I love upcycle crafts where it’s hard to tell what the original item was. In my opinion, this one qualifies for that quite well. These DIY candle holders are made from plastic soda bottles. Typical taper candles fit snugly into the tops. Like our Soda Bottle Creative Gift Wrap Ideas you can also decorate these for any occasion or holiday. We’ve given you four different ideas to get your creative juices flowing!
IMPORTANT: These are meant as decor items only. DO NOT light candles in these plastic holders.
DIY Candle Holders Supplies
SUPPLIES
- Soda bottles with normal size openings. (These fit most taper candles.) We used 2 liter and 1 liter bottles for the holders.
- X-acto type knife.
For Black Candle Holder
- Black paint.
- Silver paint.
- Hot glue.
- Silver ribbon.
For Gold Candle Holder
- Ribbon or beads.
- Gold spray paint.
- Gold or brown ribbon.
- Hot glue.
For White Candle Holder
- White ribbon.
- White spray paint.
- String pearls
- Hot glue
Red Christmas Candle Holder
- Red spray paint
- Gold ribbon.
- Plastic holiday decor plants.
- Wood star.
- Bell
- Hot glue.
Visual Instructions
Measure where you want to cut your bottles below the opening. You can make them any size you wish but use our images as a general guideline. Cut around the bottle carefully and as straight as possible. If you find they do not sit evenly, trim with scissors.
Spray paint your bottle tops with two or three coats, allowing to dry well in-between.
White DIY Candle Holder
I borrowed a few inches of pearls off these inexpensive holiday strands we had purchased to decorate our Christmas tree. (They’ll never be missed!) Glue them on with hot glue.
Cut and glue on ribbon to cover the threads of the bottle opening. (This is the part that makes it not look like a soda bottle. )
Lovely! 
Red Christmas DIY Candle Holder
Glue on ribbon around the opening threads.
Glue on decorations. I snipped some things off of some Christmas foliage and glued them onto a wood star that I painted gold. 
I then glued a bell in the center. Done!
Black Textured DIY Candle Holder
The design on this candle holder uses the same method I used for one of my dragon eggs. Using hot glue make some designs on the plastic. Don’t worry about the stringy things or being perfect. (If you need more details click the dragon egg link.)
Paint over the bottle with black paint or spray paint.
Dab a little silver paint onto a tissue and blot it lightly all over the holder.
Add your ribbon to cover threads.
This one is done in gold using plastic beads.
Never would thought of such creative ideas thank you so very much.
Despite your warning, someone is bound to light the candles and have an accident. Can the candle be pushed down through so it would touch the table top and be more stable?
I had another idea too: Reverse the bottle top to form a cup, push the candle through far enough to grasp, and voila, you have a wax catcher. Now you can attend a candle-light vigil, or go caroling by candlelight. 🙂
Excellent ideas Kimberly.
It would be cute also, to make it a little more stable, to glue it to a saucer and paint the whole thing, saucer and all. Too cute. Something to try.
I love this idea! I’ll be featuring your project this Friday on the first “Best of the Weekend” party for 2016.
Thank you so much Paula. I appreciate that!
They all look wonderful, I can’t even pick a favorite! What a great idea!
If you have time, I would love for you to share this post over at the Holidays Celebration link party that is live right now! (http://keepingitrreal.blogspot.com.es/2015/12/holidays-celebration-link-party-6.html)
These are awesome. I pinned. tweeted….. I love the red one. Probably because red is my favorite color. Thanks for sharing. Best wishes, Darlene
Thank you Darlene. Appreciate that! Happy Holidays!
Wow! How creative, and a great recycle! I love projects like these, and there all embellished so pretty. I going to have to remember how you used hot glue to make a design on the bottle. Pinning!
Thanks Linda! Ü
The black textured is by far (in my HUMBLE opinion) 🙂 the best looking. It comes off as metal/antique, and reminds me of the armor that knights who jousted wore. An idea to add to the whole idea is this…
If you painted the INSIDE of the bottle, it would come off as a GLASS finish would it not? It would give an entirely different look either way. Also, the bottle tops could be weighted several ways from the underside, and that would bolster a worry free case for burning the candles should you think they would not be stable enuf and have the tendency to tip over and cause a fire.
Thanks Kevin! I had originally done the black and gold one. I just updated the post for the holidays. those are great tips. I’ll have to try that out and see how it looks as I do a LOT of soda bottle upcycle crafts. That effect on the black one is one I’ve used on a variety of things including this dragon egg: http://bit.ly/1uJCQu2 and these boxes I’ll be promoting in a few weeks: http://bit.ly/DIYcelticbox It does indeed make me think of that style. Its an easy finish I learned how to do so I use it a lot. Ü So appreciate you stopping by and commenting!