Upcycling Glass Containers – My Favorite 5 Food/Product Containers to Upcycle for Decor & Gift Ideas!

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Upcycling Glass Containers – My Favorite 5 Food/Product Containers to Upcycle for Decor & Gift Ideas!

These are 6 of my favorite ways to get glass jars that I can use to organize items, make gifts in, or use as decor in my home for FREE! I say for free because I am already buying them for the products in the store, so when I have used the product up they generally would go into the recycling bin. Rather than putting them in the recycling bin, I wash them out and store them away for when I need them. Now instead of trash, I am upcycling them into something beautiful and/or useful, which I consider better than FREE!

I have learned over the years that not all glass items are created equal. There have been many that have labels that are so hard to get off that it is not worth it in my opinion. All of the ideas listed below are ones that I have tried and personally found them easy to clean and get ready to upcycle into something new. None of these should take you 3 days to soak, or require any hard scrubbing or multiple cleaning products.

What to look for in glass containers for reuse:

• I tend to prefer items with easy-to-remove labels, or labels I can live with, and simple to clean, so that is one of my first considerations.
• Pay attention to size and shape. Is there enough room to add products to it, and to get them out?
• Is there a lid for it? This will make it more useful for different purposes if the answer is yes.
• Look for items with clear glass and colored glass to give you an assortment of options.

If you have gone to buy bottles for decor, or storage, you know how much you will be saving by being able to upcycle these items that would just end up in a recycling bin anyway. Not only is it a great way to save money, but it is fun, and custom/personalized to your home or to the person you are gifting an item to. Here are some of my favorite products to buy for consumption, then save the jars to repurpose afterward.

We also share many more upcycling projects if you are looking for more inspiration:

• How to Make Glass Flowers for Your Garden out of upcycled plates and bowls!
• How to turn an old shoe into a planter
• Lots of ideas on ways to upcycle thrift store finds into beautiful planters!
• Bar Table made from an old wine barrel
• 12 Unique Garden Ideas from “Junk”

Use these drink bottles for bath salts or flower decor!

Ok, this one will only be free if you like 21+ drinks, but if you do, this is one of my favorites as the jar is so nice and it is easy to get the label off. The glass is thick, the cork is a great topper, and the label is easily removed without a bunch of residue to clean up. You can decorate it with some ribbon (I like to use twine for an organic look) at the top or put a label on it, but it is beautiful on its own too. I recently gifted one of these with bath salts in it, and the first thing they said when opening it was “I love this bottle”

To turn these into bath salts containers, I  take off the label, wash it out, thoroughly dry it thoroughly (this step is important so the salts don’t clump when you put them in), and boom – you have this beautiful jar that is perfect for bath salts.

I grabbed a bag of Lavender bath salts for $1.49 at my local Fred Meyer, and since I drank the drink that came in it, this bottle was free for me – making this gift just $1.49. That is a big bang for your buck. Plus the salts smell so nice, that it really makes a beautiful gift for someone.

You can also often find bath salts on sale with coupons on Amazon here.

Usage Ideas:

• Use them to gift bath salts
• Or store your own Epsom salts to make your bathroom beautiful
• I also love to use them to display simple florals, like real or faux eucalyptus or dried lavender stocks. A small bouquet of peonies or wild flowers would be beautiful in it too.

Bath & Body Works Three Wick Candle Jars

I love to reuse these ones because they have lids that come with them too – making them especially useful. You can of course use any candle jar, but some can be tougher than others to get the label off of. These ones are nice because they do not generally come with labels on them, To clean then I take a butter knife and remove the wick that is left (be sure to get the metal part at the bottom of it – because you will be putting it in the microwave and that cannot go in there). Once you have the metal piece and attached wick removed, put it in the microwave (I generally start at 30 seconds and go up from there) to melt the remaining wax. I usually use paper towels to get that wax out (be careful not to burn yourself as it can be very hot when you first remove it so you may want to let it cool for a bit first). Then I will use a little dish soap to wash and dry it, and it is all ready to use.

Since these usually have lids you can use it for so many different things. Here are some of my favorite ways to reuse them.

