Friday – it’s a day of standing in the kitchen, giving baths, setting the table, lighting the candles…and wearing costumes?

Purim this year falls out on none other than an already busy Friday. So when exactly are we cooking for Shabbos? Not sure, but what we can be sure about is that we’ll have not only two delicious meals on Shabbos, but one on Friday as well. Putting aside the food (which will be prepared at some unknown point in time), let’s talk about some of the other mitzvos of the day and how they may (or may not) look different this year.

Let’s start with mishloach manos. Between preparation and execution, it is probably the most time consuming of Purim’s mitzvos, especially when it involves themes. Themes: it’s a word some families love and others dread.

Since Chanukah, or even before, many families discuss endlessly what they are going to be – and then search Amazon or other stores to get materials to make the perfect costumes… only to discover that a younger sister insists on being a ballerina and ballerina only, so you must cajole her into wearing the absolutely “horrid” painter’s apron and hat by promising her all the Dum-

Dums you receive in your mishloach manos.