Hanukkah 2026: When Chanukah Starts and the 8 Nights

Chanukah 2026 starts on Friday evening, December 4, and the last day, Zos Chanukah, is Shabbos, December 12. Here are the dates night by night, what the two erev Shabbos lightings mean for your family, which gifts fit which night, and the date to order by.

Published November 4, 2026 by Torah Tale.

Chanukah 2026 begins on Friday evening, December 4, 2026, which is 25 Kislev 5787, and the eighth night is Friday, December 11. The last day, Zos Chanukah, is Shabbos, December 12. Because the first night of Hanukkah 2026 falls on erev Shabbos, the licht are lit before the Shabbos candles, and the whole Yom Tov is held between two Shabbosos. (Hanukkah and Chanukah are two spellings of the same Yom Tov; the rest of this article uses Chanukah.)

When is Chanukah 2026, night by night?

Here are the Hanukkah 2026 dates in full, so you can put them straight into your family calendar.

Shabbos, December 12 is Zos Chanukah, the eighth day. The licht of that night have already been lit on Friday, so Shabbos itself is a day of eating, singing and talking, with no lighting to prepare.

Why the first night of Hanukkah 2026 needs a plan

A first night that lands on erev Shabbos changes the timing of the whole evening. The widely followed practice is to light the Chanukah licht first and the Shabbos candles afterward, before shkiah, which means lighting earlier than any other night of the eight. Many shuls move Mincha earlier that Friday for exactly this reason.

Practically, that means two things for parents. Oil or candles need to be large enough to burn well into the night, long after the usual weeknight amount would have gone out. And everything a family likes to do around the licht, from the brachos to the singing to handing a child a gift, happens in a narrower window, with Shabbos coming straight behind it. Details of timing and of the widespread minhag that women do not do certain melachos while the licht burn vary by family, so follow your own minhag and your rav.

The same thing happens again on the eighth night, Friday, December 11. If erev Shabbos lighting feels rushed the first time, you have a second chance to run it better a week later.

What fits Shabbos Chanukah, and what has to wait

With two Shabbosos inside Chanukah 2026, the question of what a child can actually use on Shabbos comes up twice. A book is the clean answer. Reading at the Shabbos table or over a long Shabbos afternoon is exactly right, and a story a child has not heard yet holds a room full of cousins better than almost anything else.

Anything that needs batteries or a screen waits for Motzei Shabbos. Coloring, drawing, cutting and crafts are melacha, so they belong to the weekday afternoons, Sunday December 6 through Thursday December 10, or to Friday daytime before Shabbos comes in.

This is where a personalized book earns its place on the first night. Torah Tale's Chanukah story, from the Holidays collection, puts your own child into the story as the hero, with their name and their likeness from one uploaded photo illustrated on every page in 3D animated-film style. It can be opened Friday night and read again on Shabbos, with nothing to plug in and nothing to put away.

The second night: Motzei Shabbos, December 5

Night two is the only one of the eight that follows Shabbos directly. In shul the common practice is to light the menorah before havdalah. At home, minhagim differ: some families make havdalah first and then light, others light first. This is a long-standing difference in practice, not something to settle from an article, so follow your family's minhag and ask your rav if you are unsure.

If you are saving one gift for the night a child can finally use it, Motzei Shabbos is that night. A family game, something that needs batteries, anything that had to sit unopened through Shabbos, all of it belongs here.

A night-by-night plan for the eight nights

You do not need eight presents. You need eight nights that feel different from one another. Here is a plan built around the actual Chanukah 2026 calendar.

• Night 1, Friday December 4: early lighting, then Shabbos. Give something that works on Shabbos, like a book to read at the table.
• Night 2, Motzei Shabbos December 5: havdalah and licht. Open the gift that needed batteries, and play the family game.
• Night 3, Sunday December 6: a weekday with a little more time at home for many. Latkes with the children helping, a dreidel for each child.
• Night 4, Monday December 7: Chanukah gelt night, with part of it set aside for a tzedakah box before anything is spent.
• Night 5, Tuesday December 8: grandparents or cousins by the licht, and the story told out loud rather than read.
• Night 6, Wednesday December 9: Rosh Chodesh Teves begins. On Rosh Chodesh Chanukah morning two sifrei Torah are taken out, which is worth pointing out to a child who davens with you.
• Night 7, Thursday December 10: the last free weekday afternoon. This is the right slot for coloring, crafts or anything that needs to be prepared before Shabbos.
• Night 8, Friday December 11: erev Shabbos again, early lighting, the full menorah burning into Shabbos, and Zos Chanukah the next day.

For more detail on filling those eight slots without buying eight toys, see Hanukkah Gifts for Kids 2026: 8 Nights, 8 Meaningful Ideas.

When do I need to order Chanukah gifts for 2026?

For a Torah Tale book you want in hand for the first night, Friday evening December 4, order by about Wednesday, November 18. US standard shipping arrives in about 7 to 10 business days, counted from the order, and Thanksgiving, Thursday November 26, is not a business day, which quietly removes a day from the count. A book meant for a later night of Chanukah has a few more days of room. US express exists and is faster once the book goes to print.

On one-time orders, US standard shipping is $4.99 and is free over $60. We ship worldwide, with rates shown at checkout. We do not promise a delivery date, which is exactly why the November 18 target has slack built into it.

Softcover 8″×8″

Hardcover 8″×8″

Board book 6″×6″

Coloring book 8.5″×11″

Match the format to the child who opens it: the 6"x6" board book with rounded safety corners for ages 0-4, the 8"x8" softcover for ages 4-8, and the 8"x8" hardcover for ages 5-18. Up to eight siblings, ages 0 to 18, can appear in the same book, which solves several nights at once in a house with a few children. Softcover and hardcover open with a dedication page, and if you add parents and grandparents, they appear with the children on a closing family page in every format.

What to talk about at the Shabbos table on Chanukah

Both Shabbosos of Chanukah 2026 come with children at the table who have just watched the licht burn. Talking, singing, questions and stories are what the day is for. A few that work:

• Ask a four-year-old: how many lights will we have tomorrow night, and why do we add one more instead of taking one away?
• Ask an eight-year-old: the flask of oil had enough for one day. Why did the Chashmonaim light it at all instead of waiting for new oil?
• Ask anyone at the table: what is one thing you started this week that you want to finish, the way the Chashmonaim finished cleaning the Beis HaMikdash?

If you want the story itself rather than a summary, we told it in full in The Chanukah Story for Kids: One Flask of Oil & Eight Nights. Every Torah Tale book also ends with a dedicated discussion page carrying ten questions about the story, mixing comprehension with middos, which is enough material for a whole Shabbos afternoon without anyone needing to prepare it.

Creating the book takes about five minutes and needs a free account plus a few short questions: each child's name, boy or girl, age and one photo, any siblings, the story, your community (asked once), the language (English, Hebrew or Yiddish) and the printed format. Every book is written with careful rabbinical guidance and strict tznius and reviewed by our team before it goes to print. If the first night of Chanukah 2026 is your target, create the book while November 18 is still ahead of you.

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