Design your own environmentally-friendly Purim costume this year.
For kids, the most important part of the upcoming Jewish holiday of Purim is the costume. There’s no shortage of stores trying to sell the latest superhero trend to your child. But why buy something that’s likely to end up in a landfill?
Fortunately, young kids usually don’t care how perfect the costume is—they just want to feel like they are whatever it is they want to be. So before you go shopping, ask your child what he wants. When mine asked to be a frog, it turned out that meant wearing green clothes and not much else.
Here are some tips for creating an original costume for you or your child with minimal effect on the environment.
Here are a few simple ideas for children’s costumes:
- Artist: Beret, “smock,” and a palette made of cardboard.
- Pirate: Cut old pants in a zigzag shape below the knee, make a hook out of an old plastic cup covered with used foil, and add a bandana, and eye patch cut from old cloth.
- Businessman: Old suit jacket, umbrella, and newspaper.
Author: Hannah Katsman
Hannah learned environmentalism from her mother, a conservationist before it was in style. Once a burglar tried to enter their home in Cincinnati after noticing the darkened windows (covered with blankets for insulation) and the snow-covered car in the driveway. Mom always set the thermostat for 62 degrees Fahrenheit (17 Celsius) — 3 degrees lower than recommended by President Nixon — because “the thermostat is in the dining room, but the stove’s pilot light keeps the kitchen warmer.” Her mother would still have preferred today’s gas-saving pilotless stoves. Hannah studied English in college and education in graduate school, and arrived in Petach Tikva in 1990 with her husband and oldest child. Her mother died suddenly six weeks after Hannah arrived and six weeks before the first Gulf War, and Hannah stayed anyway. She has taught English but her passion is parental education and support, especially breastfeeding. She recently began a new blog about energy- and time-efficient meal preparation called CookingManager.Com. You can find her thoughts on parenting, breastfeeding, Israeli living and women in Judaism at A Mother in Israel. Hannah can be reached at hannahk (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
