<p>And now back to our regular programming…</p>
<p>At our local Target ( middle of nowhere Ohio) I found dreidel-shaped gift cards yesterday! Maybe not a big deal to those of you in more urban areas, but out here? This is huge!</p>
<p>PRJ,
That does sound HUGE! 
Here in suburban NYC, I had to go into two local major chain pharmacy type stores a couple of weeks ago and explain that Chanukah was starting two weeks before Christmas and it would be nice if they put out their Chanukah cards. I was trying to find invitations to send for a party I’m having. Point being that this happens almost everywhere.</p>
<p>In addition to Target having a Chanukah end cap, other potential sources are Bed Bath & Beyond, who usually have a few items on an island near the entrance, and sometimes a TJ Maxx has an end cap. Every year I go on a quest for gelt - we live in the non-Jewish suburbs and it’s advertised in the grocery flyers - then I have to go from store to store to see if anyone got it in. I’ve had too many store managers send me to “Coins of the World”. The Hallmark stores do have the cards out.</p>
<p>And just a polite request - if you do want to wish your Jewish friends a Happy Chanukah, please do it during the holiday, not a week after it ends! And make a note for next fall to wish them a Happy New Year…</p>
<p>Back to the OP - a package filled with little fun gifts, candy, and decorations would probably thrill your twins. Dreidels in particular seem to be extremely popular among college students of all faiths.</p>
<p>Last year I found a very funny hannukah CD called Hanu<strong>ah Rocks by the Leev</strong>s. It is a very funny album that our whole family likes,including our high school student. One of the members of Gust*r is in this band if that gives any creedence to the idea for college students.
~starryskye</p>
<p>It is far more meaningful to almost any Jewish person to have the New Year acknowledged than Channukah. The New Year is not like January 1st but RH starts a group of days and holidays that speak to the Jewish conception of life, duty and community. In a typical formulation, it is said that you are written down in the Book of Life for the next year and that is sealed on Yom Kippur. That 10 day period is sometimes called the Days of Awe because it is your life at stake. </p>
<p>In any event, don’t take disagreements over the meanings of holidays in the same vein as political fights. The tradition of Judaism is that one must discuss and analyze and interpret meaning. That is embedded in the ancient conception that God handed down both a Written Law and an Oral Law and that we must discover the Oral Law. Jews have used their imaginations and scholarship for thousands of years now finding meanings, trying them out, trying to prove them. If you look even in Wikipedia, you’ll find long descriptions of ancient Jewish methods of exegesis. </p>
<p>In any event, enjoy the holidays and don’t worry too much about saying or doing the right thing about Chanukah.</p>
<p>Okay, I will write on the calendar Sept 8,2010, and not miss it next year!</p>
<p>@ PRJ, on Post #21 – that IS impressive that you found dreidl cards in “middle of nowhere, Ohio…”</p>
<p>I went to college in that same location, back in the day. I wanted to treat my friends to bagels, cream cheese and lox. Calling around, I asked the grocery stores where to buy lox, and I was told “the hardware store.”</p>
<p>I am glad to hear you can now find Chanukah items easily in the Buckeye State!</p>
<p>I just ordered the 2 gallon basket from popcorn factory. I want to thank the posters for this thread, as I probably would not have thought of sending anything to DS for the holiday had I not read it here.</p>
<p>^^^ lol p3t! I’m not sure is what we get out here is true “lox” - all smoked salmon is not lox, correct? And the bagels? Bleh. (Doesn’t stop me from eating them however ;))</p>
<p>You can also check with your kids’ school’s Hillel or Chabad House. They often have gift packages that they’ll deliver to students. That way, you’re giving kids a gift and supporting Jewish life on their campuses at the same time.</p>
<p>If there’s going to be a menorah, it had better be the kind with light bulbs. A lot of schools prohibit lighting candles in the dorms because of the fire hazard.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s off-campus apartment, they have decorated a little Christmas tree with Hanukkah gelt. Goofy, but it reflects the mixture of heritages of the people living there.</p>
<p>Kids on many campuses can go over to Hillel to light real candles with other people on Chanukah, or any Shabbat for that matter. Dorm safety rules about fire are important. </p>
<p>I’m with Chedva – sent from home but ALSO we looked for ways to support the campus programs for spiritual growth as young adults, for example, Hillel. Help students make the transition and realize they can pursue this on their own.</p>
<p>We’re so lucky this year because our Freshman daughter breaks right before the first night! I’m sure it would bother her sister and parents more than it would bother her but still. </p>
<p>We have a very tight extended family and always pick one day during the eight days to celebrate as a whole. Sometimes because of the college student (whoever it is that year) we need to postpone the family celebration until the student is home but we always pretend that it’s still during the holiday. Is that kosher, who knows, but it works for us. Oh and we put a $10-20 cost for gifts which makes it creative too.</p>
<p>LOL. I’ll never forget the year my roommate’s non-Jewish guy friend was looking at her calendar and said, “What’s Tcha-NOO-ka?” (spelled like he pronounced it.)</p>
<p>He was from the middle of nowhere, Ohio. :D</p>
<p>^^LOL, how did he handle Coshocton and Cayahugo or whatever that one is in Ohio? Not that I should talk…living nearby Cheektowaga, NY</p>
<p>^^Oh, but those are ENGLISH names! :D</p>
<p>My first post here…my dd is a freshman across the country from home and her last final is the 21st, after Hanukah is over. We agreed we’d skype each night (she’s the oldest–two younger dd’s still at home), lighting the candles and opening gifts. I’ve ordered several things online that are going directly to her and I’m packaging up a box of the remaining gifts that I’ll send. She has directions not to open any packages received until told…she did mention that she wished she could decorate a little (hallmates who celebrate Christmas have been doing so). Other than a menorah, any suggestions for decorations? I hope it’s okay that I’m asking this question in the middle of someone else’s thread.</p>
<p>Welcome, collage1!</p>
<p>It’s ok, over here we’re all chanukah, all the time!</p>
<p>The only “decorations” we ever have at home are the ones our kids made in religious school and we happened to save. So if your D is crafty with scissors and construction paper she could cut out dreidel shapes or menorahs. How about a menorah on her door, with a paper flame added each day?</p>
<p>I like homemade better than the garish blue and silver things they sell in the stores modeled after garish green and red things. ;)</p>
<p>I would second the suggestion of an above poster that kids should be encouraged to go to Hillel or whatever organized menorah lighting/latke frying there is on campus.</p>
<p>thanks for all the good suggestions. I wish I was organized enough to buy ahead and send off hand-wrapped individualized gifts but in the end I used on the recommended services and sent off a pre-packaged goody box. Todah Rabah and Chag Sameach.</p>
<p>collage1 - there are lots of websites that have hanukkah decorations - for example bargainjudaica - I ordered a variety of things from one website - dreidels, gelt, happy hanukkah banner, lightbulb menorah - and had them sent to my D who is 3000 miles away and won’t be home until the 21st. She and her roommates (1 Jewish, 2 not) decorated the night the box arrived - she was pretty excited. I also am sending a box with 8 little gifts, one for her to open each night, and we will skype with her like you will.</p>