Gift Giving Guy

With the blitz of Christmas, it’s easy to overlook “happy holidays” as plural. Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday spanning eight days, begins at sundown on Sunday, December 21, 2008. Also known as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of one day’s worth of oil burning bright in a menorah for eight days.

Some Jewish families in the U.S. celebrate the gelt coin tradition by giving presents during Hanukkah. While wish lists need not be specific to Hanukkah, several online shopping sites offer gifts that cater to the eight-day festival.

• The Museum Shops of The Jewish Museum New York feature traditional, modern and eclectic menorahs (candelabras for nine candles) as well as other Judaica.
• Chocolatiers like Godiva offer kosher chocolate with bright blue ribbons across the box. Godiva also sells Hanukkah gelt coins in smooth milk chocolate.
• Add to the family’s holiday recipe repertoire with a Jewish cookbook such as Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook or The New York Times Jewish Cookbook.
• Send a gift basket from Kosher Cornucopia.
• Consider giving kosher wines from kosherwine.com or — for the humorous — pun-laden beer from the Shmaltz Brewing Company. Their flagship beer is He’Brew: The Chosen Beer.
• Give a beeswax candle making kit so each menorah candle is handmade.
• Select a Major League Baseball cap with the team name in Hebrew from JewishSource.com.
• Jones Soda offers a pack of four Hanukkah flavors: apple sauce, chocolate coins, jelly doughnut and latke (potato pancake) flavor.
• Find quirky and hip gifts for teens and older at PopJudaica.com.

Hat tips to Erin Cohen and SocalMom for many of these gift ideas. Best wishes for a bright Hanukkah.