A Kid’s Hanukkah 2020

This year makes two years in a row we’ve not had a Hanukkah party! Actually, I think that makes not having a Hanukkah party more of a tradition than having one. Sigh.

Anyway, with C a bit older and wiser, I wanted to up the attention to this holiday this year.

Here’s what we did:

Hanukkah Books
I find it extremely difficult to find kid’s Hanukkah stories I like. I found these together did a nice job of explaining the holiday and weaving it into a fun story:
  • Grover’s Eight Nights of Hanukkah (A Sesame Street Book)
  • The Hanukkah Bear

Paper Chain
This year I made a Hanukkah 2020 Paper Chain. There’s a link for each night, with something written inside about what we get to do that night. I’m hoping it’ll reinforce the idea this is eight nights, and bring some excitement. This year’s links: present nights, candy nights, movie night, dance party nights, potato pancakes for dinner night.

Candle Lighting
We’ll do this nightly with the boys, and will let C do as much as safe/possible. He can repeat the prayer after us, and we’ll talk about what we’re saying and what it means. We've also been playing pin the candle on the menorah, a fun cut-out game that comes in the Grover/Sesame Street Hanukkah book.

Dreidel
I'm hoping we can play the game a little bit, but so far we've been enjoying watching the dreidel spin fast on the kitchen floor and trying to catch it.

Virtual Hanukkah Party
We’re lucky to have so many family friends who are interested in our Hanukkah party every year. I love that we can expose other families/kids to something new, and build allies considering we’re very much in the minority in our area.

This year I sent out a little kid-friendly Hanukkah story for parents to read to their kids, suggested a candle lighting where they say a prayer that has meaning for their own family, and shared the best latke recipe I know.

Perhaps all these little things we do in our house, and possibly influence in other homes, can brighten up the end of a long weary year.

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