Candles are the third best means of lighting a room during an outage, right behind waiting for dawn and hosting the opening ceremonies for an international athletic event. Carry the torch for illumination with today's Groupon: for $24, you get a candle-making class at Waves of Creation in Wakefield (a $49 value).

Waves of Creation's squad of more than 50 artists sell their one-of-a-kind wares and teach aspiring craftspeople to embrace their own creativity in a variety of arts-and-crafts classes. Wax wizard Laura Winward leads three- to four-hour candle-making courses, which shed light on safety measures, how to choose the appropriate container, and how to infuse dyes and fragrances into each piece. Through hands-on instruction, around 10 participants construct six paraffin wick-pods in their choice of colors and aromas. Afterward, guests take home four votive candles, a jar/container candle, a novelty candle, written notes, and a nest of fire eggs to hatch into flames at a later date. Students should prepare to get messy, so it's recommended that they wear paint-splattered sweat suits instead of freshly polished suits of rhinestone chainmail.