8 Ugly Hanukkah Sweaters That Will Light Up The Holiday

Image by Amazon
Unless you’ve been living in a cave, everyone wears (or knows the joy of wearing) Ugly Sweaters in honor of the holidays. After all, what better way to show off your love of holiday season (and to hide the extra poundage you’re bound to gain) than to proudly proclaim it in vaguely inappropriate epigrams like, “You spin me right round, baby” on a dreidel sweater?
In honor of the eight days of Hanukkah, which start tomorrow, we’ve rounded up eight of the ugliest (and funniest) Hanukkah-themed sweaters:
1) Do you have a toddler who loves to sass her elders? Maybe a pre-teen whose moodiness suggests a protracted case of puberty? Having her or him wear an ugly sweater wishing a “Happy Hanukkah ya filthy schmuck” paired with a scowl would make for the perfect family Hanukkah card.

Image by wethouse/etsy
2) You may be wearing an ugly sweater, but that doesn’t mean you can’t flirt with the boy next door (aka your possible besheret) at your synagogue’s Hanukkah party. So go ahead, spin that dreidel right round, if you know what we mean.

Image by Amazon
3) Dancing dreidels holding a menorah aloft like a Torah scroll on Simchat Torah? A-dreidel-able.

Image by Amazon
4) Ugly holiday sweaters are supposed to be ridiculous, and this one, from Beged (which, in hebrew, literally means “clothes”), fits the bill. What do challah, a bearded rabbi (who appears to be “raising the roof”?) and Hanukkah have to do with each other? Not much, but it does make a pretty ugly sweater.

Image by Amazon
5) “Mazel tov” is a phrase used mostly for congratulatory purposes, like getting married or having a Bar Mitzvah. It’s not really used in association with Hanukkah, unless it’s meant as a generalized congrats to the Jewish people for prevailing over the invading Seleucid forces. In that case, we’ll take it — and wear this garish ugly sweater.

Image by Amazon
6) We’re not really sure what llamas have to do with Hanukkah, other than the fact that the words rhyme, but wishing people “Happy Llamukah” was a big trend last year. Llamas are cute, but who knew giving him a yarmulke and a tallit would make him even more covetable?

Image by Amazon
7) Forget about milkshakes, we all know what really brings all the boys to the yard: a crispy, oily latke fried to perfection. Your bubbe would be proud.

Image by Amazon
8) Trying to impress the youth at your family party? Show how “down” you are with “the lingo” by declaring how committed you are to “lighting” up the holiday (wink wink).

Image by amazon
Michelle Honig is the style writer at the Forward. Contact her at [email protected]. Find her on Instagram and Twitter.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Film & TV In ‘The Rehearsal,’ Nathan Fielder fights the removal of his Holocaust fashion episode
-
Fast Forward AJC, USC Shoah Foundation announce partnership to document antisemitism since World War II
-
Yiddish יצחק באַשעװיסעס מיינונגען וועגן די אַמעריקאַנער ייִדןIsaac Bashevis’ opinion of American Jews
אין זײַנע „פֿאָרווערטס“־אַרטיקלען האָט ער קריטיקירט זייער צוגאַנג צום חורבן און צו ייִדישקײט.
-
Culture In a Haredi Jerusalem neighborhood, doctors’ visits are free, but the wait may cost you
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.