Hanukkah Acts of Kindness: Eight Nights of Kindness, 29 Ideas for Kids, Families and Adults

Hanukkah acts of kindness are small mitzvot you add to each of the eight nights, alongside the candles: a coin in the tzedakah box, a call to a grandparent, a bag for the food pantry, a thank-you note for someone who works through the holiday. The idea is simple and fits the holiday well. Each night the menorah holds one more light, so each night your family adds one more good thing to the world.

Below are eight nights of kindness, one theme per night, and each night has three options: one a kid can do, one for the whole family, and one for an adult on their own. That is 24 numbered acts, plus five more for latke parties and gatherings. Pick one per night, or do all three on the nights you have time. Every act has an easier version that takes a few minutes, and the easier version counts. Most are free. The few that cost money say so.

Two words come up a lot below. Tzedakah is the Hebrew word usually translated as charity; it comes from the word for justice, the idea that giving is something you owe the world, not a favor. A mitzvah (plural mitzvot) is a commandment, and in everyday use it means a good deed done because it is right.

One rule for the whole list: do it before the candles or right after, together, and keep it small enough that night eight is still fun.

Hanukkah dates for 2026 and 2027

Jewish holidays begin at sundown, so the first candle is lit on the evening before the first full day.

Year	First candle	Last (eighth) candle	Hanukkah ends
2026	Friday, December 4, at sundown	Friday, December 11	Saturday, December 12, at nightfall
2027	Friday, December 24, at sundown	Friday, December 31	Saturday, January 1, 2028, at nightfall

The Shabbat overlap. In both years, Hanukkah starts on a Friday night and contains two Shabbats. Families who keep Shabbat light the Hanukkah candles on Friday before the Shabbat candles, before sundown, and on Saturday night after Shabbat ends. Many also do not write, drive, or handle money on Shabbat, so the plan below gives the Friday nights acts that need none of that, and you can move anything else to Sunday.

The Christmas overlap. In 2027, the first candle falls on Christmas Eve. If yours is an interfaith family, or you have Jewish and Christian relatives at the same table, that is a nice year to make one of these acts a joint one.

Night 1: Share the light

The first candle is lit with the shamash, the helper candle that lights all the others. Tonight’s acts are about being a helper. In 2026 and 2027 this is a Friday night, so all three work without writing, driving, or money.

1. Kids: Be the shamash for someone at home. Pick one person in the family and help them with one thing before or after the candles: set their place at the table, carry their plate, find their slippers. Explain that the shamash is the candle whose job is helping the others shine. Easier: Hand someone else the matches (with a grown-up) and let them have the honor.

2. Family: Put the menorah in the window. Many families place the lit menorah where people passing by can see it, to share the light of the holiday with the street. Talk about who might walk by tonight and could use something bright to look at. Easier: Open the curtain for the first ten minutes.

3. Adult: Invite someone who would otherwise light alone. A friend who is new in town, a widowed neighbor, a college student who cannot get home. Ask them this week so they have time to say yes. Easier: Ask them over for one of the other seven nights instead.

Night 2: Tzedakah

Many families give tzedakah during Hanukkah, often with a box on the counter that fills a little each night. Tonight, start the box, and decide together where it goes.

4. Kids: Decorate a tzedakah box. An oatmeal canister, a tissue box, or a small jar works. Cut a slot, cover it with paper, and draw on it what the money will help. Then put in a coin of their own. Easier: Write “Tzedakah” on a jar with a marker and drop in one coin.

5. Family: Choose one cause together. Each person names something they care about (animals, kids in the hospital, people who need food). Pick one, look it up together, and decide that whatever is in the box on night eight goes there. If your kids want more ideas for small giving, the Giving Tuesday ideas for kids post has a no-money version for every age. Easier: Pick the local food bank and be done.

6. Adult: Match what the kids put in. Tell them tonight that whatever they give from their own money, you will match on night eight. It turns a few coins into something they can feel. Costs money, whatever you choose to match. Easier: Add one dollar for every night they remember the box.

Night 3: Neighbors and community

Hanukkah is a community holiday as much as a family one. Tonight’s acts go next door and down the street.

7. Kids: Bring a neighbor a drawing of a menorah. Have them draw the menorah with tonight’s three candles and write a short message: “Happy Hanukkah from next door” or “Thinking of you this winter.” Deliver it together. Easier: Wave at a neighbor and say happy holidays.

8. Family: Do one outdoor chore for the neighbor who needs it most. Bring in their trash cans, rake their leaves, clear their walk if it snowed. Do theirs first. Easier: Knock and ask if they need anything from the store this week.

