I don’t know the mekor of giving presents, but as a kid my parents used to give me 1 each night. It seems like it was trying to make up for not getting tons of stuff on XMAS like the other kids in my school. I still felt different though, so I don’t think it worked. Now as a BT, I don’t see the need to use presents/money to get kids excited about Channukah. There are other things to be excited for – getting off from school early for a whole week for the boys and vacation for a girls – sufganiyot, latkes and all of the other food that we usually only eat during Channukah. I stock up on the chocolate coins and we give them out after singing Maoz Tzur. Nobody wants to eat fleishigs the whole week, it’s almost like the 9 days in my house again trying to come up with milchig recipes so everybody can have the milchig chocolate at candlelighting time (no my kids don’t like the pareve ones). We usually try to take a walk on Shabbos night to see all of the houses in our neighborhood with the lights in the windows and doorways. It’s really beautiful. I also try to take my kids to the zoo on Zos Channukah since that’s the only day we don’t have to worry about what time we come home. The zoo closes at sunset, so we would have the full time available. It can be fun without presents also.
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