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"FESTIVE FRUGAL"?
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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Hanukkah begins on December 12. Are you "recession fatigued"? Are you going to be "festive frugal"?
In Yiddish, "karger" means a cheap skate.
Barneys New York wants me to "Have a Witty Holiday"; Target stories asks me to be "Festively frugal." JCPenney wants me to "Give like Santa, Save like Scrooge." And Paul Dickson writes about being a "frugalflaunt"--someone who flaunts his/ her frugality.
Gift-giving at Hanukkah should NOT be about money. Shown below is a chronology of Hanukkah trivia and holiday costs from 1842 to 2009.
1842
Historians report that the pages of The New York Times did not contain a single
example of advertising with a Hanukkah/
Christmas theme.
1870
December had become the merchant's single largest selling month of the year.
1870s Macy's (NY) often required its clerks to work into the early morning during the hectic holiday rush. Some spent the remainder of short nights asleep on sales counters, using bolts of cloth for pillows.
1894
Bloomingdale's--no "shlock joint"--took out a full-page ad to announce
that it
would stay open late for holiday shoppers.
1912
Tate-mameh photographed the kinder with
an Eastman Kodak Brownie box camera
("der prayz" (the price): $1 - $4, or a folding
Brownie ($5 - $12). Let's see a "shmaychl"
(smile)!
1913
Erector sets were very popular and sold for
$.50 for the "No. O" set, all the way up to
$25,000 for the "No. 8" set.
1925
Heading "di reshime" (the list) of popular
gifts with "Noo Yawkers" were fancy schmancy hats, ascot mufflers,
and radiator
ornaments.
1930s
Betty Boop dolls and toys are very popular.
1932
A sled (for "di kelt vinter")--the cold winter--sells for $3.95.
1938
Kids spend Hanukkah building houses,
buying railroads, renting property, etc.
with the White Box Edition of Monopoly.
"Der prayz": $1.69 from the Sears Roebuck
"kah-tah-lawg").
1942
A holiday subscription to Life "zhurnal"
(magazine) was $3.65.
1944
The be-all-and-end-all gift was a Frank
Sinatra "plate" (record), 78, of course.
1955
The book, "Marjorie Morningstar" by
Herman Wouk is a popular holiday gift.
1958
The cost of mailing a Hanukkah card
increased from 3 cents to 4 cents an oz.
The Hula Hoop, which sold for $1.98 in the "zumer" (summer), was marked down to "fufsik" cents (50 cents) by Hanukkah as the craze was fading. It was "billik vi borsht"-- cheap as borscht.
1960
The Neiman Marcus catalog sold the first
"His and Hers" gifts--a pair of Beechcraft
Bonanza airplanes. HIS: $149,000;
HERS: $127,000. "Gay rekhen." (Go figure
it out.)
1968
Shoppers searched the store for "fus" (foot)
warmers, self-winding watches, and peace
symbols from any and every medium.
1977
A Liz Claiborne Cosmetics Survey of women'
shoppers indicates that 77% prefer
shopping "aleyn" (alone), and 23% prefer
shopping with someone else.
1978
The average price of a box of holiday cards
was $2.71.
1980
A Gucci catalog offered a lizard handbag
with an 18-karat-gold detachable handle--
which can be worn as a necklace--for $11,500. "Mein hartz gayt oys." (I'm
dying
for it.)
1981
Neiman Marcus sells a His and Hers
"goilem" (robot) for $15,000. (I prefer
Robot Redford!)
1983
Cabbage Patch doll sales were estimated at
one "bilyon" dollars. Coleco chartered jets
to fly more from the Orient. The late Jackie
Kennedy came up short when an aide
phoned FAO Schwarz in NYC and asked for
one. "Me zol nit visn fun azoyne tsores."
(We shouldn't know about such troubles.)
1986
A popular holiday gift in NYC was a$12
deck of Leona Helmsley playing cards.
1988
Saks Fifth Avenue translators help customers shop in 9 foreign languages.
(Speak Yiddish to me!)
1991
A two-oz bottle of Recession, a cologne,
sold for $22.50.
