By Susan Kurlander, M.Ed.

For most of us as parents and grandparents, Hanukkah is a holiday that we anticipate celebrating with joy, warmth and shared family time together. Lighting candles, eating potato latkes, playing dreidl games, and giving gifts that we hope let the recipients of those gifts know how much we celebrate and love them.

And therein lies the challenge: How do we choose gifts that:

• Don’t become so costly that they lose the meaning of giving?
• Don’t compete with Christmas especially in interfaith homes?
• Do transmit the values of the Hanukkah story including the survival of the Jewish people?
• Do help us appreciate the importance of family?

If those challenges are ones with which you have struggled, here are some suggestions to consider:

• Create a family photo calendar which can become a keepsake for the upcoming year.
• Let the children pick the photos to include along with captions.
• Design a bingo game related to facts about the holiday that are particular to your family.
• Design a tzedakah box from an empty tissue box with drawings or magazine clippings.
• Everyone can pick a charity to which they would like to donate the contents of the box. Then have a “debate” as to which charity is chosen.
• Substitute dreidls for dice as you change the rules for games your family plays.
• Share stories of how you celebrated Hanukkah as a child.
• Attend a community or sporting event during the holiday.
• Read a book together about challenges and team work.
• Make your own Hanukkah greeting cards to send to family out of town.
• Bake and decorate cookies to share with a neighbor.
• Choose a place to visit that your family has never been to before.
• Give a certificate(s) that entitles the child to pick a time(s) when they will choose to do something special with you.

Although these gift choices may not seem like the gifts we’re used to giving, each one has the potential to become part of our family’s traditions—to be celebrated for generations to come.