How to create DIY Halloween jar lanterns

Lots of us enjoy getting spooky come 31st October, but like many things, Halloween decorations can be expensive, especially if you have children who also require a costume and sweets for trick or treating.

Need some easy, affordable Halloween craft ideas? Discover our step-by-step guide in collaboration with Crafted by Bears to create DIY Halloween jar lanterns. This Halloween craft is great for the planet by upcycling jam jars or mason jars, and is the perfect way to bring some spooky spirit in your home, office or work space.

We dare you to read on…

What you will need

Tape Discs
Clean jam jars / mason jars
Coloured paint suitable for glass
Paint brush
Tweezers
Permanent marker
Battery-powered lights

Difficulty

Average time

15-30 mins

Cost

Print version!

Instructions

Step 1: Stick Tape Discs to your jar

First things first, you want to clean and dry your glass jars so they are free from any dirt, dust or loose material.

Then, simply peel the Tape Disc from the sheet, press to the required surface and smooth over with your finger to ensure all edges of the sticky disc are stuck down.

Repeat this process multiple times on the same glass jar in different areas - these will become your spooky windows.

Step 2: Paint your Halloween jar

Now that you've applied all of your Tape Discs, paint over them and the rest of the jar using your chosen colour of paint and allow your paint to dry.

IMPORTANT

You must ensure that your chosen paint is suitable for glass in order for the paint to dry without cracking or peeling.

Step 3: Peel away the Tape Discs

Use tweezers to peel away the Tape Discs from the glass jar. You will be left with unpainted circles around your glass jar and these are your windows.

Step 4: Dare to doodle

Use a permanent marker or any pen that is suitable for glass, and start to create spooky sketches to bring your Halloween jar lantern to life.

For our orange jar, we created mini pumpkins, for our white jar, we drew ghastly ghosts and for our green jar, we added googly eyes and drew glittery spider legs.

Step 5: Add extra decoration using Glitter Glu

Bring your sketches to life with Glitter Glu.

We used our green Glitter Glu pen for the stalk of our mini pumpkins, our pink Glitter Glu pen for the cheeks of our ghosts and our red Glitter Glu pen for our spider's legs.

Step 6: Leave to dry and add a ribbon

Leave your Glitter Glu decorations to try for about half an hour.

Once dry, we recommend securing a coloured ribbon around the top of your jar or attach other Halloween craft decorations of your choice.

Tip

If applying thick layers of Glitter Glu, the adhesive will fully bond approximately 24 hours after application.

Step 7: Create different Halloween glass jars

Create as many different DIY Halloween mason jars as you'd like - or as many mason jars you have spare to upcycle - and add them to your new collection of handmade Halloween decorations.

Step 8: Add light to your jar and display

Finally, add a string of battery-powered lights to your jars to turn them into Halloween jar lanterns.

If you don’t have lights available or the jar is quite small, you can stick in a battery-powered tea light or a match-lit tea light if the jars are placed out of reach of children.

And that's it! You've now created spooky DIY Halloween jar lanterns to bring chills to your home.

Tip

Create a handle for your Halloween jar lanterns by sticking each end of a pipe cleaner to your jar using strong, All Purpose glue or a Hot Glue Gun.