Hanukkah is now less than three weeks away… do you have your essentials yet?! Well if not, don’t worry because we’re sharing some of our best tips so that you can be the MOST prepared for the holidays! Here are our top four things you need to have when throwing a Hanukkah Party or get-together! Enjoy!
1. Fill Your Home with Seasonal Scents
Help set the tone for your party, and make your space feel warm and cozy by incorporating seasonal scents! Make your guests feel particularly welcome by keeping a saucepan simmering on the stove that is filled with water, halved apples, cinnamon sticks and sprigs of rosemary. It will help keep the house smelling fresh, which is especially helpful when cooking traditional fried foods like latkes… which by the way… YUM! For full directions on how to make these simmer pots, click here!
2. Make THESE Better For You Sweet Potato Latkes
SPEAKING of latkes… we obviously HAD to include a latke recipe for the purposes of this post! Now seeing as how we’re a health food store – we obviously had to put a healthier spin on this traditional treat!!! You can find the recipe for our “Better For You” Sweet Potato Latkes… here!
Now, if you’re not so much into this new modern take for swapping out russet potatoes for sweet potatoes this Hanukkah, below are a few simple tips you can keep in mind to make this dish a whole lot healthier… while still keeping to tradition:
- Bake instead of fry
- Add Apples or other fruits and vegetables to the latkes
- Add healthy spices like paprika or turmeric
- Make them vegan! Swap out eggs as a binder and use chickpea flour or potato starch
- Serve with apple sauce instead of sour cream
Do you guys have any healthy tips for potato latkes?! If so… we would LOVE to know them!
3. Incorporate Gelt into your Décor
Similarly to latkes, Gelt is another Hanukkah tradition that we of course had to talk about for today’s post! We carry both the Milk Chocolate Gold, & Dark Chocolate Silver & Blue Wrapped Chocolate Coins from Divine Chocolate at both of our locations!
These chocolate coins are OU Kosher Certified AND Fair Trade…. AND free from artificial flavours, colourings, & preservatives! Divine Fair Trade Chocolates are made from Kuapa Kokoo’s fairly traded cocoa beans; a farmer’s co-op based out of Ghana! Grab yours from Ambrosia today and incorporate them into your Hanukkah celebration!
BUT…. Don’t just eat them! Use them in your place settings or sprinkle them onto your table for dinner parties to put a fun, festive twist on this tradition!!! You can always eat them later!
4. The Gifts
Seeing as how Hanukkah celebrates the Festival of lights, we wanted to focus on gift ideas that centred on… well – LIGHT! We ALSO tossed in a few extra gifts that are just for fun, but for the most part, we thought that we would keep it pretty traditional on this one!
8 Days of Hanukkah Gift Guide
- Chocolate Coins – Divine Chocolates: as mentioned, these chocolate coins are OU Kosher Certifie, Fair Trade, & free from artificial flavours, colourings, & preservatives!
- Cheeky Bee Candle: non-toxic, all-natural beeswax candles… made completely handmade here in Ontario!!!
- Dead Sea Mud Soap: this soap is made using 100% pure dead sea mud and is unscented, perfume free and anti-bacterial
- Himalayan Salt Lamp: helps to cleanse and deodorize the air… plus they just look so pretty!
- Gemz Bracelets: these bracelets emit magnetically charged energy to uplift a person’s overall wellbeing and energy.
- Cheeky Bee Tealites – these natural beeswax tealites come in just the most ADORABLE burlap bag!
- Fluted Sphere Candle – Honey Candles: this 100% pure beeswax ornamental candle is almost to pretty to burn!
- Hanukkah Candles – Honey Candles: these gorgeous, hand-dipped candles have a burning time of 70 minutes per candle and are made to fit in most menorahs! Available only at our Thornhill location!
What are your favourite tips and tricks for celebrating Hanukkah?!
