Chrystal light tubes are the best! I've fashioned a few things from those myself!
Let's talk luminaries;I think the easiest way I've come up with is using a string of lights (you have your pick of bulb color and if they blink or stay constant).
A sting of small lights is a must have for luminaries because you can use the same string for every holiday and/or season and just change the plastic decorations that slip over the lights.

I have also made use of those light bright pegs too! If you have any lodged in your floorboards from the 80s or find them at a garage sale or what not. Using a hole puncher or a sewing needle you should be able to get through the lightweight plastic of the chrystal light tubes. You don't have to make a huge hole, just a point of weakness by which you can shove the light bright peg in. The colors of the pegs will catch the light quite nicely. I have a picture somewhere of ones I made for a 4th of July cookout that I gifted to a friend, I'll try to dig that up...I made a simple star on each of them alternating red, then white, then blue pegs in each tube using the light bright pegs and the method I mentioned.