Sometime in the middle of February, just after Tu b'Shevat, we sit down to plan the year's Purim campaign...the preparation, distribution, and receipt of m'shloach manos for the holiday.
    Already the mail brings the solicitations of organizations who will distribute packages in our name and automatically reciprocate to those who give to us but are not on our list.  The organization will consolidate all those who named us on their list and if especially popular, we'll receive a laundry basket filled with all kinds of kosher goodies.  And, if not so popular, our portion may be very modest indeed.
     We will plan plain and fancy offerings, resembling kinds of korbanos.  The Korban Chatos will go to those we've inadvertently sinned against and want to makes amends.  The Korban Todah for those to whom we are especially grateful.  And the Korban Asham Taluy for those to whom we are not sure whether we did or didn't, are or aren't.
     While the extravagance of our gifts may suggest guilt or gratitude, their elaborate concoction may say more about the age of our children.  There is an inverse relationship between age and elaboration. Their little hands will speed the completion of repetitive tasks, and their enthusiasm will overcome our inertia to finish the job.
    There are three basic planning strategies:  theme, container, or contents.  Organizing your m'shloach manos around some theme is tricky but most rewarding when it works.  The clever lady we know once handed out neatly packed boxes containing items which played on the names of people in the neighborhood.  A trip to the dollar store will often turn up a cheap but cute container.  It is important to remember that square is better than round if you have a lot to pack in the car for distribution.  We especially like the tiny matchbox variety containing one peanut, a chocolate chip, or a raisin which fulfills all the requirements of variety and brochas, and we can load pockets or purse with enough to avoid embarrassment all day long.
    No matter how exhaustively we prepare our lists of recipients or how many "reciprocity only" features we select on the organizational solicitations, someone will show up unexpectedly at our door for whom we have nothing ready.  In some room out of sight a well-drilled child will go into action.  Incoming gifts will be frantically torn apart and the contents cannibalized and reassembled for a new special delivery.  While mom schmoozes at the door, the child runs out bearing the gift as if it were there all along but just couldn't be found.
    Many will endure a long day of packaging on Tanis Esther, and a longer day of distribution on Purim itself.  When it's all over, all of the solid chocolate candy will be claimed and the home-made cupcake (which says it's made of organic nuts and berries and tastes like sawdust) will not.  The contents of candy trays (each bearing a child's name) will dwindle until just before Pesach, toward the end of March, we'll throw out the last uneaten items with the rest of the chamatz...and another m'shloach manos season will come to an end.