Eight TV Characters to Invite for Hanukkah

These fictional friends would be the perfect guests at your annual celebration!

The holidays are a great time to revisit classic TV show moments that help us celebrate the season! In honor of the eight nights of Hanukkah, 🕎 we’ve chosen our eight favorite characters that would be a great addition to your next Festival of Lights party. 🎊

1. Seth Cohen, The O.C.

Seth Cohen decides that he isn’t going to choose between Christmas and Hanukkah. Having been raised in a household that celebrated both holidays, he takes it upon himself to create a new festive celebration. No more choosing between a menorah and a candy cane! Happy Chrismukkah to all! There are 4 Chrismukkah episodes, so start that mini-binge session today.

2. Rebecca Bunch, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Rachel Bloom stars in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, where she plays Rebecca Bunch, a successful lawyer in Manhattan who decides on a whim to uproot her life and move to California after a chance meeting with a former romantic interest. And if that’s not enough of a hook, the characters all often casually break into song. 🎶 In Season 1, Episode 8 “My Mom, Greg's Mom and Josh's Sweet Dance Moves!” she has to ditch the Christmas decorations for Hanukkah in preparation for her mom’s visit. What is the right spelling of Chanukah – Rebecca ponders, and we do too. 

3. Schmidt, New Girl

New Girl is an ensemble cast of 5 friends in their early 30s. Schmidt, played by Max Greenfield, is the slightly neurotic, narcissistic clean freak–often saying something inappropriate. In Season 1, Episode 9 “The 23rd,” Schmidt is very open to the fact that he hates Christmas because it means that Hanukkah is over. If there is one thing that we can rely on in any New Girl episode, it is this group of friends being there for each other even if it means screaming in the middle of Candy Cane Lane for everyone to turn on their lights. Merry Hanukkah!

4. Paris Geller, Gilmore Girls

We are definitely inviting Paris Geller over for the celebration because we learned in Season 3, Episode 10 “That’ll Do Pig” that her mom never let her have a Hanukkah bush. The eight presents were a letdown compared to the pile of presents she witnessed at her boyfriend, Jamie’s house for Christmas. Jamie’s entire family Christmas celebration–including the lights, decorations, and food of the holiday–charmed the often unimpressible Paris. As long as you have your place fully outfitted with decorations, she’ll be happy, and will surely be there to bring the debate.

5. Willow Rosenberg, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not known for its holiday episodes.  There is only one Christmas episode, along with a flashback in another, but that one Christmas episode is definitely one that deserves a re-watch. In Season 3, Episode 10 “Amends,” Willow is not shy to remind her friend Buffy that she is Jewish as they discuss their school break plans. But just because she celebrates the Festival of Lights, she can still appreciate a beautiful snowstorm in the end.

6. Ross & Monica Geller, Friends

Meet the Holiday Armadillo, Santa’s representative of all the southern states. In Season 7, Ross Geller gets his son Ben for the holidays, and wants to take the time to teach him all about Hanukkah. The costume shop was out of anything Christmas-related, so he opted for this next best thing. It’s not the holidays without the armadillo showing up at the party.

7. The Maisels and The Weissmans, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

This party just got bigger but we can’t leave out our favorite New York Jewish families, the Maisels and the Weissmans. While there wasn’t a dedicated Hanukkah episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, they did cover Yom Kippur. We can imagine the chaos that Hanukkah would be with these 6 people. We are ready to cook up a brisket and binge the whole series again, just to spend more time with them.

8. The Goldberg family, The Goldbergs

It’s not Hanukkah without The Goldberg family, and we are definitely inviting ourselves over to “Super Hanukkah,” the special festivities created by Beverly Goldberg. We can only hope that we get an awesome light up sweater for the eighth night of Hanukkah. No underwear, please, like her son Barry got. If you haven’t watched the episode “A Christmas Story” (Season 3, episode 10), go stream it now. 🕎

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