I thought we’d reached peak Jewish HomeGoods at Passover this year. The gefilte fish garland and Dayenu tabletop pieces took Jewish holiday decor to a whole new level. I was curious what HomeGoods might do for Rosh Hashanah, if anything. It’s not exactly a holiday known for its vast merchandising opportunities, aside from perhaps a new outfit for synagogue.
But it turns out the best of Jewish HomeGoods was still to come! HomeGoods does indeed have a whole line of decor for Rosh Hashanah — and while I have some questions, there’s a lot to like. Let’s see how they did.
Round Challah Cake Stand
Let’s begin with the most perplexing item in the entire collection: the Round Challah Cake Stand. Its surface is covered with a faux braided round challah (sprinkled with sesame seeds), honey and apple slices. This is basically the Jewish version of a decorative fruit bowl… except there’s no room for the fruit. I’ll give it an A for accuracy, F for functionality.
Rosh Hashanah Glassware
There is an elaborate array of Rosh Hashanah glassware: a pitcher, stemmed wine glass, lidded glass jar and plates. They’re embellished with beautiful Rosh Hashanah imagery, including red and green apples, honey jars, honeycomb, pomegranates and shofars. There are even three-dimensional bedazzled bees attached to each piece.
What’s glaringly absent, however, is a matching honey jar. After years of seeing glass honey jars in HomeGoods Hanukkah and Passover assortments, we’ve finally reached the holiday when we actually need one, and yet it is nowhere to be found!
Ceramic Apple and Honey Figurines
These little ceramic apple-and-honey characters are too cute.
My favorite detail isn’t technically part of the decor; it’s their apple-shaped paper “Shanah Tovah” tag. I haven’t taken ours off because it’s giving me major Rosh Hashanah Beanie Baby vibes. These should be plushies! There is precedent: HomeGoods gave us a plush egg and matzah duo for Passover.
Apple and Honey Basket
The Apple and Honey Basket is filled with faux apples, a faux honey jar and even a faux napkin. Without the “Shanah Tovah” tag, this is essentially generic fall decor.
Why isn’t it an actual basket? We eat a new fruit on the second night of Rosh Hashanah, so a basket for pomegranates, star fruit, prickly pears and more would have been both festive and functional.
Shanah Tovah Tabletop Decor
First, credit where credit is due: They got “Shanah Tovah” right.
One script-style version incorporates pomegranates, albeit in more of a muted apple red than a deep pomegranate hue, while a block-letter version replaces one of the A’s with a beehive. I’ve got to give them points for creativity on that one. The whole thing gave me déjà vu from the Passover Dayenu pieces.
And maybe that’s an upside: We’ve officially reached the copy-and-paste era of Jewish holiday decor.
Pomegranate Taper Candleholders
Pomegranate taper candleholders have also made their way onto the Rosh Hashanah endcap, mostly in gold, although shiny maroon versions have popped up at some HomeGoods locations.
Taper candleholders aren’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Rosh Hashanah. But they’re definitely beautiful and could make great paperweights for the sukkah.
Rosh Hashanah Garland
This last item is slightly harder to review because it doesn’t exist. After HomeGoods gave us a beaded Passover garland (gefilte fish, matzah, roasted eggs and karpas, oh my!), I hoped we’d get one for Rosh Hashanah. But alas, no garland for the new year.
Luckily, my kids have taken matters into their own hands and 3D-printed a sample for our guinea pigs’ High Holiday photo shoot. It came out beautifully and proved that while some of the HomeGoods items above may not be super useful, they make excellent guinea pig decor.
I may have a few notes, but seeing Rosh Hashanah get this much real estate at HomeGoods is actually pretty incredible.
So please, HomeGoods, keep it coming. I’ll figure out where to store everything later.
New Year, More Kveller. A few dollars keeps Kveller joyfully, honestly free.
