Four fun and really practical ideas to enhance your Seder

Have a SOFA Seder

Why sit at the dining room table for five hours not dining?

Do your Seder in the lounge and then just move to the table for the meal.

Pillows and throws will ensure everyone is comfortable

Side tables can be used to hold wine glasses and bottles

And your coffee table can become the centre-piece Seder plate

Ma Nishtana ends with, ‘… but on this night we recline’ - The Talmud (Pesachim 108a) tells us that lying on your back is going too far, but surely a soft sofa is more in the spirit than an upright chair?

Children (& adults) can drop off for a surreptitious nap & then re-engage later without disturbance

Pesach is Zman Cherutainu, the ‘Moment of our Freedom’, and that freedom is symbolised by reclining; we are being encouraged to ditch the formality of the dinner table and take a more relaxed approach: at ease and comfortable

Create PLACE CARDS in Hebrew and in Hieroglyphics

A midrash teaches that our ancestors kept their Hebrew names in Egypt (Vayikra Rabbah 32:5), but that they were very influenced by idolatry and Egyptian culture

To recall this, why not find out the Hebrew names of all your participants

Then write each name in Hebrew and English on the inner two sides of a place card

On the outer two sides write each name in English and in Hieroglyphics (there are numerous English-to-Hieroglyphics converters online)

Explain to your guests that when, during the evening, they personally feel they have ‘left Egypt’ they should turn over their place cards to reveal their Hebrew names!

DIP all night long

Early in the proceedings we dip the Karpas vegetable in saltwater and make the blessing: Following many rabbinic opinions, this tantalising little appetizer is all we eat until the matzah than opens the meal.

However, some have the ancient custom of eating crudités, with a whole host of different tangy dips, throughout the reciting of the Haggadah – not so much as to ruin your appetite for the meal, but enough to stop you yearning for it

You could also give treats to the children as rewards for a clear Ma Nishtana, asking their own questions, or correctly answering some simple Pesach-related teasers you have thought up

Vegetables and sweets are foods that do not require Birkat HaMazon (Grace after Meals) so they are fine to eat before the meal, although you should add the Boreh Nefashot blessing afterwards if you do

Make an EDIBLE Egypt scene

This is fun to do and can be a centre piece on your dining or coffee table

Pyramids of charoset - a mixture of apples, nuts and wine - Add date paste or crushed almonds to ensure your pyramids don’t collapse

Palm trees of parsley and spring onions - Bathe the spring onions in water to make their ends curl

Sand dunes of matzah meal or desiccated coconut - Be honest, we always buy more of this stuff that we really need

You can even make a river of blood by folding foil into a trough and adding red wine!

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