DIY pumpkin bottles

Have you ever left a carved jack-o-lantern on the front porch for too long? Ew. I won’t go there. One year we had a surprise freeze just a few weeks after Halloween and ours didn’t decay. I won’t say how long it lived in the front yard, but safe to say that many more holidays had passed. Now I prefer to decorate with pumpkins that will last for years, but that I can happily pack away when winter arrives. I made a set of pumpkin bottles for Sniffles’s seventh birthday party. Since her birthday is in October, we did a big backyard party with kids in costumes, pumpkin decorating, and a haunted house in the garage. Pardon my bragging, but people were talking about it for years. I still have those bottles and am sharing how I made them today in this DIY pumpkin bottle tutorial.

How to make pumpkin bottles

These are super easy. I made them four years ago, so I wasn’t taking many photos for my blog posts. {Weird, right?} I just used what I already had on hand, but if you are purchasing supplies, I think spray paint would’ve worked better than sponge painting because it would be more smooth and even.

Supplies

• empty bottles – I used beer, but that’s because it was what I had in the recycling bin. Any bottle will do – alcohol/soda, glass/plastic – or even a canning jar. Brown is nice because it makes a good stem color.
• orange paint + sponge paint brush
  • *or* orange spray paint
• painter’s tape

Instructions

Start by soaking the bottles in water to remove the labels if needed. Then wash and dry the bottles really well. They need to be clean so they won’t attract bugs or you know, smell like what was previously in them.

Cut your painter’s tape into triangles and mouth shapes. This is why the classic blue painter’s tape works best. I cut a section and stuck it to a table. Then, I drew the shapes I wanted with a pencil. Cut out the shapes and stick them to the outside of the bottle.

Paint over the outside of the bottle, leaving the “stem”. You could paint the stem also, using a brown or green. My bottle were already brown though, so that just worked.

Apply as many coats as are needed to cover the bottles. I used about three.

Let the bottle sit and dry until they are not sticky. This will probably be an hour or so, but check your paint container. Peel off the tape and you’re done.

Like I said, I did these many years ago. If I was going to do them over, I’d probably opt for canning jars so that I can put electric tea lights inside. For these skinny bottles, you could just drop a glow stick inside. These are fun for indoor or outdoor decor. I like to mix mine with other bottles and candles for a spooky mini-mantle.

If you have more containers to spookify, you can also make ghosts. I just drew eyes and mouths on clear bottles with a permanent markers. Of course, Hubby calls them “boos”. How could you not appreciate a pun like that?

What other containers could you upcycle to make a Halloween jack-o-lantern?