9. Adult: Offer a ride to the synagogue event or community lighting. If your synagogue or town has a public menorah lighting or Hanukkah party, ask an older member who has stopped driving at night whether they want a ride. Easier: Call them the next day and tell them who was there.

Night 4: Family and elders

The middle of the holiday is a good time to reach the people who taught you the blessings, or who would love to hear the kids sing them.

10. Kids: Sing or say the blessing for a grandparent on a call. A video call at candle time, so they can watch the candles being lit and hear the blessing. Easier: Record a short video and send it after.

11. Family: Ask an older relative how they celebrated as a kid. What did their family eat? Did they play dreidel? What was one Hanukkah they still remember? Let the answer run and do not hurry it. Easier: Ask one question by text and read the reply out loud at dinner.

12. Adult: Visit or call someone in assisted living or a nursing home. If someone you know lives in a care home, Hanukkah can be quiet there. Bring a small electric menorah if the home allows it (many do not allow open flames), and stay for the lighting. Costs money if you buy the electric menorah, about $15 to $25. Easier: Call at candle time and stay on for the blessing.

Night 5: Gratitude

Hanukkah remembers a small amount of oil that lasted longer than anyone expected. Tonight, name the things that have lasted for you, and thank the people behind them.

13. Kids: Write a thank-you card to someone at school. The custodian, the lunch staff, the crossing guard, the librarian. Two sentences, signed, handed over the next school day. Easier: Say thank you out loud, using their name.

14. Family: Go around the table with one thank-you each. Before the candles, each person names one person who helped them this year and one specific thing they did. Then pick one of those people and tell them. Easier: Each person says one thing they are thankful for, no follow-up.

15. Adult: Thank a teacher or a mentor who shaped how you live. The rabbi who taught you, a Hebrew school teacher, a coach, a first boss. A short message saying what they did and what it changed. Easier: Send it to someone who taught your kids instead.

Night 6: Food and the hungry

Hanukkah food is fried in oil to remember the oil in the Temple: latkes, sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts), and in many families, plenty of both. Tonight, share the table.

16. Kids: Fill a bag for the food pantry. Give them the pantry’s wish list (most post one) and let them pick five items from your own cupboard or the store. Let them carry it in. Costs money if you buy new, about $10. Easier: Choose one can from the cupboard and put it by the door for the next drop-off.

17. Family: Make a double batch and give half away. Whatever you are frying or baking tonight, make twice as much and take a plate to a neighbor, a new parent, or someone who has been sick. Label it with what it is. Costs money, a few dollars of extra ingredients. Easier: Share a package of chocolate gelt with the family next door.

18. Adult: Sign up for a meal shift. Many synagogues, Jewish community centers, and soup kitchens need volunteers in late December, when regular volunteers travel. Book one shift now, even if it is in January. Easier: Ask the kitchen what they are short on and drop it off.

Night 7: Strangers and people working

Plenty of people work every night of Hanukkah, often while their own families light without them. Tonight is for the people you see but do not know.

19. Kids: Leave a note for the delivery driver. A sign on the door: “Thank you for bringing our packages. Happy holidays.” Add a drawing. Easier: Say thank you at the door if someone delivers while you are home.

20. Family: Play dreidel for tzedakah. Instead of keeping your winnings, everything won tonight goes in the tzedakah box from night two. Use gelt, pennies, or raisins, and count the coins at the end. Easier: Play one round where the winner chooses who gets a kind act tomorrow.

21. Adult: Pay something forward for a stranger. The coffee for the person behind you, the parking meter that is about to run out, the cart returned for the parent with a toddler. For more ideas that work any time of year, see pay it forward ideas. Costs money, about $5. Easier: Let someone go ahead of you in line.

Night 8: Keep the light going

The eighth night is the brightest. In 2026 and 2027 it is also a Friday, so these acts again work with no writing, driving, or money on Shabbat. Plan the final steps (emptying the box, writing notes) for Thursday or Sunday.

22. Kids: Tell the family their favorite act of the week. At dinner, each kid picks the one act they liked most and says why. That is the one you repeat in January. Easier: Point to it on the list.

23. Family: Empty the tzedakah box and send it. Do it Thursday before Shabbat, or on Sunday after Hanukkah ends. Count it together, add any match from night two, and send it to the cause you chose. Tell the kids what it will help with. Costs money, whatever is in the box. Easier: Drop the box itself at the synagogue or the food bank.

