Maybe your kids are like mine and they want a nightlight in their room. Maybe your kids are also like mine and the standard $2 nightlight from Walmart just doesn’t cut it. When that happens you need to get your creative juices flowing and make a nightlight that is not only cute, but is also functional and inexpensive.
These nightlights are a super easy to make and only takes about an hour or two. Here are the things that you will need:
- Drill
- Christmas twinkle lights
- Super glue
- Hot glue
- Wine Bottle
- Glass Gems (You can get these at the Dollar Store for…a dollar!)
The wine bottle is probably the most expensive part of this whole project, but that is one of those expenses that you might not mind spending the money on.
One of the trickiest parts of this project will be putting the hole for the lights into the bottle. Be sure to wear safety goggles during this step just in case the bottle would break. Wrap half of the bottle in a towel (you don’t want to get glass on you in case it would break!) and take a small circular piece of plumbers putty and adhere it in a donut shape to where you want to drill the hole. Put a few drops of water in the donut and then use a 1/2″ drill bit, applying gentle pressure, until you drill the hole in the bottle.
After you have the hole drilled you want to start gently threading the strand of Christmas lights through the hole. You can use either stands of 50 or 100 lights. I used 100 because that was all we had, but 50 takes less time and is easier. It all depends on how many lights you want inside the bottle.
Be prepared because pushing the lights into the bottle will take some time and can cause some finger cramping!
Once you have all of the lights in the bottle you can begin to adhere the glass gems to the bottle. I started out using just super glue, but the problem I quickly encountered was that because of the long cure time, the gems started to slide and fall off the bottle. What I ended up doing was putting a drop of both super glue and hot glue onto each gem. The hot glue would hold the gem on until the super glue cured. You can just just hot glue, but you run the risk of them eventually falling off.
I used only light blue and clear gems, but you can use whatever color combination you choose. If I could do this over again, I would have used a clear wine bottle instead of a green one, but green was the only one I had on hand at the time.
Stack the gems all the way up the neck of the bottle, but don’t cover the mouth of the bottle. The lights will get warm inside the bottle and you don’t want it to shatter the bottle.
Once you have adhered all of the gems, all you need to do is to plug in the bottle and enjoy a glittery nightlight! You can also use this as a decorative lamp.
What a beautiful bottle! Thanks for the step-by-step picture instructions they make it seem easier to do. The only thing I would be worried about is the lights overheating – is keeping the opening at the mouth of the bottle enough to make it safe?
My son uses one of these in his room and we haven’t had a problem. You could always use the 50 strand to keep the heat down. Also, make sure the lights you use have the UL (Underwriters Laboratory) which means that it has been tested and if it overheats it should just shut off. Another thing, we only keep it on at night and then turn it off during the day.
Thanks Rachel, that’s a very reassuring reply! I’ll have to give it a go.
that is such a cute idea. thanks so much for sharing
This is awesome! I could see a variation on this as a great Christmas craft as well.
This is such a cute idea for a nightlight or Christmas decoration! I haven’t had much experience with hot glue, so I am wondering if it is visible under the gems after they dry?
No it becomes pretty much transparent under the stones.
If you use LED lights instead of the old style incandescent lights then they will not get warm. The only thing with LED’s is depending on where you are from, most are not able to pull out and be replaced. LED’s are also much brighter but if you are going to use clear lights, LED’s generally come in a warm white which has the yellowish colour to is (closest to the incandescent, which is what this person used) or a pure/cool white which generally has a bluish undertone to it. LED’s DO NOT get warm and you can also get them in plug in form or battery operated. Blue LED’s are amazing looking if you are wanting a blue theme.
Ummm…LED absolutely DO get warm. That is why LED lightbulbs have heat sinks at the base.
We’re looking around for a “girls’ night out” craft project that won’t take more than a couple of hours. I love this idea!
I am going to make a few of these lights. I have read that a grommet should be placed at the opening cut for the lights. This will decrease the chance of the rough glass cutting the electrical cord and exposing hot wires.
I just finished this project as a Christmas present for my sister and it looks beautiful, even though I did not add the gems to the outside of the bottle. However, a couple caveats: the 1/2 hole that I drilled into the bottle was not large enough to accommodate the Xmas lights I used, because it had plugs at both ends that wouldn’t fit through it.
Adding drops of water while drilling the hole is essential, but the wet plumbers putty becomes very slippery. I ended up breaking a bigger hole into the wine bottle than I intended BUT that made it possible to accommodate the large plugs on the Xmas lights! So it worked out.
I would just urge caution because the resulting edges are very sharp. I ended buying a metal file at the hardware store to file down the sharp edges of the hole, both to protect fingers and to keep the edges from fraying the wires. I also bought a baby bottle brush so I could clean out the wet putty that ended up on the inside of the bottle.
Otherwise a fun project!
What a great idea.. I’ll have to give it a try. I’ll let Hubby do the drilling though 🙂
i LOVE this idea!!!!