Do you wonder what to do with those leftover glass jars and bottles? Here are 29 ways to upcycle jars and bottles you have been collecting! Easy, inexpensive, and make great gift ideas.
You can make so many DIY projects with glass containers, and by reusing you are staying away from plastic jars. Whether you’re using clear glass jars or stylish glass jars, you can put a variety of sizes to work in your home. If you don’t do home canning, you’ll find these are perfect jars for many of these DIYs. It doesn’t always matter if they are regular or wide mouth jars for many of these projects. They are the perfect size for so many items, anything from craft supplies, dry foods, to oh so much more! You can find many of these for great prices as thrift stores, recycle your own jars, or buy them in bulk. No glass packing needed, the main goal is to put this great product to work.
19 Great mason Jar and recycled jar ideas!
Upcycle your mason jars for a better way to store seasonings and spices
You can buy these black caps Ball Herb Shaker Lids for an airtight seal, or create your own by poking or drilling holes through the original lid.
I used a label maker to list what was in each jar. Or you can write on the jar with a sharpie.
Take an old Parmesan shaker lid and put it on a glass jar. This one actually contains the Parmesan, but you could use this lid and put your seasonings in it, glitter for crafts … the possibilities!
Turn a mason jar into a hand soap dispenser. You can buy the pump kit or make your own. Saving a pump out of an old soap container, poke a hole large enough for the pump to fit through on the original lid, and stick the pump in the hole.
It is really easy to use chalk paint and distress mason jars to give them a farmhouse look. You can see my full tutorial here How To Paint Mason Jars and Distress Them
Turn a glass jar into a coin jar. (Mine is holding pressed pennies, collected souvenir coins, and money from other countries I’ve visited. Buy a slotted lit or make a slot in your own lid.
Turn vintage or old jars into a memory jar. Put items from places you’ve been (sand from a beach, rocks, shells), or keepsakes you treasure in the jar.
Make recycled jar into a candle holder. You can find the full tutorial here Fall Candle with Leaves
Use glass mason jars to store things in. Re-use it in the refrigerator and put homemade creamer, leftovers, salads for lunch, etc in them.
You can find the tutorial here for my Simmering Pot To Make Your House Smell Wonderful
Upcycle jars into a gift. Cookie, cake, soup mixes, candy jars…Or make a kit – crafters, first aid, mani/Pedi… This one my neighbor made for us – super cute!
Paint mason jars and turn them into lovely fruit glasses. You can see that tutorial here How To Make Mason Jar Fruit Glasses
Turn an old jar into a fun drinking glass or use the lid and it’s a fancy container. Use E6000 to glue a candle holder to the base of a jar. Let dry and you’re done! Fancy it up a bit by adding a handle to the lid.
Glass jars make the perfect vases and water glasses.
Use mason and ball jars to hold supplies like q tips, cotton balls, etc.
Reusing glass jars is great, and you can make a photo frame out of a recycled glass jar. For this one, I put a picture inside and added leaves from the day we took the pictures in the bottom. You could put the lid on to keep dust from getting in.
Upcycle old jars into a solar light. I took the top part off a Dollar Tree solar light and fit it into the lid. You can just set them inside, I have done that as well. Fill the jar with marbles, glass rocks from the dollar tree, whatever your heart desires. For this one, I put a bunch of agate rocks I had collected in it. Aren’t upcycled jars great?!!!
You can also turn a mason jar upside down and use it as a solar light cover. I made these mason jar solar lights for my walkway.
There are several ways to upcycle mason jars and here is my post that shows 3 ways to upcycle glass jars and turn the jars into soap dispensers. DIY Hand Soap Dispenser
Create crafts with your mason jars or recycled jar. Here is my Firefly in a Jar project
Turn a glass jar into a lamp by adding a socket attached to the top of a mason jar. You can see this mason jar light project here
Give a mason jar or recycled jar a makeover and create a thankful jar.
10 Ways To Upcycle Glass Bottles
Use a glass bottle as a vase.
Clean the label off and use a glass bottle to serve water.
You can also etch an old glass bottle and serve water out of it. You can find that tutorial here
Add some food coloring too upcycle a glass jar, and some cranberries. Put a taper candle on top.
Fill an old coffee syrup glass bottle with marbles and put a taper candle on top.
Add some glass rocks, water, and a USB rechargeable light and you have a bottle lamp. You can find my bottle lamp tutorial here
Fill a glass bottle with sand, rocks, shells, etc. and add a solar light on top.
You might love my recycled bottle into a message in a bottle solar light.
