Old Navy’s 2026 Hanukkah Pajamas Included Hamantaschen — But You Can’t Buy Them Anymore

Doves. Challah. Torah scrolls. Three-pronged menorahs. Dreidels with gibberish Hebrew. After years of documenting the strange world of Hanukkah merchandise, I thought I’d seen it all.

Spoiler alert: I hadn’t.

Earlier this month, photos began surfacing of Old Navy’s newest Hanukkah pajamas. The print featured the usual suspects: hanukkiyot, dreidels, snowflakes, and… hamantaschen.

Yes, those triangular cookies traditionally associated with Purim.

Contributed by Yael Buechler

I would have happily bought a pair (team apricot here!), but there was a catch: For weeks, they were mysteriously turning up exclusively in Canadian Old Navy stores.

Just as I was trying to figure out how to import a pair across the border, the plot thickened.

Apparently, Canadian stores received urgent directives — including a notice as recently as Oct. 21 — to scrub the pajamas from the sales floor and ship them back. They weren’t just ordered to hide them in the stockroom — they had to banish them from the premises entirely.

Old Navy did not respond to a request for comment regarding the great Hanukkah pajama purge. While they haven’t officially slapped a “recall” label on the incident, folks familiar with the matter noted that such dramatic removals usually stem from product defects or licensing issues.

Do displaced hamantaschen qualify as a manufacturing defect? I know from hamantaschen defects: Most of the batches I bake burst open in the oven despite my aggressive corner-pinching.

Of course, Old Navy is hardly alone in the booming industry of questionable Jewish loungewear. My 10-year-old son has even coined a term for these merchandising mishaps: the “Hanukkahtastrophe.”

This season has been particularly rich in them. 

Caden Lane just released Hanukkah pajamas sporting jumbled Hebrew, random challah, and an inexplicable Christmas tree (and no, they weren’t marketed as multifaith jammies). 

Contributed by Yael Buechler

Burt’s Bees Baby stamped their dreidels with a mysterious symbol resembling the letter chet — which famously does not belong on a dreidel. 

Contributed by Yael Buechler

Pixie Lane went rogue with nonsensical, AI-generated characters. 

Contributed by Yael Buechler

Even Old Navy is a repeat offender; its 2024 collection included dreidels with backwards lettering.

To be fair, hamantaschen do occasionally sneak into general Jewish merchandise. West Elm’s adorable appetizer plates, for example, include a black-and-white cookie, rugelach, a jelly donut and hamantaschen. But a broad Jewish dessert assortment is one thing. Putting Purim treats onto Hanukkah-specific sleepwear is a whole different recipe for confusion.

Still, I have to give the company some credit here. As much as I coveted those pajamas for my ever-growing Hanukkahtastrophe archive (which currently occupies an entire plastic tub in my home), it is refreshing to see a major retailer pull the plug on flawed merchandise. I’ve watched too many brands leave completely scrambled Hebrew on the shelves long after the internet pointed out their blunders.

Whether the rogue hamantaschen were the true catalyst for Old Navy’s decision remains a corporate mystery. But whatever triggered the removal, the swift action is a minor holiday miracle in itself. Hopefully, more companies will start catching these gaffes before they hit the racks.

For the record, if anyone in Canada managed to snag a pair before they vanished into the retail abyss, I’d still love to get my hands on them.

I’ll wear them on Purim.

If you’re looking for cute, accurate Hanukkah pajamas for the whole family, check out this round up.

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