How To Make Glass Bottle Candlesticks With Paper Candles

I’m sharing this recycled glass bottle craft again, as it is truly wonderful! Here is what I wrote two year ago, though seems like so much longer: It is true, I made these recycled liquor bottle candlesticks for a Chanukah party that was held last night, but truthfully they are so universal they can be used for any festive occasion and any time that you want the look of candles without the safety concerns! And of course you could go for paper candles that are metallic silver or gold and maybe make the flame a bit less crafty looking and then even use them for a fancy-ish party outdoors where real candles wouldn’t work, or for a feast in the forest where flames would be dangerous?

And friends, whether or not you partake in liquor of any kind, there are certainly many ways to get your hands on some amazing bottles to recycle! These happen to be bottles from my son’s wedding two weeks ago, and the 12 year old brother of the bride collected all the bottles for me having seen a previous craft project…..so sweet of him and glad I didn’t listen to the husband who said we didn’t have room in the trunk!

Now these candlestick bottles will make great decorations as well as centerpieces for our long shabbat table next week, I’m actually really excited to put “candles” on the table that I can then move when we clean up, on shabbat we don’t light fire or touch it, so while I could make a long centerpiece with real lit candles it would be quite impractical and dangerous as the guests pass all those Moroccan salads around!

Okay, sold? Lets make some great looking recycled glass bottle candlesticks…….

You’ll Need:

• recycled glass bottles, liquor bottles of any kind are the best, though of course wine bottles can work as well
• DIY paper candles, tutorial here
• round gold stickers
• kosher salt to cover bottom of bottle or more if needed to give bottle a bit of a boost color wise when sitting on a table that might also be a color……
• How to clean and remove labels from liquor bottles tutorial coming up soon

How To:

1. Collect a bunch of liquor bottles in every shape you can find, there are some great ones!
2. Remove labels, plastic spouts, metal collars (use a screwdriver) and clean bottles really well so they do not have any greasy residue. I use a bath of soap and bleach for that, and prior to that bleach/soap bath the stickers would not stick!
3. Add round gold stickers if desired, or cut out shapes from adhesive backed paper or film…..there are many ways to go.
4. You can also consider filling the bottle with colored water, with tiny string lights or even something glittery, though my go-to in this case is white kosher salt, inexpensive and looks like winter!
5. Make your DIY paper candles according to the tutorial here, and voila, amazing holiday or party decor is born!

I especially love this square bottle, truly a keeper!

These candlestick bottles would be great to have on hand anytime you need a festive touch, and while you’ll need some space to store them, it is well worth it!

PS: With a family Bar Mitzvah celebration coming up on Chanukah, I’ve decided to use this idea, and the same bottles, plus more I’ve collected, just with metallic gold and silver candles and a custom decal designed for the bar mitzvah boy on the bottle. I just tried making the gold candles yesterday and even made some with my boys craft class, so hope to share that with you soon!

I can’t wait to line a very long table with a table scape of these glass bottle candlesticks, I think it will be stunning!