things
This is what I do when it's too cloudy to look at stars.
This is a paralellogram mount for a pair of binoculars. I made most of it and mounted it on an old camera tripod. It has a counter weight and can hold any binocular that has a quarter screw for mounting. It swings 360ยบ and is great for bird watching too. When you stabilize your view, the colors are more brilliant. It's good to use for pointing things out to novices because no matter how tall or short the viewer is, all you have to do is pull the binocs up or down by the round knob.
I've also made an artificial star for collimation of the telescopes. There are articles for building them, but mine is small enough to put in a pocket and uses a 9V battery. You can also buy them commercially made, but mine is less expensive. I've sold a couple here and there. Contact me if you are interested in one.