Luminaries

bbyckes

What are you using?  How are you assembling them?  I'm going for this look -- are white bags with candles in them okay?



 I don't know if I should just leave the bags plain or embellish them a bit. 

Any suggestions?

sillyJane

I'm from New Mexico originally and my family would do luminarias ever year at christmas... upside, you can put them anywhere and they don't blow out like regular candles. Around christmas and easter I'd see some with designs, but the designs always looked kinda cheesy. Some things I learned about them growing up: Always keep an eye on them, because sometimes (not often) a bag will catch on fire. Also, don't put them on something flammable. Tea lights won't last long enough, you need the 2" tall candles at least. Folding the paper bags is a pain if you do it alone, but if you get others to help you it goes quickly (you want to fold down the top of the bag about an 1" to keep the bag open). Also, you need a lot of sand to fill in the bottom of the bags. You also need someplace to put the sand afterwards (we always used it in our driveway. alternatively you could find someone with a sandbox for their kids and go dummp it in there after you take out the candles). also, you need a long handle lighter to light the candles in the bag.

Luminarias are very pretty and fairly easy to do. they are usually used for lining paths, rooflines, walls, etc. most people leave them bare on the bag because it's hard to see the design.

I hope this helps!

BecW2be

You could get a big stamp of your initials and stamp the bags, but I think plain white bags will be fine. I didn't have to light mine, but I had 10 white lanterns on hooks lining my aisle. DH sent me flowers the Wed. before the wedding, and we tucked them into the top of the lanterns for a little extra pretty.

karagal

just a tip, we used battery operated tea lights from Sam's Club...got them on sale too!

AdeleDazeem

We also did luminaries every Christmas!  My whole town did them - it was beautiful.  Just plain white bags and candles is enough!

Anyway, I agree with everything Jane has to say.  My mom filled the bottoms with kitty litter rather than sand (there was logic there, but it escapes me right now).

They take a lot of time to prepare.  We'd sit there for a few hours on Christmas Eve putting them together.  I recommend putting them together far ahead of time. (I don't know how many you are going to make.  We'd make about 40 each Christmas).

We really never had an issue with any bag catching on fire.  I think it may have happened once in all the years we did it.  It was probably a very windy Christmas that year!

subdola

I wanted to do the luminary bags, but I was worried about the fire, so we collected a ton of mason jars, put some sand in the bottom (it was about $3 for a bag more than big enough to use with 80+ jars) and then put candles in those.  It looked amazing, I wish we had pictures!  It was so easy and I didn't worry at all about them catching fire. 

bbyckes

Mason jars are a great idea too.  I wonder how much that would set me back or if I could find some online on Craigslist or something like that.  I would've loved to see pictures of that.

cch923

I'm trying to decide what to do with mine too!  Mason Jar idea is pretty good....
I was going to use flameless candles just so I don't have to worry about the fire.  I also thought it might be easier than trying to light them all.

cch923

Karagal, did the 'fake' candles look like real ones when they are turned on inside the bag?

cinamoniz

We're doing luminaries hanging from sheppard hooks to light the way from the front of our house to the back where the ceremony and reception will be and then possibly down the aisle.  my mom went to an outdoor wedding that had lanterns hanging from sheppard hooks and she said they were gorgeous.  So, we're going to either use mason jars or maybe lanterns and use the battery operated tea lights, and then maybe hang luminaries in the trees, for additional lighting.  obviously, i haven't worked out this detail yet, but those are my thoughts thus far ;-)

I do like the white bag idea too, I'm just not sure how it would work on our yard yet.

kspe

There are a few luminaria upgrade options on this site, such as flame retardant bags and a more solid base than sand. Of course it costs a little more, but still seems reasonable to me. I'm planning to buy some and resell on Craigslist after the wedding.

http://www.lumabase.com/