Food - Funny Parenting Stories for Fathers (and Mothers)

Celebrate Hanukkah 2025: Festive Traditions and Food

Hanukkah officially begins at nightfall on Sunday, December 14, 2025, and lasts for eight nights until nightfall on Monday, December 22, 2025. It is often called the Festival of Lights.

Hanukkah has become one of the most cherished and joyful Jewish holidays, usually celebrated with various rituals. These rituals include lighting the menorah, spinning the dreidel, singing festive songs, exchanging gifts, and enjoying delicious Hanukkah foods that remind us of the oil that burned for eight days at the Temple in Jerusalem (think golden-brown potato latkes and tasty fried treats).

For many families today, no Hanukkah celebration is complete without Manischewitz. Manischewitz’ popular Hanukkah line features a variety of delicious selections to help your family celebrate those eight days at the Temple. The Hanukkah House Cookie Kit, Ugly Sweater Hanukkah Sugar Cookie Kit, Ready-to-Decorate Pre-Baked Sugar Cookie Kit, and Donut Making Kit are just some of these selections. And then there is the Gluten-Free Potato Pancake Mix, a timeless favorite that makes it easy to prepare “lots of latkes”.

“Manischewitz has been the comfort food for the soul for over 133 years, and it’s become part of many families’ traditions,” says Shani Seidman, CMO of Kayco Kosher Food Brands. “These popular products are a perfect, inclusive way for families to share experiences that last a lifetime. They also make for delicious desserts and great gifts!”

Holiday Favorites and Staples

Here are some eats and sweets from Manischewitz for your Hanukkah celebration.

• Manischewitz Chanukah House Cookie Kit — Celebrate Hanukkah and create a new family tradition with this do-it-yourself decorating kit. Includes 4 icing colors, sprinkles, mini beads, six-point star & menorah sugar decorations, and sanding sugar. Suggested retail price: $12.99-$15.99

• Manischewitz Gluten-Free Potato Pancake Mix — Grain-free (and certified gluten-free) potato pancakes (also called latkes) are the traditional favorite for Hanukkah. Crispy and delicious, perfect as a side or party item. No artificial colors or flavors, no added MSG. The only question you’ll have is: “sour cream or applesauce?”

• Manischewitz Ugly Sweater Chanukah Sugar Cookie Kit — This fun, creative set has everything your family needs to create the ugliest sweaters yet! Includes sugar cookie mix; yellow and blue color powders; Hanukkah sprinkle mix; 3 piping bags and a sweater cookie cutter. Yields about 8–10 cookies. Suggested retail price: $8.99.

• Manischewitz Ready-to-Decorate Pre-Baked Sugar Cookie Kit — For plain fun and good eating, throw a Hanukkah party around this kit. Includes 12 pre-baked sugar cookies shaped like Stars of David, Dreidels, Wine Glasses, and Menorahs. Your kit comes with blue and silver glitter crystals, royal icing mix, blue and yellow color powders, and three piping bags. Yields 12 Hanukkah Sugar Cookies. Suggested retail price: $9.99.

• Manischewitz Donut Mix Kit — The tradition of eating sufganiyot (jelly donuts) is easier than ever. This kit includes blue and white sprinkles and powdered sugar. Suggested retail price: (varies by retailer) – typical MSRP range around $7–$10.

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Healthy Snacking Made Easy with Craize Snack Crackers

It’s not easy when it comes to children and snacking. Our little Miracles of Christ will almost certainly go to the chips and sweets. We all know the taste of a fruit or veggie can’t compare with potato chips or cookies. Luckily, Craize chips taste good.

People like to snack. It’s something that can get us through a project. Munching on something can seem mundane tasks seem almost bearable. Some people like to snack in between meals. Sometimes I like to have a snack on my way home from work.

The Miracles of Christ like to snack, as do their friends. Sometimes I’ll pack my lunch for work and something I was planning to take with me will disappear. This is normally a sweet to reward myself for being good. The fruits and vegetables are usually safe, and I don’t need to worry about those disappearing.

Sweet Snacks, or Salty?

There are times you feel like snacking on something sweet, there are times you feel like snacking on something salty. It can depend on the time of day, or maybe it’s something you haven’t had in a while. Whatever it is, it’s good to have something to enjoy between meals. The good people from Craize understand what that can be like, and they have made toasted snack crackers in a variety of flavors for your snacking pleasure. These flavors can be sweet, salty, even a little spicy. Whatever it is, Craize has something for you when it’s Snack Time.

The Miami-based snacking company took it’s inspiration from the arepa, a cornmeal cake with a crispy outside and a soft inside. Craize chips are crispy all the way through. They are thin, about the size of a standard potato chip.

