I want my kids to be super excited about being Jewish and getting to celebrate Channukah and not be jealous of non jews who celebrate Xmas. They see exciting Xmas stuff in the streets and stores so I try to counteract that with making Channukah as exciting as possible. We decorate, get special Channukah tablecloths and disposables, they get presents some nights and then every night after licht they get a little plastic dreidel filled with chocolate gelt and tchockees.
A few reasons. Kids didn’t understand gelt or what to do with it. Parents found it more overwhelming to go to toy stores with kids to spend their chanukah gelt and realized it’s easier to convert the gelt to a gift themselves and just present the gift. You can get a cheaper gift and it doesn’t look as cheap as just giving bigger kids $5. People who can’t splurge on toys on the all time can easily say we buy new toys Chanukah and kids accept it. I’m sure there are other reasons.
Yes, I find it cheaper to give gifts rather than Chanukah gelt and birthday gelt.
All year I buy toys on special sales and save them for Chanukah and birthdays.
