What Can You Put In A Candle Holder Besides Candles?

Before you chuck away your fancy candle holders, there are a couple of awesome ways to reuse them that will add a special element to your home decor.

Clear, glass candle holders in particular are great when it comes to creating a pretty new ornament as this allows you to fill it with goodies that can be seen. However, you can use other decorative candle holders as plant holders instead.

The best items you can put in a candle holder beside a candle are flowers, pebbles, terrariums, string lights, beads, pearls or gemstones, candy, sand and seashells, glow-in-the-dark glitter, seasonal ornaments like pumpkins and autumn leaves or you can put ear buds, cotton balls, makeup, and hair ties in these candle holders.

Gone are the days when candle sticks were the only thing that could be placed inside a candle holder.  

Once you see these ideas, you’ll definitely be searching for extra candle holders to make use of.

Below, I’ve listed the incredible things you can put in the candle holders and ideas on how to create fun ornaments with these items:

Items To Put Inside Candle Holders

Flowers

The first item you can consider putting inside a candle holder is flowers. This works great for large candle holders but you could cut them down to size to create a beautiful arrangement.

Alternatively, place small plants in these candle holders that will make a fantastic natural and authentic addition to your decor.

Pebbles

Fill a couple of candle holders with pebbles or stones.

You could keep them in their original form but if you’d like to create a modern and fancy look, try spray painting these pebbles or rocks with either gold, silver, white, black, or a color of your choice.

This will look really great placed on a shelf or a mantel.

Get these White Agate Stone Tumbled Stones from Amazon

Terrarium

Turn these candle holders into a stunning mini terrarium.

Clear glass candle holders are the perfect house for them and you can create multiple terrariums to place around your home.

There are plenty of different designs and ideas you can follow to create a gorgeous terrarium that is easy to maintain.

Beads, Pearls, Gemstones

A simple and easy option to fill a candle holder with besides a candle is to use beads, pearls, or gemstones.

Simply grab a pack of your chosen gemstones or beads and fill the entire candle holder with it.

Pearls on their own will look fancy, elegant, and pretty but gemstones will also look incredibly cool placed in these glass candle holders.

Ornaments

This idea is pretty awesome and it involves filling the candle holders with small ornaments like seasonal ornaments (pumpkins, acorns, leaves) or you can create winter-themed scenes with snow and a snowman in these candle holders.

Alternatively, put small keepsakes from special trips in these candle holders and display them on a shelf or on your nightstand.

String Lights

Create a fun and aesthetic light feature by putting string lights in these tall candle holders.

You can easily fill an entire jar with the string lights and this makes a pretty and cute accessory to display just about anywhere. Fill up a few of them and they’ll become an epic decoration for your decor.

Candy

The next items you can put in the candle holder beside candles are candy and sweets. This is a cheap, quick, and easy way to fill up multiple candle holders and they look really good as well.

It’s best if you use clear candle holders so that you can see the candy inside.

Sand and Seashells

Another awesome way to reuse a candle holder is to create this epic beach/sea-themed ornament and you can do this by filling up the bottom of the holder with sand and then placing a few seashells on top of that. For extra sparkle, throw in a few pearls or white beads.

Glow In The Dark Glitter

Here’s another smart and fun way to decorate the candle holder and that’s by putting glow-in-the-dark glitter inside.

At night, these bad boys will light right up and you’ll love the aesthetic vibe it creates. It’s a great and affordable way to add a cool accessory to your room decor.

Origami Stars

If you’d prefer to not spend anything, consider opting for this idea. Make a sufficient amount of origami stars using colored or white paper and place these stars inside the candle holder until it’s completely filled.

These stars may take some time to make on your own but it’s a really fun and satisfying process.

Here is a great tutorial from MASS Art And Crafts that demonstrates each step:

If you don’t want to use stars, you could always make origami hearts instead.

Earbuds/Cotton Balls

Here’s a useful way to use the candle holders instead and that’s putting earbuds or cotton balls inside them.

Placing these candle holders filled with these items will look especially great placed on your vanity or dressing table.

You could also grab a lid and spray paint them gold and place it over the holder for a beautiful and classy finish.

Makeup

Use tall candle holders as a storage jar for essential makeup items. It’s mostly perfect to put lipsticks in these jars as you can fit in plenty of them but you could also put eyeliners or makeup brushes in these candle holders.

Hair Ties

Lastly, you could always put hair ties in these candle holders and this is a great way to store them in one place.

Also, candle holders filled with hair ties will make a pretty decorative accessory for your room decor.

I love these ideas because you really don’t need to go out of your way to purchase decorations and you can just make do with what you have but more so, it’s an awesome feeling when you can just repurpose and reuse an ordinary item like candle holders.

Conclusion

Compiling this list of items you can put in a candle holder besides candles has been such a pleasant and joyful experience.

It was enlightening and fun to discover all the different items you can put in a candle holder and turn them into a classy and beautiful ornament.

If you’d like to pick a few easy things to put inside a candle holder that is the least effort, then I suggest placing candy, pebbles, pearls, gemstones, flowers, or string lights for a fancy and aesthetic accessory that will suit any room in your home.

Repurposing projects like this definitely get me excited every time and now I’m actually looking forward to getting a couple more empty candle holders just so that I can attempt these DIY projects.

Which of these ideas do you plan to try?

Also, before you leave, here are a couple of other great articles you’ll enjoy reading:

How To Light A Home With Candles (8 Bright Tips)

What Can I Use Instead Of A Candle Holder? (10 Best Alternatives)

Where Can I Get Cheap Room Decor Items?

See you in the next one.