Looking for an adorable Hanukkah gift—or a kitschy way to share your love of latkes all year round? Visit Geltpop, a new online retailer from founder Anat Tamir. She creates latke keychains, gelt coin purses, menorah gloves and more. You will not find tchotchkes like these on Amazon.

Tamir lives in Israel but spent her childhood in upstate New York, going on to attend an Orthodox high school in New Jersey. She traveled to Israel every summer to visit her grandparents but settled in the United States, initially in New York and later in California, working in public affairs and as an editor for Haaretz, the Israeli daily newspaper.

In 2022, she moved back to Israel with her husband and two children.

“I felt a pull toward Israel, a sense of community I’d been searching for and trying to replicate,” she says. She also felt a pull toward design, partially due to her media work and also thanks to a longtime love for Vogue—and Hanukkah.

“I’m singularly obsessed with Hanukkah,” she says. “And unlike other Jewish holidays, this one does not come with a long list of dos and don’ts. It’s just pure fun.”

She loved to go all-out with Hanukkah decorating for her kids but always felt that the holiday was overshadowed by oodles of Christmas trinkets. Where was the Hanukkah magic? And so she first decided to craft a Hanukkah version of an advent calendar, with eight-night compartments, each with its own surprise. She bought two treasure boxes and filled them with special treats. Her kids loved it, but she wondered: Why isn’t anyone making advent-style boxes for Hanukkah?

“This Hanukkah thing kept nagging at me. I think the final push for me came from a deeper place, though. I made aliyah in 2022, and these past couple of years have been so dark, so heavy, not just in Israel, but for the Jewish community worldwide. I love being Jewish, I am so proud of my heritage, and something in me wanted to do my teeny tiny part to bring even just a sliver of joy to my people. That was part of the final push this year in deciding I’m just going to do it. It’s my ever-so-small contribution, I hope,” she says.

Now, she hopes to “create products that are fun, functional, really well-designed and that feel uniquely and intentionally made for Hanukkah. And also, to reclaim color. Let’s free ourselves from the blue-and-white shackles,” she says, laughing.

Her 8-Night Hanukkah Surprise Box—Kveller recently called it “an all-ages crowd pleaser”—is one of her favorites, with eight treats: a magnetic travel menorah, latke keychain (she calls them “latkeys”), fruit-scented Hanukkah candles and more.

Another of her favorites, the gelt coin pouch, is now also on sale at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv. So far, customer feedback has been, well, lit.

“Seeing people’s reaction to my products will never get old. So many people, when they see the ‘Latkeys,’ actually laugh out loud. It’s the greatest feeling in the world because it’s supposed to be fun and kitschy, and I love when people just get it. And then you have the kids who smell the scented Hanukkah candles for the first time and their faces light up. That’s when I think: ‘Mission accomplished,’” she says.

Might she expand to other Jewish holidays? Maybe.

“If I could just make a difference in the Hanukkah space, I’d be really happy,” she says.