Easy Purim Costume Ideas

Purim will be here before you know it. My 6-year-old wants to be a magician. Fortunately I have a cape I made in an ambitious moment a few years ago. My 8-year-old decided he wants to win the contest for most original costume, and is excited about dressing up as a photographer even though I won’t let him take my camera. I haven’t decided whether to say anything or not about his chances of winning. I’m open to ideas for making it more creative.

Last year I asked readers for easy Purim costumes you can make at home. Here’s a summary:

1. Me: My son was an artist: a beret with a pallette, a smock and paint smudges.
2. Alpidarkomama:
   My favorite costume of all was when my son was a kohen gadol (high priest). Took a rectangular piece of fabric and cut a head-hole in the middle and tied it with a sash. Added the appropriate apron, breastplate, and cardboard hat. It was great!! I’m going to recycle it this year for him, if he wants. We’ve also been working on new hats (paper bag/papier mache/cardstock brims), paper bag dresses (cut out neck and armholes, decorate, and add additional paper bag panels to make it hang down further), and monster feet (large cardboard cutouts with cardboard straps stapled onto them… probably won’t last long!).
   
3. Robin:
   My old standbys (for myself actually when forced to dress up) are a bum and a hippie – easy to do with mom and dad’s old clothes . Lots of scarves and some costume jewelry can be a gypsy too.A fairy is easy too – solid color clothing (i.e. leotard and tights) and then make a pair of wings. For really cheap you could use oaktag and elastic cord, though the wings are very cheap to buy.
4. EmahS:
   My almost 8 year old son wants to be a robot. He will wear grey sweatpants and a long sleeve grey shirt, and over it, he will wear a box that we have cut and covered with aluminum foil……..hole for the head, holes for the arms, bottom opened up. We bought a silver facepaint marker, and will paint his face silver. We’re embellishing the box with different recycled things around the house covered in more foil.My 5 1/2 year old wants to be a pirate. We took an old pair of sweats and cut them on a zig-zag just below the knee, he’ll wear a long sleeve white tshirt (big and a bit puffed), my winter scarf (plain black no fringe) around his waist for a belt, and we made a HOOK for him to hold…….I took an old plastic cup, covered it with black paper and then made a hook by covering a drinking straw with foil and bending it into a hook shape. When the cup is placed over his hand, he’s got a piece of foil that is sticking inside for him to hold onto. He’ll wear a red bandana tied on his head, and the ONLY thing we’ve bought for him is an eye patch and a clip on gold hoop earring! OH, and we’ll paint on a beard for him. BOTH CHEAP to free, AND BOTH have loved working on the costumes with me!!
5. Trilcat: Cheap and easy – buy bunny ears (you can also make them out of paper – but I’ve bought them as cheap as 6 shekels, and I keep mine in a costume bag in my closet for the future.) Make a pompom http://www.ehow.com/how_5887_make-pompoms.html and stick just above the kid’s tush with a safety pin. (on the clothing, not on the tush itself, of course) It has to be above the tush so they don’t sit on it and find it uncomfortable. Use a white, pink, or grey sweatsuit or leotard for the outfit and lipstick for the nose and whiskersFor a mouse tail, you can stuff newspaper or one side of a pair of pantyhose and cut off the rest of the pantyhose. this is a perfect use for a pair with a run in one side or in the crotch.
6. Reiza (who inspired last year’s post)
   A butterfly using a headband with wings that we had in with the dress-up clothes, a brightly colored-striped shirt and matching pants (that one didn’t go over so well. People didn’t understand what she was); a queen with an existing dress-up crown, fancy jewelry and a foofy dress; The princess and the pea (see above, but with the letter P cut from foam hanging around her neck); Goldilocks and the 3 bears (Girl1 in a dress and sweater with a nametag that read, “Goldilocks,” and 2 bears pinned to her sweater, and her then baby brother was baby bear); a pirate (cut up old clothing–super easy costume and free) plus a hat/hook set I got at the Dollar tree; Superman (blue pjs with the S symbol painted on); the tooth fairy (wings, pretty dress and “teeth” accessories made out of foam–wand, bag, etc).This past summer, at camp, they had Purim in July for one of their meshugenah days. I just let the kids raid their dress-up clothes. One of the girls was a super hero who saved butterflies (butterfly hat with a cape pinned to her). The other one went as a cat with jaguar-printed pieces from the dress-up bin (pants and arm bands).

