How To: Reuse old candle jars as plant pots

I don’t know about you, but plants make me happy. You know what else makes me happy? Buying candles. It seems like every time Bath & Body Works has a 2 for $22 candle sale, I feel obligated to make a purchase. In addition, the last two times I’ve gone to the mall for clothing, I’ve found nothing but candles. Since I burn candles so often, I found myself throwing away those glass containers they come in more often than I liked. And then something hit me…

Instead of wasting perfectly good glass jars, I decided to start reusing them.

Directions for this simple DIY project are as follows:

Clean the wax out of the glass container. You can pour all of it out right after your candle has its final burn or if it gets hard before you get to it, you can put the container in the freezer for an hour or so and use a flat screwdriver or a butter knife to scoop out large chunks of the wax. Once most of the wax is gone, fill the container with hot water and use a paper towel to dry it (this step will remove any additional wax).

Remove the stickers from the container. Candle labels and bar codes are pretty easy to remove by simply peeling them off. If any adhesive is left over use a cotton ball and rubbing alcohol to wipe it clean.

At this point you have perfectly clean glass containers. Now it’s time to use your green thumb.

Place soil in the container. I use an organic harvest potting soil, you can use any soil of your choice. The amount of soil you’ll use depends on what you’re planting.

Plant away. You can plant seeds or a living plant in your glass container. If you’re planting seeds, you should have filled the container a little more than half way. However, if you’re planting an existing plant it comes with soil so you’ll need to make sure your container has enough room for that. Top your newly planted seeds (or plant) with about 1/4 inch of your soil. Be sure to read the instructions on the package of the plant seeds to make sure they align with what I’m sharing. If they don’t, be sure to do what the package tells you to do.

That’s it. 

Please keep in mind that your options are endless when it comes to these containers so even if you don’t wanna plant anything, you can still recycle, reduce and reuse. I’ve seen others reuse candle jars to hold makeup brushes, office supplies, and other small objects.

If you choose to do this project, let me know by hitting me up on Instagram @WhatAlexSees or on Twitter @WhatAlexWrites.

Note: In the containers shown in my picture above, I planted succulent in the smaller candle jar and some annual flowers from my local hardware store in the larger one.