Instant goodie bags for Hanukkah Classroom visits

re-used gelt bags

Here’s a quick, cheap way to make teeny goody bags for your Hanukkah classroom visit.  IF you do gelt.
These are very, very simple.  I could go all Target Dollar Spot and use fancy bags and woven ribbon and include more gelt and hand-lettered name tags, but this particular goody baglet is meant to be a token gift for a minor holiday: a good-will gesture from the token Jews in the room.

Elite gelt comes in the traditional poly net bag with a metal crimp at one end but with only a sticker keeping the other end shut.  Remove the sticker, pour out the gelt and you’ve got a wee bag ready to fill with:

• One measly piece of gelt (because the school has candy restrictions; because even crappy gelt can get expensive; and even though you agonize about giving the impression that 1) Jews love gold so much they turn it into chocolate and eat it, or 2) Jews love gold so much they only hand out one measly piece at classroom visits.*
• Stickers (unless you think it’s weird to hand out stickers for a holiday that no one else in the room celebrates, in which case you choose snowflake stickers and stop worrying).
• A dreidel, the kind with the letters clearly visible so kids can actually play the dreidel game.
• Dreidel game rules. Print my serviceable pdf document here: you can print, fold, glue and trim into 4 double-sided cards per sheet. See my post about these printable Dreidel rule sheets for more info.

For other musings on the various components of Hanukkah Parent Visits, see my Page, here.

*Elite (made in Israel) comes in boxes of 24 net bags with 4 pieces of gelt each (15g). Total of 96 pieces of gelt.  One piece in each goody bag leaves plenty leftover for home use.  By the way, Elite is the go-to gelt if you are making Gelt Connect-4 pieces, because the smaller coins approximate the size of real checkers.

Paskesz (made in Holland) comes in boxes of 24 bags as well, but with 5 pieces each (14g). Paskesz bags are crimped on both ends.

(Elite and Paskesz happen to be the brands available locally.)