   Oh and last year, for Sunday school, the twins went as night and day. One wore a black sweat suit to which I glued (Elmer’s glue, so they all washed off) paper stars. The other wore a light blue outfit with a cloud blanket pinned over her shoulders. They wore paper plate masks–one with a crescent moon painted on it and the other with a sun painted on it.

7. Shorty: This is my first Purim in a long time, and my husband and i are thinking of dressing up as Yetzer Hatov and Yetzer Harah (good and bad impulses). I was thinking for “Hatov” i would make a little Torah scroll to carry around, maybe some angel wings, dress in white. for Harah, we happen to have devil’s horns and dressing in black, maybe carry around a National Enquirer (to represent Lashon Harah) or some other “naughty.”
8. AR: (a) Haman – any black clothes + construction paper triangles over the ears make oznei Haman (Haman’s ears) + evil looking mustache / whiskers / eyebrows drawn with a black eyebrow pencil. Extra efforts could involve some kind of Persian hat. Lots of kids find it thrilling to dress up as the villain. (b) a dalmation puppy. We bought cheap white pjs at the shuk and let the kids finger paint black spots all over and made matching floppy ears (hung over the kid’s ears with string loops). Young kids can be comfortable in the soft pjs all day and still say they are dressed up as puppy, which is something everyone understands.
9. Annie: My son once dressed up as a British businessman: my husband’s suit jacket (which reached his ankles, which was funny enough in itself ), a rolled up black umbrella, a copy of the Financial Times (or any English newspaper), an old briefcase, and a painted on pencil mustache.My daughter dressed up as Shalosh Regalim. I made her an extra leg (regel, geddit?) from a stuffed panty hose with the 2nd leg hidden inside, tied it to a belt around her waist. We made a paper and cardboard crown, half looking like matza, half decorated with flowers, and topped with leaves for sechach.
10. Abbi suggested trading costumes with friends.
11. Leora has a gemach, or a free-loan costume collection, in her town.

Thank you to all for sharing such creative ideas. Feel free to add more in the comments.

If you enjoyed this post you may also like:

An Explosive Purim (On caps in shul)

Purim Costume Fail?

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Women’s Megillah Reading, Fake Fur Hats, and Purim Humor

Last night, after a noisy reading in our synagogue (but with only a few caps), I asked my daughter if she wanted to come to the women’s reading of Megillat (Scroll of) Esther this morning. She didn’t say no right away, which is almost a yes for a teen, so we went.  I don’t believe I’ve ever been to a women’s reading before.

There were about 25 people there, half of them teenagers.  Considering Petach Tikva’s 300 Orthodox synagogues, I would have expected a larger crowd. Possibly there were other women’s readings elsewhere. The three readers, including one teen, had prepared well.

The woman in charge wore a fake fur hat. I remember having one like it about ten years ago, when fur patterns were in style. One evening after I put mine on my little daughter (now the teen) asked me where I was going. “To a party,” I told her. “Oh,” she said. “Do you have to dress up like a puppy?”

This prompted me to give away the hat. I should have saved it for Purim.

Now we’re busy delivering Emunah packages, cooking, and reducing, reusing and recycling the mishloach manot.

Purim humor from around the web:

• Joshua Waxman informs us about the latest tzniut chumra (modesty stringency).
• The Rebbetzin’s Husband is in favor of abolishing the rabbi’s speech.
• The Orthodox Union initiates Ot Yomit.
• Jacob Richman’s Purim Page includes new “gramen” for 2009.

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Purim Packing

The women of my Emunah chapter make up over 260 packages to be distributed to members of local English-speaking chapters. Every family gets one package, but with the names of everyone who sent to them. Proceeds go to Emunah’s charitable projects. This year we were able to get excellent  chocolate–shaped like flowers no less–at a good price. We added nuts, raisins, grape juice and a wrapped bakery cake.

