These monster glow stick lanterns are a fun and easy Halloween craft for kids, made with recycled bottles, googly eyes, and colourful glow sticks! Decorate each bottle with a silly monster face, then add the glow sticks inside to make your monster light up.
Kids will love creating their own goofy or spooky monster designs with different eyes, mouths, and expressions. These glowing Halloween lanterns are simple to put together and look especially fun once the lights go down. Make a whole group of monsters for a Halloween party, classroom activity, or an easy craft to enjoy at home!
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DIY Monster Glow Stick Lanterns
Materials:
- Sparkling ICE bottle (empty and clean)
- Googly eyes
- Large googly eyes
- Glue tape
- Cardstock (black, white)
- Bracelet glow sticks
Equipment:
See the craft in action:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Add googly eyes to the bottle
- Clean out a clear bottle and remove the label.
- Gather googly eyes in a number of different sizes.
- Attach them to the side of the bottle in whatever design you’d like.
Step 3: Make a monster mouth
- Cut a mouth from black paper or cardstock.
- Then cut tall triangles from white paper for the monster’s teeth.
- Use glue tape to attach the teeth to the mouth.
- Then glue the mouth onto the bottle below the eyes.
Step 4: Add glowsticks!
- Break a few bracelet glow sticks so they start to glow.
- Then place them in the bottle and close the lid.
- Your monster glow stick lantern is complete!
- Now turn out the lights and watch your monster lanterns glow!
Helpful Tips:
- Clean off any sticky residue: If the bottle label leaves glue behind, use a little rubbing alcohol or warm, soapy water to remove it before decorating.
- Mix up the googly eyes: Use different numbers and sizes of googly eyes on each lantern to give every monster its own silly personality.
What type of bottle should I use to make monster glow stick lanterns?
We used Sparkling ICE drink bottles, but any smooth-sided clear bottle will work well. You can really use almost any recycled plastic bottle you have handy — the monsters aren’t picky about their shape!
Just make sure the bottle is clean and dry before you start decorating.
What can I use to decorate the monster glow stick lanterns?
We decorated our monster lanterns with googly eyes in different sizes and cut mouths and teeth from black and white cardstock. But there are so many ways to customize them!
You can also:
- Draw faces with paint markers.
- Use felt or craft foam for the mouth, teeth, or other details.
- Try monster-style or colourful googly eyes.
- Add pipe cleaners for crazy hair, horns, or antennae.
- Glue on pom poms for hair or other accessories.
- Mod Podge tissue paper onto the bottle to add colour while still allowing the glow sticks to shine through.
What glow sticks work best for these monster lanterns?
We found that bracelet glow sticks worked best with our bottles. They’re narrow enough to fit easily through the opening and were a good height for the bottles we used.
The best glow sticks will depend on the size and shape of your bottle. Before you start, make sure they’ll fit through the bottle opening and aren’t too long for the bottle.
What’s the best adhesive for attaching the decorations?
Glue tape works really well for attaching googly eyes and cardstock. The pieces can be pulled off fairly easily afterward, which is helpful if you only want the lanterns temporarily. You can reuse the googly eyes and recycle the bottle when Halloween is over.
For a more permanent monster, use hot glue or tacky glue instead. Lay the bottle on its side while the glue dries so the decorations don’t slide out of place.
These monster glow stick lanterns are such a fun way to add a little extra glow to Halloween! Each monster can look completely different, so kids can get creative with silly faces, crazy hair, extra eyes, and spooky details.
Bring the glowing bottles along while trick-or-treating, line them up on a Halloween candy table, or use them as easy party decorations once the lights go down. They’re simple, inexpensive, and a great way to turn recycled bottles into something fun for Halloween night.
Here’s even more monster craft ideas:
Now available
Low-Mess Crafts for Kids Book
72 cute and fun crafts that kids and parents alike can enjoy. All with as little mess as possible!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon Canada
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