18 Hanukkah decorating ideas to make your celebration glow
Hanukkah is Judaism’s festival of lights, celebrated for eight days—which makes it ideal for decorating your home and enjoying the fruits of your labors all holiday long. Friends and family join to light their Chanukiah (colloquially called a menorah), play games, eat festive foods, and sometimes exchange gifts. With the holiday season upon us, it’s a great time to throw a party, send the perfect party invitation, and dress up your home with fun decorations for Hanukkah.
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Good vibes only: 18 Hanukkah decorating ideas
With vibrant Jewish communities all around the world, including countries like India, Ethiopia, and China, there are so many different ways that people celebrate Hanukkah. There are Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews, and other Jews who fit in their own sense of community and have their own traditions.
Maybe you’ll take inspiration from global traditions to decide how to make this year’s holiday especially meaningful. We’re here to suggest Hanukkah decorating ideas to make your festivities, well, festive!
In this list of 18 decorations and other suggestions, you’ll find many blue, white, silver, and gold accents. While these colors are often associated with the Jewish holidays, you can, of course, choose to use any palette.
Why 18? In Hebrew, letters of the alphabet are each assigned a numeric value. The letters in the word chai, meaning “life,” are most closely associated with the number 18. Therefore, it’s considered a lucky number in Judaism.
Now, go ahead and put on some Hanukkah soft jazz or delight in Hanukkah camp classics, whatever inspires you to ready your home with the might of the Maccabees.
Our guest of honor: the Chanukiah
- The Chanukiah. Hanukkah centers around the Chanukiah (sometimes called a menorah), which you may already have in your possession. If not, there are so many options and styles to choose from, from a classic silver menorah to kate spade new york’s Oak Street Menorah and the Susan Alexander Nosh Menorah.
- Hanukkah candles. The story of Hanukkah centers around the quest for oil to keep the menorah lit. Instead of just one night, a miracle happened, and the oil lasted eight nights! Most likely, your Chanukiah is in need of candles instead of oil. You can buy Hanukkah candles anywhere, including these paraffin-free candles from Good Light and beeswax candles from The Jewish Museum. You may also decide to make your own!
- Hanukkah confetti. Want the area around your Chanukiah to have even more holiday spirit? Scatter some Hanukkah confetti across your tables, countertops, and window sills. The best part about this confetti is it’s easy to clean up once the holiday is over.
Brighten your whole home
For the festival of lights, we don’t need to stop at just the Chanukiah and our regular overhead lights. Set the vibes as happy and chill with additional room brighteners.
- Even more decorative candles. Your candle lighting doesn’t have to stop at the Chanukiah. Add additional blue taper candles in white candle holders around the room for extra soft light.
- String and fairy lights. Gather string lights and fairy lights to place around the room. If you’ve got free wall space, you could even hang up a curtain of string lights. Find the lights that help you feel most festive and have a more modern Hanukkah than our ancestors.
- Shimmering chandeliers. Add a gold tinsel chandelier above the dinner table, and watch how it reflects the lights across the room. Fair warning, you may want to keep it up all year round.
Dazzle your guests at the dinner table
Essential to every Jewish holiday is the dinner table, so of course you’ll need Hanukkah table décor.
- Table cloths and runners. Protect your beautiful dining table or cover up your foldout card table with a blue tablecloth and a metallic table runner. The tablescape always starts with a solid base.
- Holiday place settings. Hosting a dinner party? Consider these big, shiny gold plates, or pair icy blue plates with silver chargers. These will really stand out against the darker tablecloth. Don’t forget metallic cutlery, too.
- Napkins to dab the oil. With a meal so full of oil, it’s best to have a lot of different napkins available to your guests. A little kitsch goes a long way, and you’ll delight guests with dreidel napkins and confetti Hanukkah cocktail napkins. If you’re hoping for a napkin that has a life after Hanukkah, you could always invest in these hemstitch script paper napkins.
- Serving platters. You’ll need something to put your amazing meal on, like a melamine serving platter. Don’t forget bowls for applesauce and sour cream. If you hope to start a raucous debate over which topping is better, make sure you have plenty of each.
- Elegant drinks. If you’ll be serving wine or sparkling, non-alcoholic cider, pop them in a wine bag to match the tablescape. To serve guests of all ages, consider a set of tumblers, wine glasses, and dressed-up paper cups for water.
Gather your games and gelt
- A bowl of dreidels. Set out a bowl full of dreidels so that everyone can play. Whether you all gather around and take turns, betting your gelt and spinning the top, or take turns as to who can get Gimmel the fastest, there’s endless opportunity for fun.
- Plenty of gelt. While gelt translates directly to “money,” it’s probably safe to say you’ll need some candy gelt, too. You can pick up chocolate coins in gold foil at the grocery store, but if you’re feeling ambitious, you could make your own at home! Or, you could order some artisanal chocolate gelt from Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Dress up the deck and the rest of your outdoor space
Decorating inside is probably where your primary focus is for your party, but as a reminder, it’s a mitzvah to publicize the miracle of Hanukkah! These outdoor Hanukkah decorations are a great start.
- Blue and white balloons. Tie a bundle of balloons to your mailbox or apartment door handle to tell folks, “Shalom! Party over here.” Balloons bring levity to any space.
- Hanukkah garlands. Whether it’s on your front door or over a fireplace, a Happy Hanukkah garland brings whimsy and welcomes your guests to enjoy the holiday.
- Window clings. Delight your neighbors with Hanukkah window clings. Make sure to leave a space so your Chanukiah can be seen through the window.
Do a mitzvah, give tzedakah
- Tzedakah boxes. Tzedakah, which means “justice,” is the Jewish obligation to do the right thing by helping people or supporting causes. In a season of giving, it’s wonderful to encourage supporting other people. There are so many beautiful tzedakah boxes on Etsy or you can create your own, all you need is an empty tissue container.
Center your celebration with oily treats
- Latkes, sufganyot, and so much more. Since we’re sharing Hanukkah decorations for a Hanukkah party, we have to talk about the Hanukkah meal, too. In the United States, we commonly think of latkes, or potato pancakes, as the star of the Hanukkah meal. In Israel, they often celebrate with sufganyot (jelly donuts). In Indian communities, you may find dosas or puri. Michael Twitty has written extensively about adding African-American Jewish foods to the table. Really, any food cooked in oil is good to celebrate this holiday.
You could even have a latke-tasting party, where you and your friends bring your own spin to this tradition.
- Try kimchi latkes, paired with Thai sweet chili sauce
- Make Louisiana-style latkes and learn about African-Jewish communities
- Celebrate the winter with parsnip latkes
- Or, if you’re over latkes, lox and cream cheese rangoons would be delicious
There are so many other foods to have at your table. Check out these Hanukkah menu ideas from Molly Yeh.
Plan the perfect party with Paperless Post
Paperless Post has beautiful online invitations and elegant supplies and décor for your Hanukkah party, and every holiday party. Easily track your RSVPs, message with guests, and give them all the details so all they have to do is show up. Whether you send a classic, stationery-style Card or an animated Flyer, you can send your invites via email, text message, or a shareable link.
For those who you know won’t be able to make it, don’t worry. Paperless Post has beautiful Hanukkah cards to send to loved ones near and far.To all of those who celebrate, chag sameach!
