Home The tradition
She hides.
You seek.
Be kind. Get a treat.
A Hanukkah tradition for all eight nights. It starts with a picture book and ends up in your kitchen cabinets.
How it works
Read together.
Start with the book on the first night, or any night before it. The story is where the Fairy, Pup and Grizzlebottom come from, and the tradition is in its rhymes.
Find the Fairy.
After bedtime, a grown-up hides her somewhere new. The kids go looking in the morning or after candles. The kitchen shelf and the refrigerator are her favorite spots.
Get a little treat.
Find her, be helpful and kind, and you might get a treat. Chocolate gelt and donuts are the classics. Small is the point.
Leave a little nosh.
Set out a jelly donut when the lights go off. Fairies get hungry, too. So do grown-ups, as it happens.
No naughty list
The Fairy isn’t watching anyone, and nobody reports back. Kindness earns a treat. That is the whole rule.
Kids in boots and a blue dress can be the Fairy, too. The book says so on its last page: this story belongs to you.
What you need
- The book. Hardcover, paperback or ebook.
- Something to hide. The free kit has a paper Fairy to cut out. The plush is still in development.
- Eight small treats. Gelt, a donut, a sticker. One a night.
Hanukkah 2026 begins at sundown on Friday, December 4, and the eighth candle is lit on Friday, December 11. See an idea for every night.
Good questions
Is it like Elf on the Shelf?
It is a nightly hide-and-seek, so families who know that tradition will feel at home. The Fairy has her own story: an angel in sneakers, a gelt-stealing troll and eight nights of candles. And she never tattles.
Does it replace lighting the menorah?
No. It sits beside the candles, the dreidels and the latkes you already love. Light first, then go looking.
What if she doesn’t move one night?
She was tired. Big boots. Try again tomorrow.
Free printable
Everything for
eight nights
- A paper Fairy to hide. Pup comes too.
- A card for every night. A hiding spot and a kind thing on each.
- Eight notes from the Fairy. Leave one wherever she hides.
- A menorah to color. One flame a night.
- Five coloring pages. The Fairy, Pup, Harold and Grizzlebottom.
It’s yours.
Your kit is ready to print. The first candle is Friday, December 4.
Download the kit (PDF)Thank you. Happy hiding.