Easy and Inspiring Sukkah Decorations by Mara

Wondering how you are going to decorate your sukkah*? Your worries are over! Please welcome Mara Strom of Kosher on a Budget for today's guest post on Sukkah crafts. And be sure to check out her site.


I love Sukkot. Really, truly love it! I love watching my husband and sons build our sukkah, and hosting friends and family in our humble little home-away-from-home. But every year, the decorating of our sukkah stumps me.

I spent an hour today cutting and stapling hundreds of strips of construction paper for our sukkah's paper chain. Such an easy craft to involve the kids in, right? Unfortunately, it ended up being Mommy’s craft, since my sons were too distracted to help and my daughter is too little to be trusted with a stapler!


Today's failed attempt at a simple paper chain again reminded me that when it comes to decorating, I need a little more inspiration and a lot more instruction to turn my crafty vision for our sukkah into a reality.

If you, too, need some last-minute sukkah-decorating inspiration, I've collected links from my favorite Jewish bloggers and their decorating genius. Their projects are feasible even for the paper chain-challenged among us!

• An oldy, but goody from Juggling Frogs -- I love everything she does here, and truly, just want to be invited for a meal in her sukkah! One of these days, I’d love to get around to making her Simcha Banner.
• In an even older, but still timely post, Laurie Bellet from Torah Aura Productions lists a dozen water-proof sukkah craft suggestions. I especially like her idea to recycle old CDs, of which we have plenty around here.
• The inimitable Sara Dahan, aka the Creative Jewish Mom, offers up a number of wonderful paper crafts. I don't know Sara personally, but from enjoying her blog, I picture her as a cross between Soule Mama and my son's favorite ganenet (teacher): earthy, inspiring and incredibly talented. I am definitely going to try Sara's paper bunting. Maybe the kids will even agree to help me!
  
• Speaking of paper crafts, I like these sweet and simple paper circles from Chabad's website. (Scroll down with the arrow on the right to see each step of the project.)
• When all other crafting fails, you can always make an edible sukkah, as shown here by Frisco Kids. I have a feeling graham crackers and icing would definitely hold my kids' attention! In fact, this might make a great dessert plan for one night in our sukkah. Yum!

Finally, I wanted to share with you an idea from my own sukkah. After spending 11.5 months telling my children not to draw on the walls, I let them do just that. Using fabric paint, markers, glue, glitter – whatever moves them at the time – my kiddos get to create their very own masterpieces on our sukkah walls. From abstract blobs to equestrian stencils to baseball illustrations, these sukkah pictures are a wonderful way to appreciate my children's growth as people — and artists — throughout the years.

I'm sure Hannah's readers have lots more crafty inspiration up their sleeves, so tell me: How do you decorate your sukkah? What are your favorite Sukkot arts & crafts projects?

Mara Strom is a freelance writer, who blogs about living a rich but frugal Jewish life at her blog, Kosher on a Budget. She and her husband have two sons, born in Israel, and one daughter, born in Kansas.

*A sukkah is a temporary dwelling, roofed with vegetation, built for the week-long holiday of Sukkot (Tabernacles).

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A Sukkot for the Birds

Inexpensive Family Day Trips in Israel

Insects Keep Falling on My Head (On Sukkot, That Is)

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