4 fun Hanukkah decorations you can make with your family

Celebrate Hannukah and create a festive home ambiance with your family by making these handmade Hanukkah decorations.

During Hanukkah, many people decorate their homes in celebration and some crafty people even make their own decorations. Here are four ideas.

Create a simple front door banner with felt, glue or stitching, dowel, blue and white ribbon, stick on letters and grosgrain. Shape the felt into an oblong rectangle with a triangle on the end to make the dreidel. Sew or glue the long end around the dowel. The pointed end should hang down from the dowel. Glue the blue and white ribbon on the felt so it lies parallel to the dowel. Use the stick on letters to put a message on the grosgrain, maybe your last name in Hebrew letters, then drape the grosgrain diagonally on the decoration.

This craft is simple and easy for the kids. Purchase a stick tree from a craft store and wrap some blue and gold ribbon around the trunk of the tree. Give the kids miniature dreidels and gold-wrapped chocolate coins to hang on the tree with gold ribbon. The ornaments can also be glued to the tree for a more permanent display.

Traditional menorahs can be nice but may not fit your style. There are a few ways to spruce it up, such as using unconventional objects like goblets. The easy part is getting eight goblets, all clear, of the same size, and of course, one larger clear goblet. Line them up in a row, with the larger goblet in the centre, mimicking the shape of a traditional menorah. At this point, you can put glass beads or other filler like sand or stones into each goblet and place small menorah candles on top.

This craft looks beautiful around the menorah. You'll need poster board in two colours, florist's foam, wooden skewers, hot glue, variegated boxwood, blue statice and, of course, your menorah. Begin by cutting two equilateral triangles, about 3.5 cm wide, from the poster board to make a Star of David template. Use this template to cut the florist's foam into a star big enough to fit your menorah in the centre. Place small hot glue dots on the ends of the wooden skewers to connect the triangles. Cut the statice and boxwood into shorter sprigs and insert them into the foam, alternating colours. You'll have a beautiful centrepiece to nestle your menorah inside.