Create fun seasonal decor with a glass bottle makeover. I made these glass bottles pumpkins and added solar lights to them.
You might like learning about this glass bottle cutter to make even more fun bottle projects.
Find out “What Exactly Does It Mean To Repurpose Or Upcycle“, save money, and create the most amazing things.
29 Ways To Upcycle Your Glass Jars and Bottles Video
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OMG, so many cute ideas. You have such a creative mind. 🙂 We don’t have many jars because I can a lot in the summer and I use every canning jar I have. I might have to think about buying more. 😉
Thanks Linda, and I LOVE that you can. I used to can with my mom but I never learned really how. Still need to get that done on my bucket list. I do a lot of freezing though so I can save my garden items that way 🙂
I sometimes freeze too – especially fruits. But tomatoes I want NOW, I don’t want to wait for them to defrost. We try to do a couple of bushels every summer. I make crushed, chopped and spaghetti sauce. We still use them all an usually run out just before the season starts again. I also can apples. We got an apple peeler/slicer a couple of years ago and they are so easy to can (as are tomatoes) I love having apples to top my yogurt or even waffles, pancakes or French toast. I even have a healthy muffin recipe that is made with oatmeal and I often add apples & cinnamon to them. It’s not hard at all to can. There are tons of recipes/instructions online, but I’ll walk you through it if you want to try next summer. 🙂
I think I just might have to take you up on that 🙂
Wow!!! so many inspiring ideas… I will have to try one or 2 to start… I am just a DIY Challenge … lol 🙁
Lovely to connect with you through #TrafficJamWeekend
Thank you and I’m so pleased you like the ideas and want to give a couple a try. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I think reusing things is practical and sensible. It’s using money I’ve already spent and creates less trash. I’ve used some of these ideas and appreciate the new ones.
Thank you Aletha and I’m glad I could share some new ideas with you 🙂
I love glass jars and save most of them as I avoid storing food in plastic. You have some creative ideas that I had not thought off before. I also use them to store craft supplies.
Kathleen
Blogger’s Pit Stop
Thank you Kathleen, and thanks for sharing some of your ideas here.
Chas, great ideas! I hate plastic, so I use a lot of jars for storing food in pantry, fridge and freezer.
Thank you Jean and I’m so pleased to hear you use some of these ideas too. 🙂
Thank you for providing so many neat ideas! Could you explain the solar light from Dollar Tree a little bit?
Hi Bobbi, sure thing. So for both the bottle and the jar I filled them with something (bottle was clear marbles, and the jar was rocks). I bought a regular solar light from Dollar Tree, and I pull the metal stem/base off the light. I glued the light into the wine bottle, and for the jar it fit right into the lid center. Hope this helps, if not let me know.
So many good ideas! I love re-purposing glad jars! So glad you shared your post on the Simple Homestead Blog Hop! As one of the co-hosts I will be featuring your post this week!
– Nancy ( Nancy On The Home Front )
Thank you so very much Nancy, I truly appreciate it and I’m so glad you like it and shopped by. 🙂
Chas, this has been a popular post and the Blogger’s Pit Stop will feature it on Thursday.
Well done.
Kathleen
Blogger’s Pit Stop
Thank you so much Kathleen and thank you for the feature! 🙂
These are some great ideas. Some I’ve tried, but others I haven’t…yet!
Thank you Carol, and I’m glad I could share a few new ideas with you 🙂
I just threw away a bunch of bottles but I do have a few mason jars on hand. The soap dispenser will be the first one I try. Thanks for joining us again at Celebrate Your Story, have a great weekend.
Thank you Sandra, I’m so pleased you want to give one a try. The soap dispenser is one of my favorites and I love mine. Thank you for having a place for all of us to share ideas 🙂
I can never throw nice looking jars or bottles away either. I love them for storage or as vases. You got loads of great ideas here.
Thank you Julie and I love that I’m not the only bottle and jar keeper 🙂 Sounds like you have a bunch of great uses for yours too.
I had no idea they sold slotted lids for coins! I’ve been meaning to upcycle my saved-up jars and now you’ve given me a ton of ideas! Plus they make great gifts. ????????
Thank you Zaleina and I’m so glad you like some of these ideas and are interested in giving a few a try 🙂 I love that recycled jars and bottles can make great gifts too!
Love your ideas! I hang onto so many interesting jars, my husbands asks before he throws one out now. Thanks for sharing with Party in Your PJs!
Thank you Lynda and I’m so glad you save and re-use jars too 🙂 Thank you for stopping by.
These are such great ideas! I’ve featured this post at the TFT party. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much Pam for the feature!