Sukkot is my favorite Jewish holiday. I love the autumn weather and eating in the sukkah. After all, the sukkah is really a dining room that just happens to be outdoors. We eat so many meals during the week-long holiday—some daytime meals, and other meals at night—that lighting is a must.

I say, as long as you need lights, why use industrial light bulbs from a home improvement store, when it’s an opportunity to do something fabulous and really make a statement! It’s fun to put together a light fixture from materials you may not think of using for a chandelier—it will become a great conversation piece for your holiday table. Here are a few light fixtures I made over the past few years . . .

Two years ago, I created this modern “Soho”-like fixture out of plastic cups! It was huge, and really made our plain sukkah look extraordinary.


The materials I used were 9-oz. plastic cups, a pliers stapler and wood clothespins. The first thing you need is the pliers stapler. I bought mine on Amazon, because I couldn’t find one locally. These are a must, because they reach into the cup and staple them together.



Using the pliers stapler, staple each cup to the one next to it. Next, start another row on top of the first one, using the clothespins to hold them in place and stapling them together.


After a while, it should look something like this:


For the light, I used a low-energy bulb that doesn’t get too hot, and wire to twist around the cord keep the cord from slipping. Here is a shot I took at night on my porch, where I made this before Sukkot.


(Caution: If it’s a rainy week, the cups can fill up with water!)

Last year, I made another chandelier from a large hula hoop and two packs of mini-LED lights.


After spray-painting the hula hoop orange, I simply wrapped the lights around the hula hoop and hung it from the sechach (roof) with floral wire.


The orange-colored lights gave off a beautiful glow! (I shot this on our porch, since the sukkah wasn’t going up for a few days.)

The next photo is from my book Jewish Holiday Style—I took the idea of a garden gazebo, and tried to create a sukkah with a garden-like feel.


The candelabra chandelier was used for the purpose of the photo only, but for safety purposes and longer lasting light, you can use an electric chandelier instead.

If you’re not already inspired, here are a few more I came across on the Web—all made from materials found around the house!


From top left: clothespin light, twine light, ping-pong ball light, soda-can tab light, plastic spoon light, basket light.

What will you do for sukkah lighting this year?