Paper Plate Clowns for Mishloach Manot

Fill funny clowns with sweet treats for friends!

Last year, I posted on our facebook page about paper plate hamantashen mishloach manot. I was quite sure I had invented them as a kid until my husband informed me that EVERYONE did those. I then shared the post to my personal facebook page and a lively discussion insued with friends who grew up all over America and Canada…and lo and behold, he was totally correct. Hmph.

Well, this year we are using paper plates again but this time in the form of clowns. It can be hard to actually fit much inside of the paper plate hamantashen, and if you don’t staple them down all the way, small things can fall out the center hole! These clowns solve that problem. We created clown faces on the back of a paper plate and then we will fill a second plate with goodies. We then stapled the clown front on top.

The clown’s hair is made of paper grass. I was worried about finding it but the party store already has out a big Easter display and I had not trouble finding a bag of rainbow grass. For his bow tie, we used dot paint to cover a piece of paper and then cut out bow tie shapes from it. Wrapping paper would work great for this too. And of course you can use googly eyes, pompoms for a nose or cheeks or decorate any way you can dream up.

These would also make cute graggers. Just fill with beads or beans and make sure you really staple without gaps. Add a popsicle stick and you have an instant classic.

Looking for more Purim projects?
3-D Paper Hamantashen

Paper Plate Clowns for Mishloach Manot

Time:
Active: 15 minutes
Drying: 15 minutes+ if using paint or glue

Age: 2-8

Materials:
2 paper plates
Glue
Paper grass
Decorated paper, either wrapping paper or a piece of paper you colored yourself
Crayons or markers to draw a face
Scissors
Stapler
Optional – googly eyes, pompoms

Process:
Draw a face or glue one on in the center of the back of a paper plate. Glue on paper grass for hair and a bowtie. Don’t forget to write who this mishloach manot is from, either on the outside like we did or slip a note inside before stapling shut.

Fill a second plate with goodies. Staple your clown on top.

 

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3-D Paper Hamantashen

Paper Hamantashen are almost good enough to eat!

Purim is just around the corner! We finally nailed down an idea for our mishloach manot and started buying supplies, and the kids decided on their costumes a while ago. But, I am not ready to start baking hamantashen just yet. And of course, the great filling debate. Call me a traditionalist, but I really like lekvar (prune jelly). Poppy – no thanks. Apricot and raspberry are good too, but when we use jelly, it always seems to ooze out the still-pinched corners. A friend recommended Solo pastry filling as a good alternative and I am going to scout out the store and give that a try this year. My husband’s family always used chocolate chips as fillings, but to me those end up dry because the chips don’t melt.

In order to push off the whole mess and debate, we made these fun paper hamantashen instead. If circles of dough fold to make a triangle, why not circles of paper? These are easily adaptable. We used our favorite dot paint to decorate the circles and pompoms as filling, but you could just as easily use crayons to decorate and crumpled tissue paper as fillings. Or honestly, you could go filling-free and just overlap the sides a little more.

These would adorable in mini, taped on to your Purim cards for mishloach manot!

Time:
Active: 15-20 minutes
Drying: 15 minutes+

Age: 2-7

Materials:
Paper
Something with which to decorate the paper – paint, markers, crayons, etc.
Large or small pompoms
Glue
Scissors
Clear tape

Process:
Decorate your paper in any way you want. Don’t worry about making a specific picture, jsut make it look colorful! We used dot paints but anything will work.

Draw or trace a circle on the page. We made our circle almost big enough to cover the whole page, but any size will work!

Glue a large pompom in the center of the back side of you circle. You can use just one, or group a few. We found that only a small amount shows through so one was really enough but the kids enjoyed gluing little pompoms on top of the bigger ones as well.

Fold in your corners like a real hamantashen! Use clear tape to hold the sides together.

And there you have it, a paper hamantash!

Did you do this project? Share your pictures on our facebook page!