Healthy Snacking isn’t Always Easy

My snacking usually consists of fruits and vegetables. I like apples, but I’ve been eating more peaches since we started growing them. The Boy will have friends over, and that’s when my sweet snacks will disappear. Sometimes I don’t notice that until I need to make my lunch. When I’m cooking dinner, I like to munch on a carrot. I’ll feed the ends of the carrot to the dog. She likes snacking too. When the family eats dinner, she’ll sit close by with a pathetic look on her face. The dog usually sits by the boy. We got her when The Boy was in the first grade, and he tended to have food fall from his plate to the floor. He doesn’t do that anymore, but some habits die hard, and the dog will sit patiently, hoping for a morsel to fall.

It’s not easy when it comes to children and snacking. Our little Miracles of Christ will almost certainly go to the chips and sweets, no matter how many fruits, vegetables, and granola bars we stock the refrigerator and pantry with. We try to steer them to the healthier stuff, but we all know the taste of a fruit or veggie can’t compare with potato chips or cookies. Luckily, Craize chips taste good, so that will make it easier when you want to see them snacking on something healthier than junk food.

Different Craize Flavors

As I mentioned before, there are plenty of different flavors of Craize chips to choose from. There are sweet flavors like coconut or guava. Salty, savory flavors like the “Everything” can satisfy your hunger when you don’t feel like something sweet. Craize’s Jalapeño Lime has more of a slightly spicy flavor with a hint of citrus to round it out. The company’s website touts their snack as something that can be topped, dipped or just enjoyed as they are. Remember, these can be used as a substitute for chips, so think about packing these as a healthy side to a sandwich the next time you need to pack a lunch.

There are plenty of snacks to choose from. People will get hungry, and people can’t always wait until the next meal to eat. For something that will satisfy your hunger and won’t make you feel guilty, try digging into the arepa-inspired Craize snack crackers. Your kids might like them, and you won’t have to try so hard to have them consider a healthier snacking option.

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Protecting your Treats from Nosy Children

You read stories of American colonists hiding stores of ammunition ahead of the British army coming to seize it. Pirates hid treasure. People would secretly make then hide booze. People did whatever it took to make sure someone else didn’t take what was theirs.

I’m seriously considering these practices in my house. As you know, I’m usually the one who does the grocery shopping. Sometimes I need to go to the wholesale store. This is necessary when you have five children, three of them are in athletics (if you count cheerleading).

I get this. I played sports. I rode a bike. You sweat. You need to hydrate. It happens. I understand this. What I don’t understand is why one of the Gaggle needs to pack four sports drinks in the morning. He needs to stay hydrated. Do the water fountains not work in the school?

The Boy is one of the children in sports. He needs to hydrate. That would be fine if he actually finished his hydration. He doesn’t and he’s not the only one. Wife and I are constantly finding half-full (or half-empty) bottles around the house. They belong to nobody, of course. All of the children are perfect and they finish and properly dispose of everything they consume.

Sometimes I see something I think Wife will really like when I’m shopping so I grab it. Something nice to give her while she overworks at her job. I make sure to give it to her while the little pillagers are at school. If they’re home, I’ll tuck it under something in a bag, then retrieve it and, with great stealth, slip it under some papers or behind a book so she can enjoy it without having it poached by one of the Miracles of Christ.

Wife has seen what’s going on as we find depleted supplies of tonic and juice and assorted treats. She has resorted to taking some of these rations and storing them in special hiding places so she can enjoy a little something when she feels like it instead of gobbling up something for the sake of getting something she’d like before the children conduct their raid and it’s gonna forever.

*These items are safe from daily raids.*

Interestingly enough, my store of fruits and vegetables hasn’t been pilfered 🤔. It’s a fascinating thing that occurs at my house, but I haven’t had the need to hide apples, oranges, peaches, plums, or carrots. It’s a phenomenal situation, but this is one of the reasons they’re called the Miracles of Christ.

The colonists hid guns in woodpiles, bullets in sacks and barrels. Bruce Wayne has secret passages at Wayne Manor. Heroes have ways to hide and store necessary supplies for when they need it. Wife has taken to these tactics before the locusts – I mean, children – descend upon the spoils of a shopping trip. If we’re lucky, they’re absorbed in a screen that provides some mind-numbing experience for them. This allows us to find a place to hide something being saved for a special occasion or something that’s planned for a meal. Either way, we have our system. It may not be as elaborate of a system used to warn of British coming into Boston Harbor, but it does allow me and wife to preserve our stores and hold off the grocery shopping for another hour.

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