Hanukkah Gifts for Men: Eight Nights, Eight Ideas

Hanukkah 2026 begins at sundown on Friday, December 4, and lasts eight nights, ending on Saturday, December 12. Many families give a small gift on each night rather than one big one, which changes what makes a good present: eight modest, well-made things beat one expensive one.

Games have a long history on Hanukkah nights. The dreidel is the best known, and in many families cards come out once the candles are lit. That makes a game one of the most fitting gifts there is.

A note on the dreidel

The dreidel is a four-sided top with a Hebrew letter on each side: nun, gimel, hey and shin. Together they stand for "Nes gadol haya sham", "a great miracle happened there". In Israel the fourth letter is pey, for "po", "here". In the game, nun means nothing happens, gimel takes the whole pot, hey takes half, and shin means you put one in. It is played for coins, chocolate gelt or anything else to hand.

Games for the eight nights

A magnetic folding chess set keeps a game in place if the table is bumped, and folds shut with every piece inside. It is the gift for the man who used to play and will again.

Double-six dominoes are twenty-eight pieces and a hundred games. If he has only ever played the basic version, how to play dominoes has more.

A folding cribbage board with three tracks is for the card player. Cribbage is a two- or three-player game that lasts exactly as long as a cup of tea, and the board folds to hold its own pegs.

A black and gold waterproof deck is the deck for every card game of the holiday, and it survives spilled drinks. For a man who plays seriously, see gifts for card players.

Things to keep

A wooden puzzle box with secret drawers hides its compartments until he finds how it opens. Put the next night's gift inside it.

A pocket compass with a hinged cover looks like an old watch and works like a real compass. It is the kind of object a man keeps on his desk for decades.

A feather quill pen with five nibs is for the man who writes: a journal, letters or anything by hand.

A set of eight metal wire puzzles is a puzzle for each night, which is about as fitting as a gift gets. Each one looks impossible to separate, and every one comes apart.

How to plan eight nights

A pattern that works is small to large: start with the puzzles and the deck, keep the chess set or the puzzle box for the last night. Mix things to play together with things to keep, so the week is about the evenings as much as the gifts.

Order early

Everything ships from our supplier, and we do not quote delivery dates because we would be guessing. Hanukkah starts on December 4 this year, earlier than many people expect, so order in November.