Decorated: Chanukah edition

 Chanukah is almost a week away and we're all getting excited here!  Growing up as one of the few Jews within my community and school, I always felt left out from the holiday cheer.  Even though my children are having a much different experience than me-we have lots of Jewish neighbors and they attend a private Jewish school, it's been so uplifting to incorporate Chanukah decorations.  I know to some, decorating for Chanukah isn't something that can be understood and it may even seem like I'm denying my own culture in favor for another, but I can assure you, that's not the case.  I actually almost feel like it's the opposite-instead of being resentful, I'm able to relate and feel like I'm joining in with those around me. It's also important to remember that this is one of the few Jewish holidays where there are less restrictions-which gives us more room to do what feels right for us.  My kids are definitely enjoying all the lights and getting into the holiday spirit.  

I hadn't pulled out the Chanukah decorations in more than three years; I was also determined to start with what I had.  At first, I felt overwhelmed-from not knowing what I had or wanted, to not even knowing how to hang decorations!  So, we started small. And by small, I mean just my dining room and using mostly on-hand decorations, with a little help from Amazon and Costco.  The end result is thrilling, and I'm already planning a Target run to grab goodies for next year.  

Let's start here shall we?!?  This is a compilation of all the banners/garlands I had made and bought over the years.  The Believe in Miracles banner started HERE.  I hadn't used it since then, but the sentiment always applies, so I knew I'd include it this year, and always!  The white pompom garland was a random purchase from a craft store a few years ago-I don't' think it's specifically a holiday item.  The fairy lights were an impulse purchase from Costco on my most recent, and I've never been so thrilled with an impulse purchase!  

A few years ago I decorated a small wall in our apartment in Baltimore.  I used the pompom garland-there are two but on the door they're taped together as one, and I made the dreidel garland out of felt.  I think felt is one of the most underrated crafting supply-it's relatively cheap and lasts so well.  It's also easy to cut and looks much fancier than any paper.  Foam paper is always another good option.  I thought I had blogged about it then, but it turns out I didn't.  I printed out a picture of a dreidel and traced it onto different colors of felt, cut out, and glued out to some sort of string I had on hand.  

The same year I made the Believe in Miracles banner, I also made these chandelier dreidel decorations. The white and gold makes them timeless, and it was super simple-paper, glitter and a laminator.  One of the letters got a little bent in the box, but I decided to go with it anyway.  Each dreidel has a letter that's on the actual dreidel, which in America, it's a nun, gimmal, hay and shin.  Which is an acronym for: nes gadol haya sham.  A great miracle happened there.  This is a game traditionally played with gelt (money-but now a days it's chocolate coins).  

 
 I think this is probably my favorite part of the decorations and I'm super proud of how it turned out, considering I don't think of myself as decoratively inclined.  The tray is old and had been sitting in my basement-I would trade this out for a larger, possibly different color tray.  

 The glass dome jar is from IKEA and I spray-painted the wooden bottom gold.  I filled it with a combination of large plastic ornaments from Amazon, and multi-colored small ornaments from IKEA.  It's important to note, as I'm learning over here-that shatterproof is a very important thing to look out for when purchasing!! We had a few causalities!    

The Happy Hannukah sign is from Target.  I had a couple gold dreidels left from previous years, and I bought different sized blue and white dreidels from Amazon.  My kids have been getting a head start on their dreidel practice!  

And of course, more fairy lights from Costco.  Ideally I think this would all sit really pretty in a glass bowl, but I don't have one! The best thing about these lights is their color can be white or multi, you can make them blink, or stay on, and they automatically turn off after five hours! 

I hope some holiday cheer is making it's way into your house!