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So, I've come to a fairly annoying realization; I'm stuck on campus for class and finals throughout Chanukah, and I don't get a single day at home with my family. In addition to this, I don't have a menorah in my dorm (although I do have enough candles for one), and no idea where to even find one. The school probably won't do much for it, since I'm the only Jewish student on campus. Any suggestions on how to make Chanukah not so much "alone and fail", and how to get around the menorah problem?

No stores, but that's actually a good idea with the wood. I can easily adapt some dorm room materials for that. Until now, I've been using the caps from empty water bottles as candle holders, but I don't have eight of those to catch the wax, and it wouldn't look very nice.

Make sure that the bottles are glass or the bottle caps are metal. Plastic ones will melt and/or burn and get you in trouble with your dorm authorities and possibly campus fire-response team.

I always used to put tea lights inside those little bitty juice glasses that I nicked from the cafeteria (borrowed! borrowed! I took them all back at the end of every term!). The little curve in the glass makes the flame look bigger and brighter.

Tealights.



First off they're really cheap and you can find them almost anywhere.

They're usually prebased, unscented parafin, (which means kosher) and they're easy to clean up after.

AND... because of their wide base and small stature, if you knock them over they will either lay flat, wick up... OR... inverted, extingushing themselves. So there's less of a fire hazard lighting up 9 of these puppies on your window sill

Might want to pull the drapes off though.

Aw man! I wish I had seen this thread earlier! Every freakin' year my kids bring home these menorahs from school. There's heck to pay if I throw one of these great masterpieces out, so we have quite the menorah mound in our house. They take a short chunk of 1X2 and glue nuts (the metal kind) onto them. For the shamash, they glue 2 nuts one on top of the other. Then they paint the wood.

Here are some things I have learned from these things:

* hot glue works waaaaay better than elmer's glue. but you can use elmers in a pinch. hot glue can be found at any craft store and the cheapie applicator gun thing costs around $5.

*if you use elmer's glue and you are verrrry careful you can make it last 8 days. if you're not careful, then it won't!

* elmer's glue takes at least 24 hours to dry. hot glue takes about 1 minute.

* make sure you buy the right size nut. take a candle with you to the hardware store. it will save you a lot of crying. (maybe you're a better sport about this than a 3 year old - but you never know)

* glue the nuts on the wide side, not the narrow or else the whole thing's goin' over, flames and all.

* glue the nuts sufficiently far apart from each other so that the candles won't melt each other. this will make the difference between a nice pretty menorah that burns for awhile on the 8th night and a small bonfire that puts itself out in 15 minutes leaving behind a sad but colorful mound of wax where the menorah used to be.

* put it on top of a sheet of aluminum before you use it. if you do, it won't drip. if you don't, it will drip all over the place.

I hope it's not too late!

Happy chanukah,
Fido

Don't forget to paint it! xd

Actually, thumbprint people, critters and things (a la Ed Emberly: http://tinyurl.com/2r6wc6 no affiliation, yadda yadda) using tempera paint and a sharpie can make these menorahs cute almost to the point of twee, but not quite. You need a slightly larger piece of wood tho.

Have fun and happy chanukah!

Fido

Ouch.... Good luck, and happy Chanukah!

Awesome, Dis. smile I'm glad you managed to salvage the chag and come up with some ways to share it with others.

Me, I've got a party planned for motzaei Shabbat (Saturday night after Shabbat), so I'm doing all my prep today and tomorrow. Well, most of my prep. Here's how it'll go:

Today, Thursday:
Laundry, ironing, getting keys ground, visiting the cat sitters and dropping off keys and money that they'll need for the end of this month. Cleaning the kitchen, then the bathroom, until they bleed and whimper (the kitchen and bathroom, not the cats, G*D forbid). Shower and dress, then meet my mother-in-law at the airport.

Friday:
Grocery shopping, more cleaning. Prep dough for doughnuts and sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts), bake challah. Shower. Pedicure, which should be finished an hour before candle-lighting time.

Saturday after Shabbat:
Shabbat ends at about 5:30 for me, according to the local time. I have some more in-laws showing up for havdalah (marking the separation between Shabbat and the new week), and then I'll turn on the stove and let everyone help me grate potatoes and onions and fry up doughnuts. This should be great fun. I've also got some vegetables that will become tempura for the sake of remembering the oil miracle, and some great Chanukah music to share: Voice of the Turtle: Circle of Fire: Songs of the Sephardim, Volume V, and Nigunim, Klezmer Music with the famous klezmer Moshe (Moussa) Berlin, and a CD by the Yeshiva Boys Choir directed by Eli Gerstner, and Refuge Rock Sublime, and what may become my favorite, Kenny Ellis's Hanukkah Swings!.