Hanukkah Party Guide: Freebies & Fun

The party guide helps plan a themed Hanukkah event with ideas, tips in the food departments, creative crafts, and clever conversation chats, menus, recipes, cookies, cakes and food labels. Free printable games, puzzles, place name cards and coloring pages.

Hanukkah Party Store

Hanukkah Event Music

Hanukkah is a time of both deep introspection and grand celebration for those of the Jewish faith; one that always includes a full menu of warm sentiments, delicious food and, of course, lots of holiday music.

A Hanukkah playlist should include tunes that are both sassy and sentimental, danceable and dignified. Sample Hanukkah party songs could include:

Candlelight by The Maccabeats
The Chanukah Song by Neil Diamond
Holy Ground by Craig Taubman
Ring of Hanukkah by Paul F. Tompkins
Chanukah Fever by Mama Doni
Eternal Flame by The Bangles
Blessings on the Menorah�Classic Hanukkah hymn
Along with all this memorable music, no Hanukkah host should forget to include a full range of theme-related party supplies. Light should serve as the focal point of every Hanukkah celebration, with multiple lit candles in shades of white, blue, silver and gold adorning the party area. Smaller tea lights in these same shades could be offered as take home party favors, as could yarmulkes in vibrant but reverent colors and designs. And, of course, a luminous Menorah should serve as the vivid centerpiece of all Hanukkah proceedings.

Jewish people from all faiths come together each year to honor and celebrate the Hanukkah holiday. Mazel tov! Game idea: take a clear container, then fill with candy, toys or other objects and have the guests guess the number of items inside. Photos provide such lasting memories; take time to designate someone as the photographer at a social occasion. Gather up some leftover brown packing boxes, wrap them in a matching theme color design and place them throughout the event space for instant decorations.

Homemade Hanukkah Party Supplies

Hanukkah is a very unique time for Jewish families and homemade party supplies and party goods such as homemade candles, handmade Menorahs, balloon bouquets and handmade gift baskets add a lot to the celebration. As with most holidays Hanukkah is an important time for Jewish families and homemade party supplies such as handmade tablecloths, placemats and napkins are great additions to the eight days of Hanukkah and will be no comparison to others that are owned.

Homemade Hanukkah candles made especially for the eight day of Hanukkah are perfect for the handmade Menorahs. In addition to these items other homemade party supplies such as handmade tablecloths and homemade placemats are made especially for the Hanukkah celebration. These handmade party supply items along with Hanukkah gift baskets are easy to prepare and make for the eight days of Hanukkah.

Before making the handmade Menorah and homemade candles review other items and decide exactly what is needed for the eight day celebration. At this point, determine how many homemade candles and handmade gift baskets will be needed. A simple Hanukkah Menorah can be made using eight baby food jars and decorating each one with stickers, glitter or paint. Then place a small ball of play dough or clay in the bottom of the jar. The candle will then be placed in the center of the play dough. This simple Menorah will be a nice addition to your Hanukkah celebration.

Cakes for Hanukkah

The end of the year, in particular the month of December provides the chance to have Hanukkah holiday cake to celebrate the twelve days of Hanukkah. First thing is to gather the needed party supplies to make and decorate the cake. Make two round cakes in nine inch pans, the first one would be made, frosted and then place nine candles on the cake. Also use a small round pan, like a 3 inch pan for a topper. The candles would be placed with eight around the lower level of the cake and then one candle on top. Go with a light blue tinted frosting, on the bottom layer place miniature menorahs.

The second one for the Hanukkah holiday cake will be decorated differently with other party supplies. Once the cake has cooled off, once again place the 3 inch round cake on top. Then proceed to frost the cake with a white cream frosting on the top and the sides. Proceed to decorate the cake, on the center top either in free hand or with a cut out, take icing and make the star of David. Repeat on the larger cake�s top layer, going around the cake.

