hundred dollar hanukkah: the gifts

As I said in the post that introduced my idea for a hundred dollar Hanukkah, this year we decided to set a budget of $100 and limit our gifting to one present for the whole family per night. When last I left you, I showed you how George and I made a little menorah which would be our family's first night gift. As promised, I'm back to share what's in store for the other nights (well... six of them, anyway). But not before you get in the mood with the Maccabeats. Take it away, boys!

My favorite Maccabeat is the one that looks like Neal Schweiber, how about you? Okay, now that you're in the mood:

First Night - DIY menorah. Candle cups (2 packs): $1.69 apiece; wood for base: $1.20 (1.99 with a 40% off coupon). Paint we had. All from Michael's. total: $4.58

Second Night - Movie and popcorn. Where The Wild Things Are (from the somewhat puzzling discount DVD bin at Michael's): $6.99; Popcorn: free (well, paid for at some point, but in the pantry). I'm cautiously optimistic about the movie choice, as George has a love/hate relationship with Maurice Sendak as should all children have with dead geniuses. total: $6.99

Third Night - Photobooth style family portrait. 8x24" canvas: $5 ($9.99 with a 50% off coupon from Joann); large photocopies of pictures of each member of the family: I'll be generous and say $2; Mod Podge we had. A more detailed post about this is eventually forthcoming, but it's an idea modified from this blog post found on Pinterest. total: $7 

Fourth Night - Homemade pajama pants for everyone. Our house is kinda chilly, and nothing says holidays like a family in matching flannel pants. I have a ridiculous stash of fabric, so these were free! total: NOTHING! 

Fifth Night - Gift certificate to Big Scoop Sundae Palace, our local goofy ice cream joint. I should've thrown in an extra dollar or two for the jukebox; oh well. total: $15

Sixth Night - Poppa's Pizza Pile-Up game from Value Village. Balancing is a particular interest of George's, as well as things coming suddenly crashing down, and our whole family has a soft spot (on me, it's the middle section) for pizza. A respectable collection of games is something I look forward to amassing, and this is the first we've bought specifically for play with the kids.  total: $1.99

Seventh Night - Tickets to the Seattle Aquarium. A splurge, but (I think) a smart one as outings like this go. Kids under 4 are free, and it'll be nicer to be inside the cozy aquarium than it would be trudging through the mud at the Woodland Park Zoo. George's birthday is also on the seventh night, and I wanted to make this gift something to look forward to, since he'll have plenty of new stuff to focus on. total: $40

Eighth Night - As the sun sets on the last night of Hanukkah, we'll be finishing up George's third birthday party. I have a special outing planned for that evening, and don't want to give too much away -- even Nathan doesn't know what we're doing! -- but wanted to close the holiday with something we could all make together, to use forever... or until someone breaks it. I'll take pictures. total: $20

GRAND TOTAL: $95.56

This was such a fun way to celebrate what is, in actuality, not a super big Jewish holiday, but one I get a little aggro about people forgetting in a peppermint and Burl Ives-induced fog. Still to come this month: a bowling afficionado turns three, a Solstice for which I have perhaps unwisely promised a certain youngster he may stay up "all day long and all day night," a smallish Christmas and a thirty-third birthday for the hardest working, baby-slinginest papa there ever was. Oof. Remind me to never have another winter baby. 

hundred dollar hanukkah

We are sort of always in the process of refining our holiday traditions. What felt manageable for a family of three isn't necessarily sustainable when you add another kid, and when the first one starts getting attached to certain aspects of different celebrations you sometimes have to do a little hustlin' to make things work.

While I dearly love Hanukkah and all it entails (fried foods, especially), eight nights of gifts for four people felt overwhelming financially and ethically, and when it came to ideas I (the gift-giving engineer of the family) wasn't sure I had the wherewithall to come up with 24 presents, however small. Throw in the fact that George's birthday falls on the 7th night and Nathan's just a couple of weeks later, and the gifting can get pretty intense. To curb the consumerism and lighten my own load, I floated past Nathan the idea of eight nights of family gifts, and he agreed that it would be fun to try. I also set a budget of $100, which still seemed a little much to me, but when broken down, actually amounts to a VERY reasonable $3.13 per person per night. 

It was challenging and so much fun finding things we'd all enjoy and in the end, my frugality meant that we could splurge on two gifts; I spent $40 on nights one through six.

With a broader focus than just things to open and play with, I found myself with an abundance of ideas. Experiential gifts like museum tickets, a few new cutters and the ingredients to make cookies (similarly: a large terra cotta saucer "pizza stone" -- a trick learned from bowtie wearer extraordinaire Alton Brown -- and pizza fixings), and a homemade family portrait were all ideas I pocketed for another year when Zelda can better get in on the action. That said, I think there's a little something for each of us in every night's surprise, and I'm excited about what I hope will be a new tradition for our family. To see what we'll be opening this Hanukkah, check back before the holiday begins. I'll do a rundown with sources.