Purim Centerpieces - Himmeli Hamantaschen

These fantastic straw sculpture hamantaschen make gorgeous Purim centerpieces for your holiday table! You can also check out this Purim decoration for your walls. This post contains affiliate links.

Gorgeous DIY Purim centerpieces make perfect Purim table decorations for your holiday feast! These Himmeli-inspired Hamanataschen sculptures are made from inexpensive paper straws.

Math is REALLY not my forte but somehow I ended up dabbling in a highly mathematical craft. The good news is: I did all the mathing and stuff for you.

Last year, I shared a dreidel himmeli craft but I actually made that one AFTER these himmeli hamantaschen Purim centerpieces. I just had to get to sharing with you.

Just to recap: Himmeli is a traditional Scandinavian craft that uses straw (as in the natural variety) and reeds to make abstract geometric sculptures and decorations. I adapted that here using paper straws with much simpler geometric shapes that are inspired by holiday imagery. Today, most Himmeli artists use brass or copper tubing to make beautiful modern sculptures.

To decorate my own Purim table, I made Himmeli-inspired Hamantaschen using paper straws. Because Hamantaschen are a balanced geometric shape, they were the perfect candidate for this craft!

My Chanukah dreidel was made out of silver paper straws. For Purim hamantaschen, I used copper paper straws – to match my copper, gray and white tablescape.

Paper straws are available to match any color scheme, but metallic ones add a little glam and almost look like metal tubing.

That killer vase in the center of the table was an old, disgusting dirty acrylic vase that I updated using concrete and brushed copper texture paints from FolkArt. I already shared the painted vase makeover as well as more details on my tablescape.

To make your himmeli shape, you’re going to string your straws onto wire. You restring the wire through straws to hold things into specific positions. So when you complete any step, you’ll fix it in place by drawing the wire through the closest straw that’ll work.

When you’re done making these hamantaschen, try coming up with your own shape, or make abstract sculptures to complement these!

What you need to make Himmeli Hamantaschen

How to make these Purim centerpieces

Use a craft knife to cut your straws to size. The proportion is more important than your actual measurements, but use a ruler or cutting mat to measure according to the size of your straw.

You need: 6 full-size straws, 9 half-size straws, and 6 quarter-size straws.

String 3 full-size straws on your wire.

Thread the wire back through one of your straws to close your triangle.

String on your wire a quarter straw, a half straw and then another quarter.

And then draw it through one of your straws from your first triangle, so that it ends up by the empty corner.

String on a quarter straw and then a half straw.

Thread your wire back through the half straw from the previous step.

Thread on a half straw.

Then thread it back through the adjacent quarter straw so that your wire ends up by an outer corner.

At this point, it’ll be helpful to twist your wire once or twice through the internal wire to secure your first half of your Hamantasch. Trim your wire off your spool but leave about 1-2 feet “tail” in place.

Repeat the above process to make a second hamantasch shape.

Now it’s time to connect your two pieces to make a centerpiece! Lay your two hamantaschen side by side. Take one of your remaining half straws. String it onto one of your wires that are connected to the hamantaschen. String that wire through one of the long sides of the other hamantasch.

String another half-straw to the wire attached to the other corner.

Repeat with the last corner, and thread through the opposite Hamantasch so that they face each other, threading the wires back through any straw. Since these are your final steps, it doesn’t matter where the wire ends up.

Wrap your wires a few times around the internal wires that stick out between straws, making sure it’s secure.

The cool thing about working with wire is that it can be manipulated however you like it. At this point, you may need to bend it at the corners, so that your Hamantaschen stand nicely. Use pliers if you need a little help. Play with it and bend until it stands really nicely.

Make a pair if want, and display them proudly! They work beautifully for when you want to add a touch of metallic to brighten up a neutral tablescape!