Hanukkah Kitchen Fun

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Build an edible menorah with your children

I’ve pulled together a few of my favorite and super easy Hanukkah kitchen ideas to share with you. Enjoy! A super simple one is to get Hanukkah cookies cutters to use with breakfast pancakes. When the kids are six and up, they can help cut the shapes. Hanukkah starts Saturday, December 24th. Pretzel Rod Candles My daughter made these cute pretzel rod candles a few years back. Delish and easy to make. Here’s what she did: Dipped pretzels into melted chocolate (melted in Mason jars in a slow cooker in a water bath), Placed them on parchment paper. Drizzled them with melted … [Read more...]

Hanukkah DIY Gifts

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A great gift to give your children is to encourage them to create presents for friends and family, instead of buying them. Think simple, loving, homemade. Hanukkah starts on Saturday, December 24th. Here are three ideas: Goodies in Glass Jars  If you save jelly jars, you’re in luck. Or you can pick some jars up at a hobby store. Depending on their size and shape, fill them with: Mixed candies Hot cocoa mix Honey Individual spices (e.g., cinnamon sticks or bay leaves) Spice mix (with recipe ideas that go with that kind of spice mix) One year, a friend gave me ingredients to … [Read more...]

Hanukkah Themed Nights

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Hanukkah games

In our family, we want to tone down any hint of mad gift-giving at Hanukkah. We failed a bit last year, so we’re rethinking for this year. Hanukkah starts Saturday, December 24th.  Our daughter is now contemplating how to do themed nights, where the presents lead to family fun activities – focusing on togetherness vs. on getting loot. Since we are a games-loving group, this should be very doable. Calendar Night It is my tradition to create personalized calendars for our little boys. So we will plan a calendar night, where the calendars will be that night’s presents. To expand the calendar … [Read more...]

Hanukkah Fun Buys

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Looking to jazz up your home for Hanukkah? Here are a few pieces of Judaica that make me smile. The first candle of Hanukkah is Saturday, December 24th. Pop Art Dreidels  I discovered Rabbi Yitzchok Moully’s pop art collection at a recent URJ convention. What struck me immediately is the strong use of bold, vibrant colors. Several of the pieces are specifically holiday-themed, including the dreidel art (with a stack of gelt in the lower right-hand corner), hamentashen art (with one bagel half in the lower right-hand corner!), and apple art (with honey in the lower right-hand … [Read more...]

Hanukkah 2015 – Share Your F.I.N.D.S

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As we move into the last weekend of Hanukkah, when lots of families are planning parties and gatherings, let’s share: what are the best Hanukkah menorahs, recipes, and adventures that you discovered this season? For us, a F.I.N.D is a Fabulous. Intriguing. New-to-me. Discovery. Gecko Menorah We discovered this adorable gecko menorah at FairTradeJudaica.com that simply tickled our grandsons! (In 2016, we will do a full post about this wonderful organization.) What amazed me was that our 3-year-old knew it was a gecko when he pulled it out of the box! One note: we learned right away … [Read more...]