Quick Paper Light-Up Menorah

Everyone has their own holiday traditions. Mine is making soft-circuit LED menorahs for Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. The first night of Hanukkah comes sometime in November or December (it follows the Jewish calendar) and continues for eight crazy nights.

This menorah is super-quick and requires no wiring. Just take a mini string of lights and sandwich it between your design and a background piece of paper!

This version is similar to the soft circuit projects in my book Paper Inventions. Look below for tips to making this menorah programmable, as well as an e-textile version using techniques from my book Fabric and Fiber Inventions!

What is a Menorah?

The menorah is the candle holder that Jewish families light as part of the Hanukkah celebration. On each night a candle is added. A ninth “helper” candle, or shamash, is used to light the other candles.

Menorahs come in all varieties, from simple to ornate and from elegant to playful. In the United States, it’s common for kids to make their own. An LED menorah has the advantage of being safe for all living situations. If you make it flat, you can even hang it on a wall or in a window!

• Drawing or design of your menorah on a piece of paper thin enough to let light through
• Dark background piece of paper, larger than your design (construction paper or cardstock is good)
• Battery-powered light strand -- find them at the dollar store
• Tape (both clear and double-sided are handy) and/or adhesive dots

You need nine lights for your menorah. With the battery pack turned off, cut any extra lights off the end. Save the remaining strand! You can use the wire or individual lights in other projects.

To make your menorah stand up, fold the bottom edge of the background paper back to make a base. The battery pack will help hold it up.

Cut a flap near the bottom of the base. Cut one corner off the flap.

Attach the battery pack to the base with double-sided tape. Insert the end of the light strand through the flap from the back to the front. Position the wire so it goes through the open corner. Close the flap.

To figure out where you want your first light to go, turn the light strand on. Take the light nearest the battery pack and position it behind the nearest candle on your menorah picture. Check that it's where you want it, then tape the light in place. Repeat with the other lights, in order, until all the lights are in position.

Center the menorah picture on the background, then attach it using double-sided tape or adhesive dots. Seal all around the edges so the light doesn't leak out.

Display your menorah on a table top, on a wall, or in a window so everyone can see your handiwork!

With a small programmable microcontroller board, such as an Adafruit Gemma M0 or the Chibitronic Chibi Chip, and free, online, easy-to-learn Microsoft MakeCode software, you can program the LED strand to make it flicker like real candles! See my tutorial on the Adafruit website for how to connect an LED strand to an Gemma M0. Also see my Felt Menorah Instructable, which uses the Chibi Chip.