Sr Alif blogs about Hajj Journal
We’ve been flooded by an over whelming request- to share hajj connection worksheets and materials for Islamic school teachers and parents.
So check out our journal worksheets that we have created. Reflect on the unique Hajj phenomenon as you complete the journal with your child/student. Look out for more Hajj activities in the posts that follow Inshallah!
Hajj Journal Pages DOWNLOAD HERE
Sister Reminder blogs
Official Announcement from the High Judiciary Council of Saudi Arabia…
Wednesday 18 November 2009 is 1 Dhul-Hijjah. Muslims performing Hajj will be in ‘Arafah on Thursday 26 November 2009 (9 Dhul-Hijjah 1430), and the Muslim Ummah shall be celebrating ‘Eid ul-Adha on Friday 27 November 2009, (10 Dhul-Hijjah 1430). Insha-Allaah.
PS: Beautiful Hajj pictures from last year. Please view here.
Umm Professional blogs
It’s always fun preparing for Eid, and even more so when you are preparing Eid gifts for your non-Muslim friends, neighbors or teachers- you can use it as an excuse to do “The Dawah Power” as I call it to teach my kids the importance of spreading Islam the friendly way. Don’t make excuses, ” I don’t have money or the time to give anything to my non-Muslim friends-they would never be interested in Islam anyway…”
In this difficult financial time, we can still find ways to give a little, and still get a big smile and appreciation from our neighbors and friends. My favorite ideas are made by the children, who have the zeal of giving. Here are a few ideas from different sisters who have emailed us…
1. Eid Mubarak E-Card ($0- free!)- one sister emailed her non-Muslim family members and friends Eid Mubarak e-cards and they responded, “Thank you-What is Eid Mubarak?” Ahh…now all the possible answers to that question!
List of Best e-Eid Card Sites:
2. Sweet Treats ($2.50 per gift -cake mix, paper box, cellophane wrapper, ribbons)- This sister found cupcakes, brownies, and muffins to be an inexpensive but well appreciated gift. “Even if you use instant cake mix, you can’t go wrong with decorated frosting. Put cupcake with frosting on a nice paper plate with cellophane wrapper, or muffins in a bakery box” she explains. One cake mix box can make enough cup cakes or muffins for about two neighbors….that’s less than $1.50 per person!
3. Eid Cake ($3.00 for cake mix and frosting)- You just don’t have time putting the batter in those cupcake liners? Just pour it on to a square or circular pan, and get your kids to frost and decorate it. Says one young chef here who made a desert and date palm tree scene on the cake with fruit loops and dates, “We just took whatever we could find in our kitchen! Our downstairs neighbors’ kids were ecstatic, and did not want to eat it because they said they didn’t want to mess it up!!”
4. Eid Gifts ($6.00 for gift wrap- bought here)-This clever mom looked for any stashed away gift items that she had in the attic or basement that she had not used and were brand new. She found perfumes, dishes, pocket books, scarves, framed art, vases. Then she wrapped them up with colorful gift wrappers and the children gave it to the astonished neighbors. She gave a short explanation, “After Hajj, we celebrate our Holiday called Eid. We give gifts to our family member and friends, and we just want to let you know we consider you as part of our family.” Suddenly your unknown neighbor is your best friend!
5. Fruit Bouquet ($5.00-$10.00)- If you want to get a little more fancy as this sister attempted to make her own fruit arrangement with the help of her little girl. She explains, “What started off as fruit kebabs became fruit flower gifts. Actually my friend showed up a day before Eid with box full of fruit. Knowing there was no way we could eat all these fruit, we decided to give them away. I got some ideas from fruit decoration companies (They charge $50-$100!), and took out some old vases, Styrofoam and bunch of sticks, and put my little assistant to work. She happily stuck the grapes one by one, and after she completed them, decided to eat them as well. Oh, well… that’s what I get for relying on ‘child labor’!”
