Making Holiday Luminaries for Your Entryway

For me, nothing is friendlier than pretty luminaries lighting up my walkway when I host a holiday a party. I also use them on Halloween when the kids are out trick or treating. .

A luminary is a lantern made with votive candles inside a small paper bag. You can then line a walkway, path or driveway with them. You’ll have to decide if you want to line both sides of a path, the front of your lawn, etc. That will determine how many luminaries you will need to make. If it’s raining I use just a few and put them up near the house under cover.

You’ll need brown paper bags the size your use for lunch bags. You can also use white paper bags but they’re a little harder to find. Your local craft store should have white and colored bag. I find the color bags don’t really stand out at night so I use brown lunch bags. You might like to cut some circles of diamond shapes out of the sides – just be sure to do this at least four inches above the bottom of the bag.

Fill each bag with cat litter. You can also use sand, but this is lighter and it’s easier to find. I buy the cheapest I can and because the cheap brands have a lot of powder, I fill the bags out in the garage. You’ll need about 3 inches in each bag.

Next, I wrap each bag in a clear plastic bag. Just, the bottom few inches of the “lunch” bag, rolling the excess plastic down the sides neatly. You might want to tape them so it looks nicer. This prevents the bag getting soggy from the dampness. Trust me, if the bag breaks it’s a real mess to clean up. With its “plastic bag cover” you just take the used luminaries and toss in the trash.

Then, put a votive candle in the middle pushing it down to the bottom of the bag. I buy the cheapest votive candles I can find. No point in buying the more expensive scented one because they’re going outside where you can’t smell them. Go place them outside where you want them. Light them as it gets dark, using a long match. Be sure they’re placed where if they tip over, they won’t start a fire. On Halloween, keep them close to the house and away from costumes that could catch fire easily.

When you pick them up the next day, check the candles because you might find one or two that burnt out and has enough of a candle to reuse. You can also reuse some of the bags if they didn’t get wet or dirty. I recycle the cat litter for more luminaries also. Just pour into a double white grocery bag (the kind you get at the grocery store), tie up and save for another time you want to make more luminaries.