In the past I’ve been overwhelmed by the Hanukkah week, even though it remains one of my favorite holidays. But last year I got my act together and we shifted some of the chaos away from nightly presents to nightly family-focused activities. These were activities that we chose together and did together. And we found that being together was the best Hanukkah present around!
This year I’m even more on my game and I prepared a Hanukkah 2018 Family-Focus Planner to organize my week. And to share it with you, of course! Just sign up in the pop-up or below. This planner will help you focus on what’s really important during Hanukkah: time with your family! And instead of trying to come up with a special activity the night-of (although sometimes those spontaneous happenings are the sweetest!), you can talk to your family and create a plan that will work for everyone.
What You’ll Need
- Hanukkah 2018 Family-Focus Planner
- Your Family
- A pen
Putting It Together
1. In my house, we first met together for a family meeting. And the best kind of family meeting: holiday planning! Everyone loves that! We talked about the different activities we did last year and which ones we loved and wanted to repeat this year. We also added some new ones to our wishlist.
2. We looked at our google calendar and saw what Hanukkah-related events were already scheduled. We added those to our Planner to save the date. For us we already have two synagogue events scheduled, a Hanukkah Potluck and Party for the young families of the synagogue (organized by yours truly) and a special Hanukkah family Shabbat service and dinner on Shabbat. These activities will be the main event for those nights–celebrating Hanukkah with our local Jewish community is a wonderful way to light up our night!
3. Then we started plugging in our wishlist activities where we thought they’d work best.
The activities we chose for this year:
- Movie night. This is a favorite, special activity of ours–everyone on the couch, snuggled under blankets, popcorn in hand, watching a movie that everyone agreed on. Pretty special!
- Game night. Another favorite! Dreidel starts it off (of course!), but we also add some other fun family games. And shhh, don’t tell–this Hanukkah they are getting some new board games we can play together as a family. I can’t wait!
- Library & Ice Cream. A double special treat. Grabbing fun new books from the library and following it with a tasty treat.
- Craft Night. These kids love to craft and now they’ll have an entire evening devoted to it, with both parents fully participating = the best!
- Nature Hike. After being stuck inside for two weeks due to all the awful smoke from the Camp Fire, we are so looking forward to getting out into nature as much as we can. I’m betting there will be some Nature Art to follow!
4. I also always plan out my menu for the week because we all know how important food is to this holiday! Before babies I used to make different latkes every single night of the holiday. We also invited different friends over each night to celebrate with us. Holy cow! I can’t imagine doing that now. Now I make a big enough batch so that it can last for two nights so I only have to cook every other night. Much more manageable. We sometimes invite friends over but I actually prefer to have most of our holiday nights at home, lighting candles together, talking, playing, focusing on being present with each other.
5. Another special tradition we have is to choose a tzedakah focus for the holiday. One of the children’s eight gifts is a donation to the organization of their choice. We also take some time to learn about the organization and what they do to help the world. This year the kids chose the Camp Fire Family and Firefighters.
6. Place your planner somewhere prominent so you can see it during the holiday and you are good to go!
Finished and Loving It!
Our planner is done and the kids are happily looking forward to all the family-focused activities we have planned. I am too! The first night will be special as we talk about being thankful for all that we have and the lovely presents we are able to give and receive. And the rest of the week will be about being present together. I can’t wait!!
Fun activities every night + tasty latkes and sides = a wonderful Hanukkah plan
How do you plan for the holiday? Are there special family-focused activities that make your Hanukkah extra sweet?
Chag Sameach!
Want to complete your own plan for Hanukkah? Get access to the Hanukkah 2018 Family-Focus Planner by signing up below!
[…] Anxious to plan out your Hanukkah week with delicious food and fun family-focused activities? Check out our Hanukkah 2018 Family-Focus Planner! […]