Hanukkah Parties

The Jewish holiday, Hannukah, is one of the most important of all Jewish holidays, and coincides with the Christian holiday, Christmas, and you can easily have a blended Hannukah party of your own. Hannukah means "Dedication" and was first celebrated as a rededication of the Jewish holy temple after Antiochus IV desecrated it. When the Maccabees were triumphant over the Seleucid Empire, the Jews wanted to cleanse and rededicate their holy temple. Olive oil was particularly precious and used in such rituals, and there was only enough consecrated olive oil left to fuel the temple's eternal flame for a single day at most. They knew it would take eight days for more oil to be prepared, but began the ceremony in faith, and they saw a miracle occur when that single day's oil burned for eight days, until they had more oil to continue their ritual.

For this reason, it is important to perform the ritual lighting of the menorah, when celebrating Hanukkah. Traditional celebrations normally include eating, the exchange of gifts or presents of money or candy coins, recitation of blessings, and lighting the menorah. Decorations usually include a traditional use of blue, silver, and white. Hanukkah trees are becoming more popular and are normally decorated in the traditional colors with a star of David on top.

More and more the traditional celebration of Hanukkah is being blended with Christmas, and if you wish to pass on and retain certain traditions of both faiths, it is important to ease the transition with a blend of traditional activities, gifts, and foods. Make it easy for everyone by writing down and handing out things such as the traditional blessings used when lighting the menorah. Though you may know the blessings, it will make it much easier for the ones who do not, to have them written down, and make it much less awkward for those who don't, if everyone receives a written copy.

If you begin planning early, let everyone know they will be attending a blended celebration, and make sure everyone knows what to expect, blended Hanukkah and Christmas celebrations can be a true joy and time of embracing, rather than rejecting differences. Blended celebrations can be a true joy for everyone. After this celebration, get ready for New Years Eve!

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Hanukkah History, Facts and Educational Resources

Add an educational twist to any birthday party, holiday celebration, or theme party. Share the history of the Hanukkah theme to the guests. Play some free printable educational party games. Shhh don't tell the kids that they are learning!

Hanukkah History & Facts

The history of Hanukkah, or Chanukah, tells of the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem. On the 25th day of Kislev it begins on the Hebrew calendar. This takes place in the end of November and into December according to the Gregorian calendar, which is used by much of the Christian world, along with many other religions.

The name Hanukkah means �dedication,� and it celebrates their Syrian victory.

When their Greek King, Antichus, outlawed Jewish rituals, he had the Holy Temple seized, as Zeus was to be worshipped there from that point on. The Jews were ordered to worship Zeus and eat pig. This outraged many Jews during the years 168 B.C.E. to 165 B.C.E., and Mattathias, who was a Jewish High Priest, killed many of the opposing soldiers, and he set out to kill many more, before hiding his family from them.

Judah Mccabee, the son of Mattathias, was encouraged to take over the fight after about a year, as his father was weakening and dying. Judah created a large army. They were strong and ready to fight the Greeks to be able to worship as they wished. After a three-year rebellion, the Jews had won.

Many of their religious items were missing or found broken, to Judah�s dismay. And their sacred golden menorah was one of these items.

They cleaned up the mess that was left, and they repaired as many items as they could. They wanted desperately to light their sacred menorah. And they ended it all with a dedicated ceremony. Having only had enough oil to light their beloved menorah for one single day would have to be enough.

But as the story goes, their menorah stayed llit for eight whole days with only enough oil for one, and they considered this a miracle.

During these miraculous days, they were able to gather more oil to keep their sacred menorah glowing. And presently, Jews worldwide celebrate Hanukkah for eight days in remembrance of the eight-day miracle by lighting one candle each day for eight days. Decorations help transform a room into something more for that special day so look forward to learning some exciting and creative ideas. If you specify the type of clothing for a social event like summer causal, give a few examples of what is acceptable and more importantly what isn't. Decorations help transform a room into something more for that special day so look forward to learning some exciting and creative ideas. The history of Hanukkah has different interpretations by each person, so use your own judgement. Share these facts with friends at a celebration.

Educational Hanukkah Resources

The Party Supplies Hut has more free elementary educational teacher resources for Hanukkah to use in the classroom for active learning to create lesson plans with trivia questions, games and fun activities.

History of Hanukkah
More Hanukkah holiday educational teachers classroom resources: