Life Hack: Emergency Candle from a Crayon

I have limited space for storage. So, the fact I love to Hack (MacGyver) everyday household items into something new, for a different purpose, works well for resisting the need (want) for lots of fancy equipment.

I love the challenge of coming up with creative solutions and admire others who do the same. So, I promise that as I find new ways to hack ordinary items, I’ll give it a try, and share the results with you.

Here’s my first one: A simple crayon as an emergency candle.

If you’re like me, you have lots of candles on hand in your home. But hey, you never know where you may be when an emergency happens and a need for light arises. Or maybe you run out of candles during an extended power outage. Knowing how to use crayons as a candle might come in handy. I’ve seen this one around online and decided to give it a try.

Here are the steps:

First, using a lighter or match, melt off the pointy tip, which makes it easier to light the paper, plus this allows you to stand the crayon in the melted wax, as a candle holder.

Then ignite the end of the paper around the crayon. The paper acts as the wick and the wax of the crayon allows it to burn slowly, just like a wax candle.

I was able to melt off the tip and light the paper using only one large match. Then I stood the bottom end of the burning crayon in the melted pool of wax and held it for a few seconds, until the wax cooled and the crayon candle was stable.

The crayon candle burned for almost exactly 30 minutes, enough time to perhaps perform a needed task in an emergency situation. If you have an entire box of 64 crayons handy – that could give you 32 hours of light.

Of course, use the normal precautions you would use for any candle: keep away from flammable materials and use on a fire-safe surface. After burning for 28 minutes, the burned part of my crayon candle fell over, while the last bit continued to burn – so keep that in mind.

Please note that this is meant for an emergency only! Crayons do not burn as cleanly as a real candle. You will smell the burning paper and melting wax. I advise proper ventilation.