The celebration of Hanukkah begins on December 6^th this year. The eight days following that, individuals will be spending time with family, lighting the menorah, sharing traditional meals and gifts, and making memories. If you’re planning on having family or friends over to celebrate the holiday, you’ll want you entertainment area to  be adorned with blue, white and silver decorations, while you serve traditional Judaic meals on a Hanukkah-themed table setup. Here are some steps to throwing a Hanukkah celebration, from the planning to the decorating.

First, begin with the invitations in order to really move forward with your party planning process.

You may already have a sense of how you are going to go about your party—how to decorate the party space and the types of foods you’ll make and serve. But in order to be able to properly plan for your Hanukkah celebration, you will need to know how many guests will be attending. Send out elegant Hanukkah invitations including all the details of your get-together.

Set up the dinner table with place settings and embellish with blue, white and silver and gold table decorations.

Once you have an idea of the number of guests attending your party, you can plan the dinner portion of your celebration. You’ll want the table to look nice and well put together, as sharing a meal is one of the most important parts of Hanukkah celebrations. Serve your Hanukkah fare with a mixture of Hanukkah paper plates and your special occasion servingware. 

First, cover the table with a solid color table cover. A solid white table cover allows you to use more colorful decorations. Add a pop of color by placing a blue metallic table runner down the center of the table. On top of the table runner, spread out a decorative Star of David garland. Create your own centerpiece to display on the table, as well. You can create a menorah by lining nine votive candles—or candlesticks, depending on how tall you would like your centerpiece to be—all down the center of the table, making sure the center candle, or shamash, is elevated slightly. Finish off the table decorations by sprinkling gold coins and plastic dreidels. 

If you already have a menorah elsewhere in your home, you can fill a clear glass bowl with blue, silver and white round ornaments to use as a decorative centerpiece on your dining table. Use the tinsel garland (mentioned above) to wrap around the base of the glass bowl. Throw in a few blue LED ice cubes into the bowl, and onto the table if you’d like, to create some light. You can also place a few candles here and there all down the table. Painting pine cones blue and placing them into the centerpiece would be a fun addition, as they fit in with the party theme and the time of year.  

Images via bhg.com and Pinterest

Decorate other areas of your home with coordinating pieces.

If you are Jewish, it is custom to have a menorah in the entranceway of your home for Hanukkah. For your Hanukkah celebration, place one on the table in your foyer or dining room, or on the mantel of your fireplace. Suspend a "Happy Hanukkah" banner on the wall above the foyer table or mantel, or directly hanging off of the table or mantel. Add other items to place around the menorah, such as the blue, silver and white round ornaments previously mentioned. You can also paint dreidels to add some substance to your decorations. Or, use this space to hold and display the gifts. 

At Windy City Novelties, it’s our hope that this article inspires you to create a fun and unique party for your loved ones. For more helpful tips on organizing your event, email our dedicated party planning experts at [email protected]. You may also subscribe to our emails for weekly party planning ideas, featured products and more at https://www.windycitynovelties.com/customer/account/create/