We’re proud of the efficient system we’ve developed over the years, but things don’t always go smoothly. This year, our blue and yellow “green” bags imprinted with the Emunah label disappeared en route. Just as we were starting to panic, we got a call announcing that the bags had arrived. Two of our ladies whisked over to rescue them, and the crisis was averted.

Wishing you all a safe and joyful Purim.

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And the Winner Is. . .

It’s time to pick the winner of the Oh, Nuts Purim Basket Giveaway. My fellow blogger Chaviva (check out her thoughtful and well-written blog) made a video of herself writing the commenters’ names on small pieces of paper and (presumably, since I didn’t watch the end) picking the winner out of a hat.

To save us all valuable time I have chosen this handy-dandy Custom Random Number Generator.  After deleting a few comments to ensure  only one comment per commenter, I asked the program to generate a random number between 1 and 36.  Here are the results:

Number 36 is former blogger Aidel Maidel. Mazal tov, Aidel, and I will be forwarding the email you provided to Oh, Nuts.

Thanks to all who visited and participated, and a special thank-you to Oh Nuts for the prize.

Happy Purim!

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Links on Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s Ruling, a Slew of Carnivals, and More

More posts on Chacham Ovadia Yosef, women, and the megillah:

• Rafi listened and shares details.
• According to Professor Jeffrey Woolf at My Obiter Dicta, the ruling isn’t surprising. And it has no implications for Ashkenazim (Jews of Eastern European descent).
• Lion of Zion, whose comments we’ve missed (among others), posts about Women Scribes in Jewish History.
• Ilana-Davita pointed out an older, in-depth discussion of the issue (2003) by Rabbi Aryeh Frimer, also mentioned by Woolf, which takes Rabbi Ovadia’s ruling into account. So this is nothing new.
• Avielah Barclay’s comment on the previous post led to her blog, Am Sofrot, about female scribes in Jewish law.
• Hirhurim weighs in on the subject.

New Jewish Blog

At least it’s new to me. Adventures in Mama-Land is written by an observant, breastfeeding mom who likes to share kosher recipes.

Carnivals

A feast for the eyes: Spring in Israel Jpix by Leora.

A feast for the tastebuds: The Almost Purim Edition of Kosher Cooking Carnival by Batya.

A feast for your brain cells, funny bone, etc:  The I Love Adar edition of  Haveil Havalim by Israeli Insider.

Contest Update

I’ll be choosing a random winner from comments on the Purim Basket Giveaway, sponsored by Oh, Nuts, later this evening (Monday) Israel time. If you’ve won I’ll be sending you an email, with a copy to Oh Nuts so you can arrange delivery.

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Rabbi Ovadia’s Surprising Ruling: Women Can Read Megillah for Men

The secular newspapers like to report on the weekly talks of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the leading rabbinic arbiter of the Sephardi/Mizrachi community in Israel. Occasionally he says outrageous things, but this time he made a ruling likely to please a more liberal readership.

On the upcoming holiday of Purim both men and women are required by Jewish law to hear the entire reading of the biblical book of Esther, known as a  Megillah (scroll) twice– once in the evening and once the next morning. It is almost always read by a man in the synagogue. But since most rabbinic authorities agree that women can fulfill their obligation by hearing a woman read, it’s common for communities to hold all-women readings. Some girls learn it as part of their bat mitzvah celebrations.

Haaretz reports that Rabbi Yosef went further, ruling that not only can men listen to  a women reading, which is surprising in itself, but that they fulfill their religious obligation by hearing a woman chant. Rabbi Yosef explained that he does not consider everyday speaking or  chanting from a scroll to fall under the prohibition of “kol isha,” which only relates to a man hearing a woman singing. He doesn’t recommend a woman reading as the ideal, but in a small settlement with no man qualified to chant “kemo ben adam,” like a human being, a qualified woman is preferred. Chanting the ten-chapter megillah from a scroll containing no vocallization, punctuation, or cantillation symbols requires many hours of preparation, and I can attest that the congregation suffers from a poor reading.

The report added that Rabbi Yosef also permits the use of megilloth written by female scribes.

This ruling is sure to make waves in the Orthodox community in Israel and elsewhere.

A video of Rabbi Ovadia’s talk can be found here. Rafi listened, and confirmed Haaretz’s report. He shares his thoughts here.

More related links

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