Starry Nights Candle Holder

I'm getting married. Pinterest has all kinds of things to tell me to do in preparation but most of them look exhausting. Right out of the gate, centerpieces! Making an intricate one is tempting until you realize you need like 40. I needed some centerpieces that were easy and cheap.

Enter my sister-in-law, who happened to have almost 40 mason jars on hand to donate to the cause. I decided to do SOMETHING with those (I wasn't sure what).

First, I considered vases but ended up going a different way on that (which I will soon outline in an Immortal Flowers Instructable!). After some consideration, I decided on using the jars as candle holders. Or, ahem, robot candle holders (I am getting married in a National Forest and there are no open flames allowed).

Now, I could have thrown some candles in the jars and been done with it but the jars had some chalk paint on them in parts because of how my sister-in-law used them and that needed to be covered up.

I thought long and hard and figured I would just paint them. Then I was concerned that you wouldn't see the lights because they were painted so I decided to try something else. I wandered around the craft store for a bit, thinking about putting some shapes on them and how to put those in place. I considered star stickers but was worried about getting them off the jar and about needing a billion of them. Ultimately, in a moment of inspiration, I decided to use contact paper that I would cut out with one of those decorative hole punches (I always figured no one ever used but I finally found something to do with one).

Done!

Now to see if it works (spoiler alert: IT DOES).

mason jars or other container (on hand but about 12 for $13-15, usually)

1 roll clear contact paper ($5)

star hole puncher (medium, $10)

gold spray paint ($5)

tarp or newspaper (free, laying around)

rubber gloves, optional (free, on hand...GET IT?)

electric tealights with batteries (24 for $13)

estimated cost for 24 candle holders: $63

cost to me: $33

Over the course of many stars, I learned the best way to do this was to cut strips of contact paper the width of one star and just punch a bunch down the line. I would cut a bunch of strips, punch a bunch of stars...and repeat.

Once you have a respectable pile, start putting them on the jar! Try and place on smooth portions rather than over any raised parts (the spray paint will mess those ones up). Press down firmly to ensure the paint won't get in later (don't stress, they will peel off easy enough later).

Lay down newspaper or tarp and put on a glove. Spray paint away! Careful not to spray the mouth of the jar, if paint goes in there it looks neat but you won't be able to see the candle flickering later.

Let dry.

After they dry, peel off the stars. Careful not to peel too much or else you'll get some shooting stars.