Tag Archives: chanukah

Hanukkah Connect-4: the Gelt Edition

Connect 4: Gelt edition

Games and crafts should say, “touch me.”   Whether in a whisper or a scream, they should entice.  And what screams “touch me” like chocolate?

Here’s a variation on a classic board game perfect for Hanukkah parties, carnivals or just fun at home:

Connect 4 with real chocolate gelt.

Simple, yes?  You’d think.  But size matters.  We all know gelt brands vary in palatability, but they also vary in diameter and width. And successive generations of Connect Four frames vary in inner dimensions.  The old yellow and blue frames—some with tab and slot assembly, some with pin and hole assembly—are not created equal, and the snazzy new dark blue versions are totally different.  (Any of these will do, but not the new Launchers incarnation or the travel size game.)

Continue reading

Review: Jewish Holidays in a Box (Hanukkah Kit)

photo courtesy of JewishHolidaysinaBox.com

Jewish Holidays in a Box is a nifty concept: one kit per holiday with how-tos, whys and whats tucked neatly inside.

This post is a review of the newly-released Hanukkah Kit, which is the first in a series of kits from Jewish Holidays in a Box. The kit is aimed at children ages 4-10, Continue reading

Dreidel Cookies

If I’d known royal icing was so easy, I’d have made it long before now. Two ingredients (plus color) make a gloppy paste easily scooped and squirted onto the baked good of choice, and later, after it dries, it becomes a beautifully smooth concrete.  The perfect medium with which to anchor these little Hebrew letters made from a candy mold.  The mold is the entire aleph-bet, which means I have to make each batch of nun, gimmel, hey and shin one at a time.  Time is the operative word.

Dreidel cookies

But gosh, they’re pretty.

And here, see the little gift plates for a bake sale.

I will not detail the hours I spent trying to package these cookies to maintain optimum visibility while affording some protection from curious and hasty shoppers. I will say that cut-up cereal boxes, shipping boxes, wrapping paper, bubble wrap, packing tape and hanukkah napkins were all tried and discarded. Continue reading