Purim is a Lot of Fun When You are Prepared

Been there, done that. When you don’t plan for Purim well enough in advance, Purim can feel like a disaster.

Purim is only 1-2 days but it can feel like an entire month due to the amount of preparation and the actual schedule of the holiday.

There is a lot to do in a little bit of time, and if you do not adequately organize yourself, you are going to get caught up in the undertow.

I’m serious! This happened to me for a while every year. I would not notice how soon Purim would come and then it would be here and I would be madly dashing to the store for mishloach manos and forgetting to make my kids costumes and you name it. I felt very overwhelmed.

When I started implementing this strategy, towards the beginning of the Purim month- I accomplished everything I needed to, and extra!

Here’s the strategy for making Purim Perfectly Organized (excerpted from Purim Perfectly Organized)

My sister once gave me a great tip for packing for travel. She said to ”run down” your body to remind yourself of what to pack in your suitcase.

For instance- starting with my head, I pack my sheital, scarves, snoods, hairbrush, and hair accessories. Next are my eyes- contact lenses, a pair of glasses and contact solution. Whatever you need for each body part should come to mind.

I like using this tip for planning how the actual holiday will progress. Instead of using the body I just think about the natural progression of the day. For example, what time is the Purim feast? Where are you going? What are you bringing? Do you need to bring activities for your kids?

My husband and I started this tradition while our kids were very little (they still are) and that is- thinking about the actual day and how it will progress.

The reason we started when the kids were young was actually for no other reason then we had to work out the logisitics of going to shul while one person would be home for naptime or one would hear megillah reading while the other would stay with the kids. You know how it is.

Having a plan for how the actual day will go is good whether or not your kids are young/old or whether or not you actually have kids.

Make a mental rundown of the day from beginning to end.

* The Fast

* Break Fast

* Megillah in the evening

* Megillah in the morning

* Shaloch Manos

* Matanos Le’evyonim

* The Seudah

Think about each category- the fast, do you fast well? Do you need childcare while you rest?

Think about anything you could possibly need or want or for that matter, what your kids might need or want for the day. You might come up with “pack snacks for shul for the kids” and then add this to your planner.

Rivka Slatkin is the founder of Jewish Life Organized and started it when she herself was looking to organize the Jewish Holidays. Rivka did a lot of research on how others organizing the Yomim Tovim and posted her findings on her website for her friends and family. Lots more people found Jewishlifeorganized.com and wanted copies of the Yom Tov Perfectly Organized Collection. “I guess I wasn’t the only one looking to get more organized for the holidays!”, Rivka says. Go to http://www.jewish-life-organized.com to sign up for Rivka’s free newsletter.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rivka_Slatkin

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.