As we were all saying thanks and getting full on Thanksgiving, we were also celebrating Chanukah, on the once in a lifetime day that was Thanksgivukkah! My own family enjoyed the typical sweet potatoes and stuffing, along with fried hand pies and pumpkin sufganiyot. And don't get me started on the latkes with pumpkin pie spice sour cream. So delicious!

As we planned our own holiday mash-ups I was always curious to see what others were planning as well. I caught up with a few social media friends to see how their celebrations went. 

Amy Kritzer, of What Jew Wanna Eat, shared that she enjoyed "lots of sweet potato latkes, and drinking dreidel games!" Sounds like a real party! You can see her make sweet potato latkes here.

Ellen Zimmerman, of Jewish Holidays in a Box, shared that her daughter-in-law made "a lovely Happy Thanksgivukkah banner in harvest and flame colors of gold, red, and orange." And that "her sweet potato latkes were incredible!" You can get your own banner to color in here.

And Allison Josephs, from Jew in the City, said that she spent the day with family "cooking turkey and latkes," and "lighting candles and sharing our Thanksgivukkah CNN clip!" You can learn about Thanksgivukkah from an Orthodox perspective here. 

Thank you all for sharing!

Posted by Rachel Teichman

It's nice to have crafty friends. To create stuff with, and to teach you how to make new things. And it's so nice when they share what they make with you! I am lucky that one of my new Houston friends taught me how to make adorable hair clips, and still shares some of the ones she makes with us! We have owls, stars and turkeys. They are so sparkly, and fun for specific seasons and all year. 

As you have guessed by now my friend is Sandye, and her line is Candye by Sandye. She makes these awesome clips with crafty care. And she also makes great candy bouquets great for any theme event, including birthdays, baby showers and events like the Super Bowl. Check out her gallery here and contact her for clips and candy bouquets for any theme.

Posted by Rachel Teichman

My little cousin Leah is well into her first year as an MBA student at one of the ivy covered schools. We have a long history of sending each other fun mail. So when I learned about PijonBox I knew this was the fun mail for her! When you order you get to pick the gender of the recipient, and what year in college or grad school they are in. When Leah had tried out all of the items in the box, she sent me this email: 

I got the PijonBox, thank you so much! I loved the Revitalize Lollipops, and already painted my nails hot pink because we had a blacklight party last night - it was fun! These boxes are definitely awesome quick fixes for students' problems - deodorant and moisturizer are key!

Thanks Cousin Leah!

Full disclosure: I have been in contact with PijonBox about their products. But I purchased this box for my cousin, and the feedback is all hers.

Posted by Rachel Teichman

Our friend Jaime is a mom, crafter and graphic designer. She started her Chanukah crafting with this popsicle stick Star of David project. Lucky for us she has shared the project here:

Use a hot glue gun to make two triangles, and then glue the two triangles together to form the Star of David. You can use Elmer's glue too, but it takes a while to dry. 

Once the stars are dry, grab your kids' favorite paints and let them do their thing! 

Use pipe cleaners to create a loop on one of the corners. Then the stars can become a decorative element, and can be hung by yarn or string. You can use a hanger to make a mobile or hang them directly on a window, door or on a hook. Happy Chanukah crafting!

Posted by Rachel Teichman

This fall Alison has been doing the "Latke Pokey" with her preschool music classes! She shares her lyrics here to what is sure to become a Chanukah classic!

The Latke Pokey, by Alison Faith Levy
(left foot) You put the potatoes in, you put the potatoes out
You put the potatoes in, and you mix it all about.
You do the latke pokey and you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.

(right foot) You put the onions in...
(left hand) You put the eggs in... 
(right hand) You put the oil in... 

Then they jump their whole bodies in to the middle be in the applesauce! 

Alison Faith Levy, formerly "Sippy Alison" of the beloved Bay Area band The Sippy Cups, recently released her colorful indie pop album for children, World of Wonder. Alison teaches children's music classes at SF Bay Area Jewish Community Centers. She is currently working on an album of original pop rock tunes about the Jewish holidays for young children. You can find out more about Alison at www.alisonfaithlevy.com. 

Posted by Rachel Teichman

In the ultimate homage to the holiday that is Thanksgivukkah, I give you the Thanksgivukkabob! From top to bottom we have:

-Jelly Donut Hole, these are from River Oaks Donuts
-Corn Bread Pancake with honey added, by Jiffy Mix 
-Boiled Sweet Potato Cube with honey, brown sugar and cinnamon
-Turkey Meatloaf with Cranberry Sauce, recipe by Bubbie
-Potato Coconut Cumin Latke, coconut idea by What Jew Wanna Eat 
-Another Sweet Potato Cube
-Canned Green Beans with lemon juice in between each item

Dip in cranberry sauce or applesauce and enjoy!

Posted by Rachel Teichman

It took about two minutes from when I first saw the link for this Chanukah project from MoonFrye until we were all set up to begin the craft! The idea is to decorate any eight small bags with a number for each of the eight nights of Chanukah. Then you fill each bag with a little gift or treat to be opened each night. It can fill the need for opening the windows on an Advent calendar that some kids might feel. It can also help take away the feeling that you have to provide a large, or any, gift each night of Chanukah. The kids obviously had fun decorating the bags! They also wanted to fill each one with an amount of items that correlated to the number on the bag. Six stickers, seven Tic Tacs, eight almonds. They found an old "Rachel" stamp to use too, which was fun to see!

Posted by Rachel Teichman

My friend Jane is a mother, professor and excellent kosher cajun food maker. She is also a wonderful craft project leader in her home's playroom which is entirely devoted to creativity. In the middle of this room sits two long tables which have been put together to make enough space for two young girls and their friends to cut, color and glue whatever their hearts desire. 

Their most recent craftivity was making paper Stars of David as their first of many Chanukah projects to come for this year. All this takes is some kind of decorative paper. They used Origami paper since it is already small and easy to cut into triangles. You could also use scrapbook paper, wrapping paper or construction paper. This is also a good way to "reuse" some former drawings looking to fulfill their potential. Cut your paper of choice into many triangles of the same size. Pair up any two triangles that look good together, and glue their middles together so that they create a six-pointed Jewish Star. Jane taped hers all around her fireplace making a garland affect. You could also tape the back of each star to a piece of ribbon or fishing line to make an actual garland for the fireplace or doorway. Then it will be all ready to go for next year too! 

Posted by Rachel Teichman

Spinning the dreidel is definitely something fun to play on Hanukkah! But if you need something new, you can try Hanukkah Bingo from Jewish Holidays in a Box! It's just like regular Bingo, but instead of numbers, the cards are filled with images of latkes, gelt and candles. So dance the hora, light the menorah and then call out "Bingo!"

Jewish Holidays in a Box will be giving away one Hanukkah Bingo set! To enter to win, please comment on this blog post letting us know who you would give your game to if you win. It's OK if it's for you! One winner will be randomly chosen on November 10, after 10:00am PST/1:00pm EST. Good luck!

Posted by Rachel Teichman

We still have such fond memories of the Chanukah projects we made last year with the Handmade Hanukkah kit from Kiwi Crate! I was so impressed that all of the materials we needed came inside the box. And that the box was even something we needed to keep the dreidel spin art from getting messy! Using their dreidel to make art really does work. And the menorah comes with enough parts for all kids to decorate as many candleholders as they want! I am glad to see that this kit is being offered again this year. If you have this kit, or get it this year, please share your project photos with us!

Posted by Rachel Teichman