Why should the Festival of Lights be any less geeky than the rest of your life? Check out these DIY Hanukkah offerings, including "Doctor Who," "Star Trek," and "Star Wars"-themed menorahs and dreidels.
Bonnie Burton
Journalist Bonnie Burton writes about movies, TV shows, comics, science and robots. She is the author of the books Live or Die: Survival Hacks, Wizarding World: Movie Magic Amazing Artifacts, The Star Wars Craft Book, Girls Against Girls, Draw Star Wars, Planets in Peril and more! E-mail Bonnie.
Some people celebrate Hanukkah with age-old traditions, and some prefer to put their own spin on the holiday with dreidels and menorahs that pay tribute to geek passions from "Star Trek" to "Doctor Who." Here's a selection of some of the geekiest DIY menorahs and dreidels we could find, including ones made from toy dinosaurs, Legos, and even test tubes. None are for sale, but click through our gallery and maybe you'll get inspired.
Brick by brick, this Lego menorah resembles a traditional design, but has a child-like influence.
2 of 11TardisBuilders.com
Doctor dreidel
This Tardis Dreidel made by a DIY-er in Israel spins just like that big blue police box in the night sky on "Doctor Who." Time Lord not included.
3 of 11Momfluential
"Star Wars" Lego menorah
Instead of candles, this non-traditional Star Wars Lego Menorah uses glow sticks for illumination which not only makes it easy to build but also safer.
4 of 11J Create Magazine
Lego dreidel
This Lego dreidel from J Create Magazine is a crafty tribute to the spinning top played with during Hanukkah.
5 of 11Momfluential
Dino menorah
T-Rex and his pals make a festive holiday even more unique with this Dinosaur Menorah. Make it using plastic toy dinosaurs, candle holders, a scrap of wood, and silver paint.
6 of 11Momfluential
Candle holder, meet dinosaur
Momfluential has a tutorial on how to make the DIY dino menorah. Putting it together requires a hot glue gun for attaching glue candle holders to the little prehistoric creatures.
MIT's Test Tube Menorah, which dates back to the '70s, "was born out of the unique MIT Hillel spirit of connecting MIT's passion for science and technology with Judaism," according to the MIT Hillel Web site. The design incorporates an old-style, wooden, two-level test tube rack with various styles of test tubes. The tubes partially are filled with vegetable oil and topped with a wick.
9 of 11Dawn Anderson
Test tube shamash
In 2011, MIT senior Zach Stauber held the shamash, the test tube designated to light all the other wicks on the Test Tube Menorah.
10 of 11Evil Mad Scientist
Menorah for Trekkies
It's only logical to celebrate Hanukkah with this "Star Trek" menorah worthy of the USS Enterprise. "Joyce and Kaufman sent in this truly fantastic 'Star Trek' Pez LED menorah that they modded with one of our Deluxe LED Menorah kits," EvilMadScientist.com wrote on its Web site.
11 of 11Random House
Let's play droidel
Combine a dreidel with an R2-D2 astromech droid from "Star Wars," and you have the Hanukkah Droidel you're looking for. Just print out this papercraft PDF and glue it to thin cardboard (like from a cereal box). Cut out the design, glue or tape the flaps, and add R2-D2's dome to the top. Then take it for a spin.