• Bathroom Storage Containers – Cotton Tips/Cotton Pad Storage (or hair ties, bobby pins, and a number of small items you might keep in your bathroom.
• Making Candles In – I love to make my own candles,

More Usage Ideas:

• Use to store Q-tips or cotton balls in your bathroom.
• Make a bathroom set gift trio for someone else by cleaning them out, adding Q-tips to one, Cotton Balls to another, and Cotton Pads to a third, and put on a tray to gift them.
• Repurpose and make your own candles in them.
• Use as a candy jar to gift someone wrapped candies or put out on your coffee table.

 

I have used them for real flower arrangements, as well as fake ones, and loved it for both!

Milk Bottles

I love to buy these Mik bottles (I find them at my local QFC) in both white milk and chocolate milk options, They offer the quart size or the gallon, and I use both! You are able to take these back to the store for a recycling reimbursement fee, but I find it to be a much better cost savings for me to keep them and use them as vases

We show you how to make a Milk Carrier from Dollar Store Items here, to use to gift beautiful bouquets of flowers in these if you want to turn them into a unique gift!

Tips For Cleaning: These are very simple to clean because I do not remove the logo on them, as I think they add to the farmhouse charm of these milk jugs. Take off the lid (you can toss that) and rinse thoroughly with dish soap and water). You can even throw them in the dishwasher if you want. Let them air dry thoroughly, and they are ready to go.

I have used real flowers in the top photo (with the larger size) and faux flowers here.  The other thing I really like about these is that they come in two sizes, so you can have options in terms of what it will hold. The opening is the same size for both, but the larger one will hold more weight as it is more substantial.

Usage Ideas:

• Use it to gift flowers
• Use to display flowers in your own home
• Make one of these Milk Jar Holders and add them in with flowers for a beautiful gift.

Oui Yogurt Containers

If you like yogurt, then these Oui jars are a no-brainer. In fact they are so popular to reuse that you can even find lids for them online! I use them for lots of things around my house. I store some of my wood beads in them in my craft room, and they are also the perfect size to hold votive candles.

I also love to use them as succulent containers. I buy the fake mini succulents (since there is no drainage in these) and love them. The one I have in here is from a 3 pack I grabbed at Ikea for around $5 for three of them and they fit perfectly!

As far as the lids go, you can find fun options with designs on them, snap-on lids, plain wood lids, and lots more options here.

Usage Ideas:

• Perfect size to hold a votive candle.
• Buy the lids and use them to store all kinds of office supplies, like paper clips, tacks, beads, and more.
• Make a mini spa gift for a friend by adding a votive to one, and bath salts to another with a lid. Put the set in one of these mini crates for a sweet gift (you can usually find these at the dollar stores too).
• Succulent holders

Parmesan Cheese Shaker Lids + Mason Jars

Ok, this one is fun if you buy the parmesan cheese in the shaker containers. My kids love Alfredo sauce, so I always have this stuff on hand and I recently learned that the lids on these are the perfect size to reuse on a mason jar. This is so much fun, as you can use it to turn mason jars into drinks (and really cool if you are looking for lids that are big enough to fit boba straws if your kids love boba)!

I generally have mason jars around the house, and you can turn a plain old mason jar into a drinking glass with these, as they are the perfect size for standard mason jars. Of course, you could also use it to store foods that need to be shaken out, but try it as a lid to turn them into drinking cups and see what your kids think. Depending on the age of my kids they either thought it was really cool or kind of “cringe” – ha!

Tips For Cleaning: Simple rinse out the parmesan shaker lid with soapy water and dry. You can recycle the container the cheese came in, as you will just use the lid. For mason jars run through the dishwasher or wash by hand and dry.

Two Bonus Ideas to upcycle other items you might have around the house:

Tea Cups into Tea Light Holders

Tea Cups are the perfect size to hold tea light candles. Buy the real ones, or even better grab the battery-lit ones to add a beautiful ambiance to the table setting in the evenings.

Turn Egg Baskets or other Wire Baskets into Hanging Flower Planters

Just run up to your local Dollar Tree to grab these basket liners and boom – you can make your own hanging planters (add dirt and flowers) from whatever metal basket you have around that you were planning to get rid of. The Dollar Tree generally sells hanging chains too, so if you have a wire basket with out a handle to hang it from, grab one of those and you can easily convert it into a hanging basket.

Hanging baskets with flowers can get pricey, so this can be a very budget-friendly idea too, especially if you grab affordable flowers like pansies.