I love the holiday season, when we get a good dose of family, laughter, and beautiful lights. In my family, we celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas, so between the tree lights and the menorah candles, our house is well lit and cozy.

Getting the house in order is fun and lighting the candles each night is treasured, but the cleanup is another story. Every year at the end of Hanukkah, I dread cleaning up all the melted wax. Until this year, I never looked for an easy solution. I just scraped what I could.

This year, I decided to make a change in the holiday cleanup routine and I found some solutions for wax cleanup that I wanted to try. I ended up trying two methods and will be doing both again! My glass menorah has had accumulations of wax from several years past and now it looks brand new after only a five minute cleaning job. Why didn't I know how easy this could be?? This leaning routine isn't just for the holidays. It an be good for all of your candle cleanup throughout the year!

The first method is the one I used on the glass menorah. I wasn't as pleased with the results on a metal menorah, but I may have let that one cool down too much before wiping it.

1. Pick off any large pieces of wax that you can
2. Fill a sink or basin with HOT water
3. Immerse the menorah/candle holder in hot water for 2-3 minutes
4. Remove menorah/candle holder from water and wipe down with a paper towel to remove any remaining wax. It will wipe away easily!
5. Skim the sink with the paper towel as the water drains

The second method below should NOT be used on glass. It is intended for metal only.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 200
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the menorah/candlestick on top
3. Place this in the oven for 15 minutes
4. Remove from the oven and you should see all the wax melted onto the foil
5. Tip it upside down over the foil to let any wax in the candle holders drip out while it is still hot
6. Wipe down with a paper towel

Easy peasy! I loved that all four of my menorahs could be cleaned in about 20 minutes total without the use of any harsh chemicals. I didn’t even need to think about whether I had everything needed to clean them. It doesn’t get better than that!

Happy holidays!

Sarah is a stay at home mom to one baby girl. She teaches piano and runs a photography business out of her home, and does much of her work and occasional blogging whenever the baby decides to sleep! 🙂 Enthusiast of babywearing, green living, all things organic, and vegetarianism – read more about her on her blog:www.farbetterthanworse.wordpress.com