The Budget-Friendly DIY That Turns An Empty Glass Jar Into A Ghost Light

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Ghosts are a spooky part of Halloween decor. And while many an All Hallows' Eve spirit tends to haunt the front lawn, that's not the only way to introduce some cheap and easy Halloween decorations into your home. If you're open to a visit from Casper and friends, you'll find that some of the best spirits will sneak into your Halloween celebrations this year via candles, a glass jar or two, and the medicine cabinet. You'll glue all of these disparate elements together until you have a ghost light to put in the window or on your front steps to light the way. 

These Halloween party spooks need something to hang their sheets on, and for that, you're going to tap some inexpensive glass jars. If you already have a stash, use those. If not, you can buy glass jars at a reasonable price from Dollar Tree, which carries small glass jars with stainless steel lids, as well as medium- and large-sized canning jars in its wares. You'll need a couple of jars for this project. If you're making jars to light your front steps on Halloween night, you'll need at least one jar for each step, though two jars are better. This gives you one jar for each side of the step for better light coverage. 

This ghost light project also calls for some craft glue, white medical gauze, and a pair of scissors. A few small votive candles give your ghost a glow from within. Finally, since no one wants an expressionless ghost, pick up some googly craft eyes to give your spirit a face.

If you use pre-owned jars for this project, run them through the dishwasher to rid them of any dirt or to loosen their labels. Allow the jars to dry before moving on. Then, wrap the jars with gauze, such as AZEN Medical Gauze Rolls Bandages (or whatever kind you have in the medicine cabinet). You want to ensure that you have enough gauze to cover the whole jar a couple of times. That being the case, wrap some gauze around the jar without cutting it off the roll to measure it first.

Once you have that, then you can cut the gauze off the roll. Glue the gauze onto the jar by applying a long strip of glue vertically down one side of the jar. Stick one end of the gauze onto the glue and then wrap the piece of gauze around the jar. To make the texture of the ghost more interesting, don't wrap the jar uniformly. Rather, make the bandages look like the wrap on a mummy. When the jar is completely wrapped with the gauze, glue down the end of the bandage.

Next, you'll give your porch spirit its face. Black Wiggle Googly Eyes with Self-Adhesive Backs outfit your ghost with eyes that move, although you could also draw and cut out the kind of expressive eyes that you might associate with a bit of fright. Both are fun options. Finally, put a white votive candle in the jar to transform your fall porch decor. 

Why settle for one ghost light when you could have a whole family and a few friends to go along with Casper? To make this display more visually interesting, you'll want to use jars of different sizes. Big, Rounded Glass Jars from Dollar Tree, little squat jars, and even tall and skinny jars. If you like the look of the latter and go that route, try covering an 8-inch or 10-inch White Glass Candle Jar from the Dollar Tree. This Halloween hack saves you a step because the jar and candle are a single, all-in-one deal. Just cover the jar candle with the gauze and the ghost's googly gaze, and you're ready to go.

Once all of your ghost jars have been created, arrange them into a display on your porch or your party table. Place them on a bed of webbing, such as this ZPISF Halloween Spider Webbing, to give your outdoor decor an unexpected boost. And if you'd like to extend the theme even more, cover a large gallon jar with the ghost gauze and fill it with candy. This would-be candy dispenser stops the neighbor kids from howling with disappointment when they come to the door. Your group of ghosties may give them a fright, but that frown will turn upside down when they see that the ghost jars make for spirited fun come spooky night.