When I got married over Chanuka last year, I knew we just had to find a way to incorporate some Chanuka spirit into our special day. All of the cute Chanuka customs really lend themselves to nice ideas for weddings and smachot. We gave out Chanuka themed gift boxes to everyone who hosted family and friends who came from far away, and we also used matchboxes as our place cards. The place cards were a big hit and so pretty! For your winter wedding this year, we put together a list of ideas to bring some of the warm Chanuka spirit to your big day.
Check out these 8 Chanuka ideas for your wedding in honor of the 8 nights of Chanuka:
1. Matchbox Place Cards
Instead of regular folded place cards, we gave out matchboxes as place cards at our wedding for the guests to take home and use to light their chanukiot. It was super easy to design and put together. We ordered these matchboxes on Etsy that said “The Perfect Match- Akiva & Bracha” and then printed table number stickers to put on the other side of the matchboxes as place cards.
C. Schvarcz Photography 
2. Host Gift Packages
For our wedding, we had a bunch of neighbors who hosted our family and friends that had travelled from far away. We put together these cute Chanuka-themed gift packages for the 10-15 people who hosted our guests. We included these wax Chanukiot from Etsy, these candle holders (which we sell on La’Bayit!), and some gelt. We wrapped them in sparkly tissue paper and put them into cardboard boxes. We closed the whole thing off with a cute thank-you sticker. I remember we also considered these spatulas, a set of nice Chanuka candles, and mini olive oil bottles.
3. Candle Lighting Ceremony
Many weddings and smachot include a Chanuka lighting ceremony at some point during the event. We did ours at our Sheva Brachot, since our wedding was in the morning. It’s a nice way to include everyone together in a meaningful ceremony and to spread the coziness that comes with Chanuka!
Jonny Finkel Photography 
4. Sufganiyot & Donut Wall
Donut walls are all the rage these days at weddings and we had one too! Add a bit of a Chanuka theme to it all by also having various flavors of sufganiyot in trays or baskets in front of the donut wall. You can order non filled sufganiyot from many bakeries in Israel and then fill syringes with different fillings, so each guest can choose their own sufganiya flavor! Alternatively, you can order a bunch of fun flavors from somewhere like Roladin and put them in baskets yourself!
5. Punny Host Gift Packages
If you’re looking for more of a punny and lighthearted gift box for hosts or guests who travelled far, here are some fun ideas that can all be incorporated together in a punny poem!
- Potato grater to get ready for “gratest wedding ever”
- Chanuka gelt to “gelt excited for the wedding”
- Mini olive oils because “olive (love) oil is in the air”
- Potato chips because “we love you a latke for coming to our wedding!”
6. Chanuka Brachot & Maoz Tzur Handout
Especially if you plan on having a Chanuka lighting ceremony at your event, personalized printouts of “lehadlik ner” and “maoz tzur” could be a super cute give away at your wedding. You can put them in a little drawstring bag with a few candles, some gelt, or a mini olive oil bottle and put them at each place setting at your wedding.
7. Fairy Lights
One of the nicest parts of winter is all the fairy lights that start to show up around town, and in Israel this signifies Chanuka time! It brings such a cozy feeling and really enhances the decor of any event. Fairy lights can be used just about anywhere in your decor- hanging around the ceiling or the chuppa, bound up around flowers or in mason jars. We used them all around the ceiling of our wedding tent and they were so pretty that we didn’t feel the need to add much more to the ceiling decor, except for a bit of greenery.
Before set-up! 
That’s us setting up the night before!
8. Dreidel Napkin Rings
This is probably a better idea for a shabbat chatan/kallah or sheva brachot, where it’s a bit more casual, but these adorable dreidel napkin rings are a small way to add a fun Chanuka feel to the whole party. You can also consider adding lots of candles to your centerpiece in blue and white, giving a small feel of Chanuka to the table setting.
Have you seen other Chanuka- themed additions to a wedding? Let us know in the comments below!