Quite a few events use the 2 liter soda bottle idea successfully... Here are a few others to keep your luminaria from burning down:

· Wood Blocks to Hold Luminaria instead of Sand – Some Relays switched to wood to hold the candles and they worked great. They say the placement and pickup went very smoothly versus sand… To hold the candles so they don’t melt to the wood, put them in a Dixie cup that sits in the wood, and all of that goes in a bag! … another Relayer writes: “We have used wood blocks for about 6 years. We wrap our blocks in foil. Last year we brought a power drill to the event and during clean up, we took off the foil and drilled out the holes with a 1 1/2 bit. Worked great. We had some teen volunteers re-wrap the blocks with foil and they are packed away, ready to go for next year.”

· 2 Liter Bottles! - Use 2 liter bottles. Cut them in half, take the labels off and then use an Avery label to adhere over the bottle. They are easy to fill with sand, easy to light, easy to clean-up, never burn or melt, and look great since they are clear and the candles really shine. (thanks to Draw4U for this idea!)

· French Fry Containers – Use French Fry containers you can get from Drive-In style restaurants that kind of look like a boat. Fill it with sand, and put the boat in the luminaria bag. Even if it rains, the bottom doesn't fall out. (Thanks to Stephanie and LumsByJen!)

· Ziploc Bags – “Hi, we've been putting our bags in ziploc bags and it helps a bit. We don't zip them shut (found that doing that causes the bags to draw moisture from the sand) BUT if you handle the bags from the bottom rather than picking up by the top, they stay in decent shape. We had a 2 hour downpour at the beginning of our Relay this year and afterward just went around the track and straightened the bags up a bit. Even though they were waterlogged, the candles lit and stayed lit until Saturday afternoon! We buy the cheapest ziplocs and before Relay we write the names on the bags, fold the tops of the luminary bags down about 2 inches so that the zip loc can be zipped if needed and alphabetize the bags just by first initial of last name. That way, we are ready to load sand and candles. It took us 2 hours to fill 1600 bags (using about 25 volunteers). Good luck. Let me know if you have questions.” (thanks to BevKris!)

· Glass Jars in Luminaria Bags - “Hey- In Milton WI we have glass jar collections around town, and put the glass jars inside the bags and put the candles inside of them, we still use sand on the bottom for weight, but at least you don't have to worry about your bag burning up!” – Thanks to NettieNet for this idea

· Baby Food Jars – Thanks to Kim for this idea! – “One thing we are looking into doing for 2007 is using baby food jars (glass) or any other small glass jar. This will keep the bag from burning, keep the wind from blowing it out, and eliminate the need for sand. If you start collecting now you would have enough by 2007 Relay season. We are putting up fliers in daycare centers and grocery stores and posting it on a wanted bulletin on-line.”

· Gallon Milk Jugs – Save gallon milk jugs and label them with Avery labels just like using 2 liter bottles! “Just wanted to let you know that we had our Relay this past weekend. I was the Luminaria chair for the event and had been planning on using milk jugs instead of bags. This was a terrific idea! It took alot of storage for the jugs, but it was worth it. The glow that they put out was brighter than bags. I would suggest to anyone that is doing lumininaria, to try this. If you have local storage units ask the owner if they would be willing to donate a space. You can work out of it and there will be plenty of space. We had 1300 jugs cut with a nice size whole in the side and made a label with the name on it. It was time consuming, but not hard. The only suggestion I have is to make sure that the candle is placed in the middle of the sand in the jug, if not there is great possiblity of melting. I had a troop of boy scouts lighting the candles for us, and unfortunally on some of the jugs the candles weren't in the center and completely melted. They were replaced and all was fine. Just thought I would share that idea with you. “ (thanks to Kay!)

· White Plastic Buckets – Some events, including Hammond, IN (Thanks to TAO) – use white plastic buckets since they are more weather resistant and easier to clean up and work with. You can reuse the buckets each year:

Hope this helps!