EF Holiday Decorations...help

Soyager · November 2011

My vision:

I want to place a ton of paper bag luminaries in my front yard for the first night of Hanukkah through Solstice and Christmas Eve (they all fall in the same week this year--woot!). Help me figure out the most eco-friendly way to do this. The specifics:

--paper bags aren't necessarily EF, but can be saved and/or recycled. Other ideas?

--candles or battery operated fake candles (I'm thinking candles b/c I don't like the idea of the cheap plastic fake ones + buying extra batteries.)

---BUT with candles, I have to buy votive holders (reusable, though, so I'm okay with that)

--Any idea where to buy this cheaply? I can find stuff on Amazon, but maybe locally I could get it without paying shipping/having to ship?

FYI--our front yard is rather wide, and though I wouldn't fill the whole thing, I'm going to need a substantial amount of candles.

Thoughts?

shaunna&chad · November 2011

I would think you could get everything you need at Hobby Lobby or Michaels or something similar. Shouldn't cost too much money...

What about making luminaries out of tin cans? I saw a tutorial once where you wash out the can, paint with spraypaint if desired, draw the design you would want the holes to be, then fill it with water and freeze (I guess this keeps the can from bending?). Then you use a hammer and something to puncture the can to punch the holes. Melt, use, voila. (Hopefully that makes sense!) Those would definitely be reusable each year.