The 8 Best Hanukkah Gifts Way Better Than A Dreidel (And One Awesome Dreidel)
Cue the Sandler, it's about that time.
It’s almost time for Hanukkah, or, as your coworkers know it, the holiday nobody can spell with the candles and the tiny display at the mall behind Santa’s workshop. Even though eight crazy nights of presents will never be as cool as the single morning bonanza of Christmas, that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun with the Festival Of Lights. These Hanukkah gifts for kids and families will delight your little ones, your spouse, and look great in your home. As a bonus twelfth gift, the official food of Hanukkah is anything fried in oil. You’re welcome.
Hanukkah Gifts For Kids
Curious George In Yiddish
This Hannukah gift gives your kid a storytime experience you never knew: having your great-grandmother from the old country read to you about the adventures of a man in a yellow hat and his precocious little monkey friend. Yiddish transliteration and an alphabet chart and pronunciation key make reading and learning a new old language easy, and finally settle whether your nana is in fact just making up all those words.
Shalom Sesame
Shalom Sesame first appeared in 1986 as an anglicized adaptation of the Israeli version of the show that aimed to introduce kids to Judaism, Israel, and Hebrew. Because apparently wherever Sesame Street is, it’s not in an Orthodox neighborhood. The series has continued through more recent years, starring your kid’s favorite blue monster, Grover, plus some new Israeli friends, and celebrities like Debi Mazar. What, Beastie Boys were too obvious?
Zion Action Figures
These have objectively little to do with the actual story or celebration of Hanukkah, but if your kid’s asking for an Iron Man action figure this season, might as well pair it with the Iron Lady. Meir! Ben-Gurion! Begin! Dayan! The Kosher Avengers, coming to theaters this summer!
Mensch On A Bench
Yes, it’s silly. Yes, it’s a blatant money-grab enabled by the holidays’ descent into pure commercialism. Yes, you should have thought of it before that couple took it on Shark Tank. The Mensch On A Bench is Hanukkah’s answer to Christmas’ Elf On The Shelf, which is all of the above, without the beard but with more hilarious illicit scenarios. Consider that a challenge, internet.
Hannukah Gifts for Home
Menorasaur
The history of evolution and this menorah have taught us that life, uh, finds a way … to use dinosaurs to trick little Jewish kids into being interested in their heritage. Would you have paid a little more attention in Hebrew school if the Maccabees had been fighting a legion of oppressive velociraptors? Yes. Yes, you would have. (Also, “Menorasaurus” is just pure dad joke gold.)
Menorasaur: Apatosaurus
Menorasaur: Triceratops
Hannukah Gifts for Her
Spin That Thing!
You weren’t referring to a dreidel when you said that to your spouse, but the dreidel is the only thing that’ll let you get away with saying it at the family Chanukah party. Mildly suggestive Chanukah shirts: the new ugly Christmas sweaters!
You Are My Everything Bagel
Foods fried in oil, like potato latkes and donuts, are staples for celebrating Chanukah, but an everything bagel with cream cheese, lox, and onion is a staple for celebrating life year-round. Except on Passover. Damn, the Jewish holidays are confusing.
Hannukah Gifts for You
The Grav Menorah [youtube https://youtu.be/c5uMRhj_N6Y expand=1] There are miracles, and then there’s the Grav Menorah, which somehow took until the fourth “Chanukah Song” to go viral. Because 50 million Sandler fans can’t be wrong, “Leave the kids with Grandmakah, and smoke your marijuanicah…”
Dr. Dreidel
Sadly, you can’t buy this — yet. But if you are very good, listen to your parents, and say your prayers every night, the greatest confluence ever of hip-hop, Chanukah, and puns just might become available for purchase. Like the dreidel says, “A great miracle happened there.” If not, there’s always the Grav Menorah. Like Dre says, “Smoke weed every day.”
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