Molly Katz ("Jewish As a Second Language') wrote about Wrapping Paper: "Gifts are opened carefully, using a pencil to lift the tape, so the paper can be saved. It isn't reused; that would be cheap. but it's a crime to throw away such lovely paper."
1995
Macy's reduced the percentage of commission for sales representatives during
the five-week holiday selling season, cutting
deeply into the biggest paychecks many
employees receive all year. It's a "shande."
1996
Big Onion Tours conducted its fifth annual
Christmas Day walking tour of Jewish history on the Lower East Side.
1997
Psychotherapist, Janet Daman, continues to
assist people who face the problem of binge
buying. "Az a nar gait in mark, fraien zich
di kremer." (When a fool goes shopping, the storekeepers rejoice.)
For the "kinder," happiness is a cyberpet named "Tomagotchi" and "Sing & "Khropen" (Snore), Ernie.
Joshua Halberstam ("Schmoozing") wrote about the elevation of Chanukah from the relatively minor holiday it was in Europe to the major Jewish holiday it is in the U.S. today. "The Talmud devoted a scant two pages to Chanukah while dedicating an entire volume to Purim," said Halberstam.
1999
Harry Potter books are a favorite, as well as
Millennium/Y2K items.
Ari L. Goldman ("Being Jewish"), wrote, "Gift giving doesn't have to mean following the throngs at the mall looking for the latest gismo...Some families set aside one night when the youngsters forgo their presents for the night and donate them to children at a homeless shelter."
Tickets to "Grine Felder" (Green Fields) at the Mazer Theater range from $18 to $30.
2001
Levine Judaica sells a Chanukah Fiddler on
the Roof Menorah for $85, and a Chanukah
at Bubbe's--a video--for $29.95.
2002
Jewish web sites state the No. 1 reason why
Hanukkah is better than Christmas:
1. Blintzes are cheaper to mail than
fruitcakes.
2003
A tandem lesson on a hang glider, paraglider over the beautiful San Francisco
Bay costs $285. "goyisher nokhes" means
"pleasure from doing something traditionally un-Jewish, like hang gliding,
or auto racing, or entering a beer drinking
contest."
2004
The book, "Yiddish With Dick and Jane"
sells for $14.95.
The book, "Are Yentas, Kibitzers, & Tummlers Weapons of Mass Instruction? Yiddish Trivia" by Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe, sells for $12.
A Hallmark Tree of Life card, inscribed, "On Hanukkah, remember the wise words of the ancient sages. 'Let the good times scroll.'" (cost: $1.99)
2006
Consumers will spend $791.10 on holiday
gifts.
Cross It Off Your List, a NYC company, will do your holiday shopping at any store within NYC limits, then gift wrap and deliver the goods to recipients directly. (cost: $65 per hour)
2007
"How To Raise a Jewish Dog" by Weiner &
Davilman, sells for $12.99.
"Yiddish for Dog & Cat Lovers" by Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe, sells for $13. BTW, remember "black dog syndrome": In an animal shelter, the tendency for black-or dark-coated dogs to be passed over for adoption in favor of lighter colored dogs.
2008
A Chanukkah doggie gift box from the "Bow Wow Dog Bakery" costs $9..95.
A gift subscription to JDate costs:
1 month $39.99
3 months 33.33/month
6 months 24.99/month
Chanukah Fortune Cookies, Box of 300,
sells for $84.00, from Kosherman. Examples
of Chanukah Fortunes:
"May your pastrami never have
mayonnaise on it."
A No Limit Texas dreidel, a combo of dreidel and poker, is available from moderntribe.com for $19.95.
2009
A motorcycle menorah sells for $65 from
"The Source For Everything Jewish"
catalog. (The perfect gift for members of the motorcycle group, "Chai
Riders" and
"King David Bikers.") Vroom-vroom-vroom!
A Yiddish Proverb Pewter Money Clip engraved, "With money in your pocket, you are wise and you are handsome and you sing well too," sells for $20.
"My First Yiddish Word Book," Edited by
Joni Kibort Sussman (Kar-Ben Publishing),
sells for $17.96 USA; $21.95 Canada.
-----------------------------------------
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe wishes all of her
readers a Happy Hanukkah.
traditionally un-jewish, like hang gliding,
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