Artsy Ummi blogs
Many moms like me like to buy gifts for their little ones as they have no value or understanding of money, but since my child turned 6, I’ve been educating her about cash flow. I’d like her to be dollar smart and learn to make right decisions when it comes to buying and saving. So in Ramadan when she asked me what she was getting for Eid, I explained to her that she would be receiving her first Eidee. “What’s that?” she asked. She was really excited to learn that Mom was going to trust her with some money! As the days went by, her list grew longer and longer with how she would spend that cash! Finally, when Eid ul Fitr came, and she happily received the “golden” note in her hands, much to my astonishment, she gladly placed it in the zakah box instead!!! What happened to that long list? Alhamdulillah- she felt that she had everything she needed and wanted someone else to have a gift instead!! SubhanAllah, my plan had been to educate her to be $ smart….I didn’t know I would be this successful in my first try!!!
Eidee is common practice in some cultures and most often presented to the youngsters by aunts, uncles, grandparents and close relatives. It’s easy and convenient to just hand the children some money on Eid, but with a little forethought, these special moments can be made much more memorable. How about adding a little sparkle to the festive season by making an attractive envelope?
Jannahsteps has a template ready for creative mothers who would like to add a personal touch this Eid. An envelope made with love and filled with best wishes and duas. Tall Envelope Template DOWNLOAD HERE. If you would like to download labels for your envelope, then go here. You can print them on beige paper like I did here, or on any color paper to suit your envelope style!
There are endless designs of scrapbooking paper, gift wrap or even color paper and stickers- use whatever you have at home. I made these with some colorful sheets of scrapbook paper! I love how they turned out! PS: Download each template under their respective photograph.
Fancy Envelope Template DOWNLOAD HERE
Scalloped Envelope Template DOWNLOAD HERE
I used a single hole punch to create the scallop holes. If I’m making a lot of envelopes I would just skip this step!
I also made a little pocket inside to insert the currency, and you could also scribble in a personal hand written note!
Artsy Ummi blogs
Here’s my Eid gift to you! I created these labels and gift card tags for all the Eid gifts I was wrapping for my family and friends. I thought I’d share.
Download #1: Gift Tags and Labels for Eid- DOWNLOAD HERE
Download #2: Gift Tags and Labels for Eid Gifts DOWNLOAD HERE
Download #3: Gift Tags and Labels for Eid Mini Version DOWNLOAD HERE
I made some goodie bags for my daughter’s classmates for Eid. I used the gift card tags to label all the boxes with her classmates’ names.
Happy downloading
Artsy Ummi blogs
I’ve always LOVED fall and in great anticipation I await the arrival of this gorgeous season each year. Here are some of my weekend projects with my kids.
Gourd Birdhouses! I want to make something out of gourds, and while looking for something online, I found this website. Aren’t they so cute? Granted I have to wait until spring to be able to use these…but I know my family will enjoy this project. My plan is to get the kids to paint them any which way they like. Perhaps they can paint it like a whimsical house with colorful windows and a funky chimney. I plan on making a cozy nest inside with some strings and twigs, after we’ve studied different kinds of nests of course!
We also borrowed this book from the library to inspire us further. I loved the ideas in there- and you can do them with your children…..no matter how old! Other than the ideas featured in the book, there are other endless possibilities. Imagine creating repeated patterns on table mats and laminating them, or designing a book cover for your teacher or creating your own abstract art and displaying it. Lovely!
We made felt book marks for all the chapter books my busy reader has just started to read. In this project, we focused on fall colors and discussed the color wheel before we got started.
Once our color wheel lesson was complete, we gathered up our materials. We selected the correct colors of felt balls (you can make your own- and kids have a lot fun doing this….I have included a tutorial to make your own here. For those of you who want to get right into the project, you can purchase ready made felt balls at the craft store in the sewing supplies aisle. I used a cream colored felt cloth and cut it into the correct size for my bookmarks.
I then sewed the colored felt balls on top of my bookmark. Pretty easy huh? And yet so appealing! I love the simplicity of this project.
I might embroider something on the bookmarks, but can’t decide whether I want to stitch the name of my child, or write something related to the project. What do you think? How does FALL INTO READING sound?
My next bookmark was my daughter’s idea to place orange buttons as pumpkins and place stems on the top of them. She even helped me sew the buttons on. It came out quite nice, don’t you think?
My last bookmark. Hope you like them!
