Its not very difficult to get kids excited about Hanukkah; once they discover that every year theyre going to get gifts for eight days, they get pretty excited every time it gets to be that time on the calendar. But aside from the gifts, playing with the dreidels, and chocolate gelt making the holiday more interested, these events dont really get the kids too excited and engaged with whats going on at the dinner table after youve lit the menorah. It is possible though and why not take the effort to immerse your children into more elements of celebrating their heritage? My family often receives Hanukkah gift baskets from my husbands co-workers who dont typically know what else to get us. While theyre a nice touch and we always appreciate the thought, if youve been in the same situation, there is only so much biscotti and assorted chocolates you have an appetite for. Hanukkah fruit baskets are better, as the kids are definitely getting enough of a greasy food fix with the traditional fried foods my mother makes for our edible Hanukkah celebration. Last year one of the Hanukkah fruit gifts was different than the others, and the kids enjoyed it so much Ill be buying one for our family myself this year, as well as gifting it to a few others.
These fruits gifts might best be described as edible Hanukkah decorations; the basket I received was an edible arrangements Hanukkah themed bouquet. Some of the pieces of pineapple were cut to look like the Star of David, and were put together with other fruits to create one of the most colorful Hanukkah Fruit arrangements Ive ever seen. The one we got as a gift was one of the smaller sizes available but after checking out their web-site theyve got larger sizes, with some being large enough to serve as Hanukkah fruit table centerpieces. We used ours as a centerpiece and not only were it devoured by the end of dinner, it kept the kids focus on the table and what was going on at dinner with conversations and scripture readings. It might be a bit of cheap trick to get their attention, but Id say its worth it as I think if their excitement about the holiday is piqued at this young age, its something that theyll carry with them into adulthood and ensure the perpetuation of our traditional celebration and reverence towards the holiday.