To go alongside our DIY ghost decoration and fabric pumpkins, I spent one cold and dreary weekend making some DIY apothecary jars ready for Halloween.
I even made some apothecary labels, which you can grab as a free printable at the end of the tutorial.
But first, a quick note on where my inspiration came from.
My husband and I had been saving glass jars and bottles for a while but without a plan of what we’d do with them.
And then inspiration struck! Here’s how I made some easy DIY apothecary jars out of empty spice jars and a tub of hot chocolate.
DIY Halloween Apothecary Jars
What you’ll need:
- Empty jars and containers you want to upcycle
- My free printable apothecary Halloween labels (you’ll find these at the end of the tutorial)
- Sheets of sticky labels
- Glue
- Scissors
- Teabags and water (optional)
- Interesting things to fill your jars with (optional)
- Trinkets and decorations for your jars (optional)
Instructions
Step 1: Prepare your jars and bottles.
You’ll want to thoroughly clean all your jars and bottles.
Top Tip: Soak them in warm soapy water to remove any old food labels already on them.
Step 2: Prepare your labels.
Print your Halloween labels onto ordinary white printer paper.
Top Tip: Soak a tea bag in a bowl of warm water and drag the teabag across your labels to make them look old and weathered. The longer you hold the bag on top of the labels, the older they’ll look.
Once your sheets of labels are dry, cut them out using the dotted lines I’ve provided for you.
Next, using a glue stick, attach your Halloween labels to sticker sheets and cut them out again.
Step 3: Make and decorate your apothecary jars!
You should now have various labels that you can stick straight onto your jars and bottles.
Smooth the labels out slowly and carefully to avoid air bubbles.
Now it’s time to fill and decorate your jars! You’ll find some suggestions later on for how to fill and decorate them.
Top Tip: If you’d rather have temporary Halloween apothecary jars then you don’t have to use sticky labels. You could tape some string or ribbon to the back of your printed labels and loop them around a jar or bottle. Just like I did with this “Eye of Witch” pot:
What to fill your DIY apothecary jars with
As this is a fun Halloween craft, you can use whatever inspires your imagination.
But just in case you’re short on ideas, here’s what I’ve come up with:
- Water dyed with red food colouring or red ink for dragon’s blood
- Water sprinkled with silver glitter for unicorn tears
- Pearlescent beads for unicorn tears
- Blue and silver glitter mixed together for magic pixie, fairy or wishing dust
- Coke or Pepsi for witches brew
- Water dyed with green food colouring for beetle juice
- Water sprinkled with blue glitter for mermaid tears
- Milk or water mixed with milk for snake venom
- Garlic granules for bone powder
- Green Skittles or Smarties for eye of witch
- Novelty eye embellishments or googly eyes for spider eyes and eye of witch
- Water dyed with black food colouring for essence of spider
- Black liquorice sweets for spider legs
- Bat wings cut from black cardstock for wing of bat
- Pink jelly sweets for spleen of bat
Of course, you could also keep your apothecary jars empty if you prefer!
How to decorate your poison bottles and apothecary jars
There are lots of ways you can decorate your jars, as once again, your imagination could lead you anywhere.
But here are some ideas to help you get started:
- Tie fabric around your jar lids with elastic bands to disguise any out-of-place plastic lids
- Paint the existing jar lids with black, gold or purple paint
- Tie gold ribbon around the tops of the bottles for some added glitz
- Remove the lids completely and stretch some cling film/saran wrap across the top, which acts like an invisible lid
Free Apothecary Jar Labels
Want to make these upcycled apothecary jars yourself? Grab my free printable Halloween apothecary jar labels now! >>
If you enjoyed making these apothecary jars, then you might also enjoy this easy ghost decoration tutorial or these DIY fabric pumpkins.
I hope you have fun making these easy DIY apothecary jars and poison bottles! If you make something inspired by this blog post, then I’d love to see it, so be sure to tag me on Instagram @houseofmahalo!
Did you like this tutorial? Pin it now, make these DIY poison bottles later!
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