24. Adult: Pick one act to keep after Hanukkah. The weekly call to a grandparent, the monthly pantry bag, the neighbor’s trash cans. Put it on your calendar for January. Easier: Write one act on a sticky note and put it on the fridge.

Extra acts for latke parties and gatherings

If you are hosting, or going to someone else’s Hanukkah party, these work in a room full of people.

25. Put a donation bin by the door. Ask guests to bring one item for the food pantry or one new toy for a children’s drive, and tell them in the invitation. Easier: Pass a jar for tzedakah once during the party.

26. Teach dreidel to the guest who does not know it. There is often someone at the party, a new partner or a friend from work, who has never played. Sit with them for one round and explain the letters. Easier: Hand them a cheat sheet with the four letters and what each one means.

27. Make a plate for the host to eat later. Hosts often do not sit down. Fill a plate, cover it, and put it in the fridge with their name on it. Easier: Bring the host a drink while they are at the stove.

28. Stay to wash the frying pans. Latke night leaves oily pans and a sticky stove. Be the guest who does them. Easier: Take the trash and recycling out on your way.

29. Bring the kids’ crafts for someone else. Have kids at the party make Hanukkah cards together, then deliver them to a care home or a hospital the next week. Call ahead to ask what they accept. Easier: Make one card for one person you all know who could not come.

What to skip

A few things work against the holiday. Leave them out.

• Treating Hanukkah as a Christmas substitute. Hanukkah is its own holiday, with its own story and its own customs. Do not swap in Christmas habits and change the name. If you want a December daily kindness ritual for Christmas, the kindness advent calendar is built for that, and this list is built for Hanukkah.
• Eight nights of big presents. Gifts are part of many families’ Hanukkah, but the holiday is not built around them. If every night has a present, the kindness act gets lost. Try small gifts, or a gift on some nights and an act on the others.
• Acts that break Shabbat for the people doing them. If you or the people you are visiting keep Shabbat, do not plan a Friday-night act that involves driving, writing, or spending. Move it to Sunday.
• Assuming everyone celebrates the same way. Jewish families range from very observant to not at all, and many are interfaith. Ask before you bring a menorah into someone’s home or a care facility, and do not quiz people about how they practice.
• Drive-by charity. Bringing kids to hand things to people who need help, just for the moment or the photo, treats people as props. Ask a shelter or pantry what they need and bring that.
• Doubling up. If you skipped two nights, skip them. Do tonight’s act and enjoy the candles.

Frequently asked questions

What are good acts of kindness for Hanukkah?

Give tzedakah each night, call a grandparent at candle time, bring a neighbor a plate of latkes, fill a bag for the food pantry, thank the people working through the holiday, and invite someone who would otherwise light alone. The list above has 29, organized as one theme per night with a kid, family, and adult option for each.

What is eight nights of kindness?

Eight nights of kindness is a family practice of pairing one act of kindness with each night of Hanukkah, usually done just before or after lighting the candles. It mirrors the menorah: one more light each night, one more good deed each night. Some families give each night a theme, like tzedakah, neighbors, or gratitude.

What are good mitzvah ideas for Hanukkah for kids?

Decorate a tzedakah box and put a coin in each night, play dreidel and give the winnings away, draw a menorah card for a neighbor, sing the blessing to a grandparent on a video call, and fill a bag for the food pantry. Keep the child doing the act with a grown-up nearby. For more on building the habit by age, see how to teach kids kindness.

Can interfaith or non-Jewish families do eight nights of kindness?

Yes. The acts work for any family, and doing them during Hanukkah is a respectful way to learn about the holiday alongside Jewish friends or relatives. Use the Hebrew words with their meanings, ask Jewish family or friends how they celebrate, and avoid turning the holiday into a version of Christmas.

When is Hanukkah in 2026?

Hanukkah 2026 begins at sundown on Friday, December 4, and ends at nightfall on Saturday, December 12. The first candle is lit on the evening of December 4 and the eighth on the evening of December 11. In 2027, Hanukkah begins at sundown on Friday, December 24.

Where to go from here

Pick tonight’s act from Night 1 now, before the week fills up, and put the tzedakah box on the counter so it is there on night two. After Hanukkah, the free daily kindness challenge gives everyone the same small act each day, with a streak, so the habit has somewhere to go in January. For acts to do together any time of year, the family kindness hub has more, and the generosity hub collects the giving-focused ones.

Get one small act a day

Reading a guide is easy; changing your habits is hard. The free daily kindness challengesends one small act at a time so kindness becomes a practice, not a bookmark.

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