Last night, when I was putting my daughter to bed, I dropped the bomb that Hanukkah starts next week. NEXT WEEK. In 8 days, to be exact. Her face almost exploded with excitement (presents! candles!) which served as a comforting counterpoint to my interior monologue which runs something like: “Oh my god only 8 days plus we’ve got a belated birthday party in our messy apt this weekend, my office isn’t put back together, we’ve gotten NOTHING for anyone yet, my in-laws are all living on the west coast which means advance gift buying/wrapping/shipping is a must, and my husband, who is the Jewish member of the family by the way, is away on business till this weekend and is, as such, minimally helpful… which some would call useless but I don’t like that label as he is the opposite of useless in so many respects.”

So here we go, trying to get it together on the fly again.

First things first: The equipment. We have a menorah (see photo above) though I have just realized that we are out of candles. I only like the plain, white or natural beeswax candles, which are, for some reason that I do not understand, very difficult to find. Multi colored, striped, sparkly? No prob. Plain? Good luck. Thank god for Amazon. I just ordered mine, but supply is low so you guys better get on it lest you be stuck with whatever they have at the Whole Foods check out.

And then the menorahs. If you don’t have one that your husband (or wife, or girlfriend, or uncle…) made as a kid, there are untold millions of models to choose from. As with anything, one tends to have to scroll through lots of ‘maybe-nots’ to find the ‘that-could-work’ ones. Which I did. Last night. For HOURS.

Here are 6 (in addition to the sentimental one above) that I thought I might choose should the need suddenly arise. Hopefully, if you are actually in need, this post will save you from painful hours of late night scrolling.

For Menorah #2, One Kings Lane serves up the grown-up version of the one you made in preschool (just in case your mom is like mine and threw everything out the minute you moved out of the house.)

 

Next up, Few Bits on Etsy is making this modular wooden menorah out of sapele (a wood in the mahogany family) You can place the candles in any configuration (gives the kids something to do and the in-laws something to argue about) and each block is hand carved to order and as such, unique, which is always a plus in my book.

Out of the woods and into the factory with this industrial menorah made from copper pipes. I think my husband, who is obsessed for some reason with making things out of pipes, is going to love this one.

If money were no object, I might go for this one, by Christoffle.

Option #6: The Classic Modern Menorah from The Jewish Museum.
Nuff said.

And finally, this Daniel Michali cork menorah is different but still feels true to the spirit of the holiday. Perfect for when you’ve just moved into your new loft apartment in Toronto and forgot to look in the basement for your preschool menorah when you were at your folks house last month.

Oh and while I have you on the horn, these double layered menorah gift tags are nice too.

Feel free to add any suggestions of other nice menorahs in the comments. We need all the help we can get.