When my son first started eating baby food at 4 months, I felt extremely guilty throwing away the little, glass jars the baby food was packaged in. I also couldn’t recycle these jars, because our city doesn’t recycle glass yet. So, being the hoarder that I am, I decided to start a collection of glass jars underneath my kitchen sink. I knew I’d be able to find a way to repurpose these jars eventually. Slowly, 12 jars turned into 48 jars and eventually into 168 jars. With all these jars, I wanted to find a way that I could utilize all of them. After a quick search on Pinterest, I was inspired to create Christmas ornaments. It’s a great way to remember your child’s infant years and all those hours spent doing choo choo train noises. Not to mention, these jars create a really rustic chic look and make for a beautiful Christmas tree. So, if you find yourself with a stockpile of glass jars like me, here’s how to turn them into beautiful ornaments.
1. Remove the Labels
First off, the most obvious thing should be to remove the labels of the jars. You can also get rid of the lids while you’re at it, as they will not be needed. The labels will leave behind a sticky residue, so consider using nail polish remover or an adhesive remover to get rid of the stickiness. Nail polish remover will get the job done, but at a much slower rate than an adhesive remover, so consider spending the extra dollar on one. But even with a good adhesive remover, this will be the most tedious part of the project. You’ll find yourself rethinking the whole endeavor midway through it when you find yourself covered in sticky labels. Your nails will probably hurt by the time you are done with this first part, because you’ll need them to help scratch off the residue. So if you just got that new set of nails, I recommend postponing this project until you have nails you don’t mind breaking.
2. Wrap the Top of the Jar In Twine
For that rustic chic look, wrap some twine around the top of the jar. You can secure the twine with a hot glue gun. You’ll need to cut two pieces of twine. One will be to wrap around the top of the jar and the second piece will be to create a loop at the top. These loops will be how your ornaments hang on the tree. Try not to make the loops too long, as the ornaments will hang awkwardly low and interfere with the branches beneath them. Four inches of twine should do the trick for these loops.
3. Fill the Jars
This is the fun part. Go out to a local dollar store and look for flowers, acorns, or candles to fill the jars. I also added some potpourri to the acorns to give the house a nice smell. The best part is, you can transform these ornaments from year to year by replacing the contents of the jars to match your theme. If your Christmas tree doesn’t already have lights, consider buying remote operated tea lights to go inside some of the jars. Since they are remote operated, you won’t have to worry about manually turning on each candle. This is great way to light your tree while repurposing these jars.
4. Decorate the Tree
At last, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. You finally get to see all that hard work pay off. You can now bust out the Mariah Carey Christmas playlist and that bottle of wine, I mean hot chocolate. Now you get to see everything come together. Spread out the jars all throughout your tree and consider embellishing the tree with some burlap ribbon. Don’t forget to top your tree with a star or ribbon to add that finishing touch.
5. Take Down the Tree and Store the Ornaments
Sorry to ruin all the fun, but at some point, you’re going to have to take down the tree. When you do, make sure you store your ornaments in a cool place. And when I say cool, I mean temperature wise. Don’t start hanging your ornaments from the ceiling, although that might be pretty neat. Anyway, you’ll want to make sure your ornaments are stored somewhere cool so that the hot glue doesn’t melt off the glass. After all those hours of hot gluing and 2nd degree burns, you would surely have a good cry. This will also prevent the candles from melting, too. I recommend browsing Amazon for an ornament storage container to store your ornaments seamlessly. I was able to find one that holds 100+ ornaments that will hold these jars perfectly.
I know, by the end of this post, you’re probably thinking this is way too much work. You’re just an average mom struggling to make a dinner your children will actually eat. For 112 jars, I spent about 6 hours making these. But even if it’s just four jars you save and transform into ornaments, these will serve as special keepsakes for years to come. When your child is older, they will be happy you saved them and made them into something special. So go out there and start working. You’ll be glad you did when you see the finished product. Not to mention, you’ll be the envy of all your mom friends.
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