When you wish upon a star… sometimes Hanukkah comes early!
Last week, Disney released a preview of some of its 2024 holiday season merchandise that will drop in their stores in September. (This year, Hanukkah begins on the evening of December 25, 2024, and ends on the night of January 2, 2025.) Following last year’s Disney holiday line, which purported to have the “largest Hanukkah collection to date,” and which we at Kveller generally enjoyed, the bar was high. So, did Disney deliver this year?
The sneak peek includes five Hanukkah-related items which lean into the coziness of the holiday season. First up, we’ve got Festival of Lights Minnie ears which are very cute until you realize they’re recycled from the 2023 merchandise season. On the one hand, maybe they were so popular Disney needed to bring them back. But on the other hand, get more creative, Disney!
The rest of the drop includes a Hanukkah blanket, mug, menorah wall hanging and “stylin'” PJ pants. All the designs include Mickey and Minnie either playing dreidel or hugging surrounded by menorahs, dreidels, gelt, sufganiyot and flowers. The design color palette is, surprise, surprise, blue, yellow and white. “The colors may make it easier to find in a store, but this collection would be so much more exciting with some purples and oranges and other shades,” Kveller deputy managing editor Lior Zaltzman said of last year’s also blue and yellow Disney Hanukkah collection. The kvetch still stands this year.
Overall, the naturalistic style and sketchbook aesthetic of the 2024 Disney Hanukkah collection preview is nice. It’s pleasant to look at, has a wide appeal and, you know, isn’t offensive. But with the wide swath of Christmas sweaters, Mickey and Minnie ears, home decor, plushies, stockings and more, the Hanukkah section feels comparatively… feh.
Fingers crossed that the best of the Disney Hanukkah collection is yet to be part of our world.
