Don’t you love gifts? Especially when they are beautifully packaged. The important thing about purchasing gifts though, is that it’s not just about the packaging. The question is what will the contents be? What will be inside that beautiful container or gift wrap or box?
I had a question sent in asking more about the Mishloach Manot that we are planning for this year. Well, this years Mishloach Manot are a little different. As the Purim items are starting to come into the stores, I began doing some pricing as to items we would love to put into the packages / Mishloach Manot. The truth is, that I would really love to give some healthy food items to the needy families in Jerusalem that we are working on assisting. It’s easy to think I can fill a bowl with NIS 1 sweets, chocolate, cookies etc. That’s what most people do! But is that helping the families who need help? Is that a kindness? Honestly, I don’t think so.
You see, it might seem romantic to give a box of chocolates. However, for someone who is struggling financially, it’s those healthy foods that are really a treat. Taking care of one’s diet is important in order to promote health. Eating the kinds of foods that are healthy is expensive and so this is the gift I would really love to give.
So here is my list and I was concerned to find that the costs come very, very close to the NIS 350 goal that we had. I’d love your help. Your opinion will help me to decide whether to reduce the items or increase our target for beautiful, meaningful Mishloach Manot.
Here is the list:
Please keep in mind that these prices are actual store prices. We currently do not have enough orders or contacts to be able to obtain these items at wholesale price.
Box of 6 Healthy 100% natural granola bars – NIS 10.90
Brown Sugar – NIS 9.90
Wholewheat flour – NIS 8.90
Cocoa – NIS 19.90
Sesame Seeds – NIS 17.90
Vine Leaves – NIS 7.90
Almonds – NIS 24.90
Walnuts – NIS 24.90
Box 50 tea bags – NIS 19.90
Coffee – NIS 24.90
2 x tins of bakes beans or chumus – NIS 10
2 x tins of sweet corn – NIS 10
Tin of Mushrooms – NIS 5
Bamba or corn crisps – NIS 10
Packet of paper napkins – NIS 5
Tomato Paste – NIS 5
Bottle of wine – NIS 22 – 25
Pasta or Rice – NIS 7
Healthy cake or biscuits – NIS 15
Halva – NIS 9.90
In addition to the above list we need the container, packaging, travelling to the store to purchase the items and delivery of the Mishloach Manot. That is without any fresh fruits or vegetables and without any profit to enable us to do the work required to make these happen. Already we will be reaching just short of NIS 340.
Putting together healthy, caring, beautiful packages is just one part of this project. Delivering them is so important. All being well they need to be delivered on Shushan Purim. This is a challenge as Shushan Purim this year is a Friday. If we reach our target of putting together more packages than we did in previous years, we will need help with delivery.
The need for help is fine. That will enable us to outsource for drivers or others to do the delivery. It makes for a great way to give an orphan some extra income. One of the great things about having our online store is that it has a field for shipping. In this case, the shipping cost will be the delivery, which we really hope and pray will go directly to giving work to orphans who are old enough to drive and have a valid license.
What size Mishlaoch Manot should we give?
Now comes the big question. What size Mishloach Manot should we put together? If we keep it at $100 or NIS 350, that means with the cost of the above items, together with container, packaging and travel expense to obtain these items, plus the service fee from PayPal, we cover the cost but do not earn a penny. Sorry to have switched from dollars to British currency.
The point is that we have to live too and that means we need to some how cover the time it takes to put all this together. So, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Should I leave something out? Should I up the target for the price bracket? The NIS 350 comes from our goal for USD 100. However, unless prices come down in the stores, it looks like we need to up our goal or change something.
Are you prepared to purchase a complete Mishloach Manot for a needy family? If not, please join in at the price options of NIS 50, NIS 100, NIS 150 or NIS 200. I am happy to add higher prices, perhaps I am thinking too small to think that purchasing a gift for USD 100 is too much to spend. The truth is, it’s not. I look at prices on Amazon, eBay and other online stores and see items listed at far more than USD100. So if you are willing to purchase a gift for 100 or more, please do let me know and I will happily add another level to the Mishloach Manot listed for this year.
Currently, this project has been shelved until we can find enough supporters to make it viable. If you are interested, please join our Patreon or become a member of this site. Purchasing any of the creative gifts to enable us to become sustainable will also help us to get back to being able to make gift packages of the nature of those mentioned in this post.