Rabbi Shmuel Kunda, z”l. He came to the Seder a few times when we were still going to my in laws, and we had a great time. My kids (and my husband and I!) love Boruch Learns About Pesach.

- everyone takes their pillows and “goes out of mitzrayim.”

amother

Lightblue

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 11:23 am

Here's how we make the seder kid-centered and engaging:

***Tell all old-school guests we are a little "light" and involve the kids in the seder. We still maintain respect for the seder and keep in mind it's a very holy night, but want the kids engaged. Some of our kids are not so young, but young at heart.

We take turns reading maggid in paragraphs from the haggada, each in their own language- we've had hebrew, english, french, yiddish, russian at our table over the last 7 years.

Kids are in charge of decorating/ theme of the table- might be chargers and fancy napkins, cups that lean to the side, or a yam suf scene, depending on their ages.

Kids pour everyone wine/ grape juice for each cup.

makkos shtick: we add some new ones each year- youngest kid is in charge of sharing them at the table throughout maggid, as they need to move around

makkos masks and chad gadya masks

Have a fresh, new tablecloth for the second night so no worries if the first one is stained.

Be chill, remember that we are making the memories of a lifetime and work on laughing out loud at whatever goes wrong.

BrisketBoss

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 11:31 am

At my in-laws some of the kids do funny accents as we go through Maggid. And Chad Gadya is always a hit. Abba and 'bisrei zuzei' are also characters with their own effects, and come up every verse. Abba says things that one's father is known to say. Smile

(Kibud av v'em still allows for a bit of fun...)

gr82no

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 12:08 pm

I don’t get it. I’m young and we didn’t do any of these stuff when I was little. We loved the Seder because we tried staying up as long as possible and enjoyed saying what we learned in school we didn’t want to wait till shilchan aruch.
We all said it along with my father in the same tune every year. Sometimes he would wait for us to catch up. I only have positive memories without all the props. My only bad memory is from when my father was too ahead of me and I felt left behind. He waited for me when he realized what happened

amother

Clear

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 12:13 pm

gr82no wrote:

That's what our Seder was like and I too have wonderful memories of Pesach. My children needed different so we adjusted accordingly and made it more kid friendly.

amother

Papaya

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 12:15 pm

I need to get an invite to your homes! I find Seder night so boring and can’t believe we have to get through 2. It doesn’t help that I hate all the food. I only start enjoying pesach a little bit after Seder is behind me

BrisketBoss

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 12:16 pm

amother Canary wrote:

DH Keeps a big bowl of candy next to his plate, and throughout the Seder gives to any kid that participates, like answers a question, or comments with something they learned, or joins in singing.

My FIL gives candy for asking questions rather than for answering questions. There is not much emphasis on kids 'saying over' what they have learned. We have a good inquisitive time.

scruffy

Mon, Mar 27 2023, 12:16 pm

gr82no wrote:

Same.

I have great memories from the seder. The songs we sang each year, saying our divrei torah, the special silver and pillowcases that got brought out, getting treats at the Mah Nishtana... I don't see how it's necessary to get plastic frogs, or how it would even make the seder more exciting.

I'm confused when people even use all the props. They take a break when you get to the Makkos in the Haggadah?