Anyone else not do gifts?

amother

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 8:41 am

It wasnt a frum thing when I was a kid. My husband grew up not frum, not doing anything for chanukah.
So we just continue those traditions of no gifts.
Its just not a thing in our family.

singleagain

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 8:46 am

amother Cadetblue wrote:

We also don't. It's not a Jewish custom. We give Chanuka gelt.

I have learned on this website that some Jews do have a custom for gifts. And really what is the difference between gelt and a gift? It's essentially the same thing.

amother

Lily

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 8:47 am

amother Cadetblue wrote:

We also don't. It's not a Jewish custom. We give Chanuka gelt.

That’s technically a type of gift

amother

Cherry

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 8:54 am

I give gifts. Yes I know it's not exactly a Jewish thing. But so what it's like the Arabs who aren't allowed to have anything made by Jews.

baked ziti

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 8:54 am

We don't either do the whole gift-giving. It wasn't a thing when I was growing up and I don't recall my classmates either talking about it. There was so much to enjoy about chanukah that we never felt anything lacking.

amother

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 8:59 am

amother Cherry wrote:

I give gifts. Yes I know it's not exactly a Jewish thing. But so what it's like the Arabs who aren't allowed to have anything made by Jews.

Huh? Not understanding your comparison.

And its not "not exactly" a jewish thing. Its a not jewish thing. Literally taken ftom chrismas beinv around the same time of year. Thats all its from.

singleagain

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 8:59 am

https://www.imamother.com/foru.....47732

This is a post where I took a Hebrew sefer and put it through Google translate

amother

Apricot

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 9:00 am

I’m not about to practice frumkeit when it comes to my children’s gifts. I think there’s a certain krumkeit to this.

Save your chumrahs for yourself and fargin your kids some gifts. Especially when all their fiends are getting.

This type of yiddishkeit always stumps me.

Eta: I always wondered if the people that don’t buy Chanukah gifts as a “principle” also refuse anniversary gifts from their spouses. Or is the frumkeit only reserved for their kids?

amother

Smokey

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 9:05 am

amother Apricot wrote:

We don’t do anniversary gifts either. I don’t “refuse” anything if someone actually buys for myself or my kids.

amother

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 9:08 am

amother Apricot wrote:

So interesting that you think this is a chumrah of sorts.
And nope, my childrens friends are not getting either. Neither did my friends growing up. It wasnt a thing.
And of course we do birthday gifts and etc.

Please tell me the reason for gifts for chanukah as opposed to any other chag.

singleagain

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 9:11 am

amother OP wrote:

See post from a month ago

singleagain wrote:

Also I ran out through Google translate and this is what I got

amother

IndianRed

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 9:37 am

amother OP wrote:

It wasnt a frum thing when I was a kid. My husband grew up not frum, not doing anything for chanukah.
So we just continue those traditions of no gifts.
Its just not a thing in our family.

We give our kids gelt. That's it.

amother

Firebrick

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 9:49 am

amother OP wrote:

Huh? Not understanding your comparison.

And it’s not "not exactly" a jewish thing. It’s a not jewish thing. Literally taken ftom chrismas beinv around the same time of year. Thats all its from.

Literally not true. There was another post on this recently, where more than a few people (myself included) said it was a custom going back generations.

My great grandmother grew up getting gifts, as did all her friends in her town. She told me HER parents had grown up getting gifts too. And this was long before Xmas presents were even a thing at all, actually.

From what I gather it came from trying to keep kids excited and interested in Chanukah. It’s no different than giving gelt (which is also a gift FYI)

amother

Peony

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 9:49 am

I wish we didn’t. I’m considering just doing gelt from now on.
I think it takes away from Chanukah. The Menorah, latkes, family get together… should be enough to keep children interested. Once you do gifts, the children become fixated on that.

bigsis144

Fri, Dec 08 2023, 10:05 am

I don’t give big individual gifts, but I do buy new *family* activities for the kids to play with after candle lighting.

Some are bigger, like a board game or a building toy or art kits, other nights are plastic dreidels and some chocolate gelt and jellybeans. But having something new and special makes it easier and more fun to spend family time together, rather than the kids running off or begging for screentime.

amother

Sat, Dec 09 2023, 11:03 am

amother Firebrick wrote:

Why do you think chrismas didnt always have gifts associated with it?
And why does chanukah need to be made exciting and interesting and not other holidays?
Why specifically are gifts given for this holiday?

nicole81

Sat, Dec 09 2023, 6:25 pm

We do gelt every night, that's my husband's message I convinced him to do one night of small gifts. We don't even gift wrap. Our tradition is to wrap them in sheets and blankets and throw the gifts at each other lol.