RAMADAN: IFTAR BOXES
- Zara Arif
- May 28, 2019
- 6 min read
Hi Guys,
So this post is a long time coming and I wanted to share this beautiful idea on the blog last year. But as you will all notice it has been exactly a year and 2 months since I have posted on my blog. I think it’s always down to not having enough time but one of my goals for 2019 is to be consistent so here goes. For those of you who follow me from Instagram will know consistency is very easy when it's just a photo to post on your feed but to consistently write and share things in more thorough detail requires a lot of time, which is near to impossible when you're working a highly stressful hospital based job. One thing I want to say is how much I respect those of you who work extremely stressful jobs and manage to get through your fasts in Ramadan. May Allah (SWT) reward you for your efforts.
Last year was my first year fasting and working a full time job and I honestly struggled through it, so this year I made a conscious decision to take some time off during the last ten nights to truly focus and dedicate as much time as I can in my ibadah. (Ibadah= Worship to God). What I also loved and a lot of people were sharing this on Instagram is how we shouldn’t think that Ibadah is only done when a fasting person is taking time out to focus on Salah, Dhikr, Quranic recitation etc. Some of us who struggle to take the time out shouldn’t be disheartened because Ibadah is also for those fasting mothers who are struggling and just about managing their children. For those who are fasting whilst they are working stressful jobs. There are blessings of every kind and form for those who try very hard whilst they fast. These are the reminders, which give me such contentment in my heart and if you fit into one of those categories, don’t be hard on yourself if you feel you haven’t been able to do enough. For there are blessings in each and every one of your efforts and THAT is the beauty of this month. I pray that Allah (SWT) makes it easy upon each and every one of you and I make du’a that He enrichens your heart so that you become closer to Allah (SWT) and find your way back to Him, in’Shaa’Allah and Ameen.
Being the big food enthusiast that I am, I had this Ramadan Iftar box idea back in 2018 when I had began working my graduate job in the hospital. I was the only Muslim hijabi girl working amongst Non-Muslims in my department and when Ramadan came along I noticed the confusion and this made me want to do something to really educate my work colleagues on why Ramadan is so important to us and what it means to have an Iftar. Collectively these thoughts are what got me going on Pinterest (which is the hub of all my creative inspiration that I get- I’m obsessed!) and it is on there that I came across a blog of a lady who had done Iftar boxes for her neighbours and this idea just resonated with me sprouted an idea which made me want to do something similar and really meaningful to educate others on our faith and dedication to the month of Ramadan. This lady also shared her PDF files of her design layout she created for her Iftar boxes and this is the template I used to create mine! I will post all the links below for you guys to check out.
CREATING THE PERFECT IFTAR BOX:
1. Theme: Create your theme for the box, so this can be what the focus is on this Ramadan with the Iftar boxes. For me this years boxes were about showing more kindness and love to one another & giving to charity which is something I reflected on in the cards that I wrote. In those cards I elaborated on what Ramadan is, what an Iftar means and then I wrote about the importance of showing kindness, love and giving to Charity. So you can elaborate on your theme when you explain the importance of Ramadan.
2. Stationery: This is important for the presentation of your box and it is so easy to find nice boxes you can use. One option are those white boxes that hold 12 cupcakes in them, if you take the cupcake insert out, its such a nice way of putting food in that and turning it into a Iftar box.
Another option is using a medium to large brown Kraft box which I what I used and these can be found anywhere online.
I used eBay to order my brown Kraft boxes: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LARGE-KRAFT-23cm-X-28cm-X-5cm-BOX-WITH-LID-GIFTS-RETAIL-TOYS-BAKERY/153139927064?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
I particularly liked this box because it also had the measurements on it, which gave me a good indication of the size and the types of food I wanted to put in the box to allow plenty of room.
Other Box options:
I also used brown Kraft tags and stuck doilies on them with Ramadan stickers, which I attached to the boxes so each individual had their own personalised tag where I had written their name.
Doilies:
Brown Kraft Tags:
Ramadan Stickers:
Shine Bright Stickers
The Foil Stationery Co
I also used brown baking paper to make cute little pockets for my naan and then I put a Ramadan sticker on the pocket. Most of the time it is my sheer improvisation with a little creativity that creates the best end result.
Design layouts I found from a blog on Pinterest: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BwFM0_BVA5l3aXNVbzU4cUlHeHM?usp=sharing
These templates are what I changed up and personalised to make my own!
3. Food: Create your menu for the box and the kind of cuisine that you would like to make. Split your menu up into Starter, Main, and Dessert (& Sides). Then fill in each section with ideas. I brainstormed a lot of different ideas for my boxes and then crossed out the ones I ruled out. So I ended up with. . .
Starters: A vegetable or meat samosa, creamy chicken and mushroom puff pastry and a chicken, Sweetcorn and spring onion roll served with a mint yoghurt.
Main: Butter chicken served with saffron Pilau rice and a garlic and thyme naan
Desserts: An assortment of Nutella brownies with marshmallow, hazelnut and white chocolate toppings
Chocolate coated Medjoul dates- milk chocolate with hazelnut, white chocolate with almond and white chocolate with pistachio and rose
It is also important to consider if anyone who you are making Iftar boxes for has any dietary requirements. So one for one of my Iftar boxes I was catering for an individual with Coeliac and gluten intolerances that made me adapt the menu so it was suitable for them. I even ended up baking my first attempt at gluten free brownies, which turned out much nicer than I had anticipated.
4. Intention: This is an important one because essentially you are not making Iftar boxes to please anyone, but you are doing it to educate others and bring them close to this beautiful faith and you are doing it to please Allah (SWT). There is so much reward in spreading the beauty and peace of this faith and to educate non-Muslims is a form of Dawah. You don’t know what beautiful blessings come from these small acts of kindness. It is these acts that are most beloved to Allah (SWT) and it is these qualities that we must aspire to reach. Doesn’t that just make your heart smile? Even the thought of just imagining that you have pleased Allah (SWT) makes you want to be better and the efforts that we make to do that, only Allah (SWT) truly knows what is in our hearts. I make du’a that we all reach to that level of closeness with Him.
I hope that this post has helped you all with how to create a lovely Ramadan Iftar box and hopefully it makes you realise that it isn’t just about getting a pretty box and putting food in, allow yourself the ability to reach a spiritual level and really understand the importance of what this month truly is. Even writing out my cards and explaining what Ramadan is gave me a deeper understanding. Sometimes it’s so easy to understand why we practice the way we do but as soon as someone asks us a question, it becomes so hard to elaborate on why. “But why is it that you fast?”
When I get asked questions like these, at the beginning I struggled. It’s when we go away to deeply reflect that we educate ourselves even and realise something truly profound. Islam is a faith where even if we don’t know why, we can go away and learn and build our knowledge. Even the most practising of believers are still learning. And that is the real beauty of it. . . we are all on a journey that allows us to learn, grow in our deen, enrichen our hearts and become closer to Allah (SWT). May we all aspire to reach there, in’Shaa’Allah.
So if we can all encourage one another and pour that positivity out into the dunya, imagine how much we could do?
I’ll leave that thought with you and let it resonate.
Zara x
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