Mission Statement: To train, educate and equip for study both the Jew and the non-Jew in the rich Biblical/Hebraic Heritage.
THEMES OR PARTY IDEAS
Bring Your Own Chocolate Party
This was a party that everyone truly got their fill of chocolate at! Everything was chocolate! Coffee, cocoa, candy, cookies, dreidel gehlt, and just about anything that walked in the door was chocolate. We played dreidel FOR CHOCOLATE PRIZES, and really enjoyed ourselves.
Sabbath Dinner on Friday Night
With eight days to a Hanukkah, you will have at least one night that will be a Friday. We usually plan a pot luck supper on that night. This takes planning ahead on everyone’s part, but it is so special to be together. Different ones decide on the menu. We like themes but sometimes we do "A Truly Pot Blessing Dinner" which means its fair game to bring anything. I will caution you that new comers need to understand that you may end up with ALL desserts when you do this. Its like a big secret to see what everyone brings! We do try to bring enough for our own family plus one more person incase we have guests. Of course, you’ll need to bake challah bread. I have included that recipe in the section on recipes. We use REAL crystal for our wine, but you don’t have to if you don’t have enough to go around. You can find plastic wine glasses, too, at most grocery stores. See the section in this book on Sabbath.
Saturday Night Havdalah Service
This is also provided in this book for you to explore.
Fruit of the Spirit Night
Mary and David Fritzemeier did a wonderful teaching night one year using fruit as the theme. Everyone had to bring refreshments around the theme of fruit. So we had fruit pizza, jelly filled donuts, fresh fruit salad, and so forth. No one told each other what they were bringing, so it was fun seeing everyone’s ideas.
There are nine fruits of the Spirit that Mary used for her teaching that night. She had read a book Train Up A Child that was meant for raising children in a Godly home, and in it she had found that it really was a guide to raising adults as real parents, too. She did a wonderful teaching along those lines from the book. You may order it from: The Church at Cane Creek, 1000 Pearl Road, Pleasantville, TN 37147. You can order the book online probably from amazon.com Really wonderful!
Dance Night
Many within our group dance Hebrew folk dances, so we usually have a night where we dance and rejoice before God. Get in shape before you try this. We call it Jewish aerobics. There are some good instructional videos that are available from different messianic catalogs. Check on the internet.
Children’s Night
This could work one of two ways: (1) the children in your group could plan it, or (2) the parents could plan a special night for the children. You could make crafts, or bake or even do teachings. Either way would be great fun! Children need to learn leadership skills, and to develop working as a team as much as adults need to show them by example how a committee works together.
Story Telling Night
You could write special stories about Hanukkah or find books with short stories in them to share. Each family could present a story to the rest of the group. What fun to share stories that you have written with others!
Baking Night
You can find cookie cutters in the shapes of dreidels, Stars of David, Torah Scrolls, and so forth in most catalogs. You could also bake jelly donuts and potato pancakes. Yumm! Be sure to invite everyone over to eat! Breads and desserts are fun to have at this party, too. You could call it "Home Baking Night" and see what everyone can bake. Brownies, anyone?
What Messiah Means to Me Night
This can be a special night that your family can plan. Maybe they will want to give their own testimony about how they were ‘saved’ or what Messiah Yeshua is doing in their lives right now. It could be anything from a special hug for someone in the group or family to a card or even a photo. Friends of ours used something like this theme one year with their family, and they said it was truly the best gift that they gave themselves. The son-in-law had lost his father about two years before and never got to see his grandson. So the son-in-law asked his father-in-law to stand in for his dad. The son-in-law presented his tiny new baby son to the father-in-law as the surrogate dead father’s stand in. Everyone cried and had a special evening remembering old memories of family members. Very special evening for everyone.
*Also don’t forget our extensive Teaching Appendix in the back of this book for more ideas!