DIY Halloween Paper Towel Roll and Tealight Candles

Turn toilet paper rolls into spooky, realistic-looking candles with dripping wax and flickering tea lights.

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This DIY project transforms ordinary paper towel and toilet paper rolls into eerie candle decorations. By adding glass pebbles for weight, masking tape for a tea light holder, and hot glue for wax drips, you create convincing faux candles. Finish with black paint and white highlights, then optionally paint the plastic tea light to match.

Directions

Collect your supplies: paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, scissors, a glue gun, glue sticks, masking tape, plastic tea lights, glass pebbles, craft paints, and a paint brush.

Add weight to the candle base by gluing glass pebbles to the bottom of the roll. You can use masking tape to hold them in place, or let glue drip onto wax paper and peel it off to create a weighted bottom.

Create a support for the tea light on top: take a piece of masking tape sticky side up, place the tea light on it, then push the tape and tea light into the top of the roll. Repeat this three or four times until the inverted top is covered with tape.

Remove the tea light. Use a hot glue gun to make drippy wax: hold the glue gun at the top edge and squeeze, letting glue run down the sides. Repeat until you get the desired amount of drips.

Paint the candle with acrylic craft paint, such as black, and allow it to dry completely.

Add definition to the drips by lightly brushing white paint over the raised areas with a soft brush.

Optionally, paint the top of the tea light to match the candle color.