3 Christmas Decorations You Can Do With Plastic Bottles

This holiday season, you do not have to burn a hole in your pocket to decorate the entire house. Sometimes making them out of recycled plastic bottles and old decor adds more personality, character, and story to the house. Spark life back to plastic bottles used for plastic injection molding with these creative DIY projects in time for Christmas!

Snowflakes

Plastic bottles can be recovered and reused by cutting off the bottom and making snowflakes out of them. With blue and white paint and silver-colored glitter, you can deliberately make the snowflakes made out of plastic bottle bottoms come to life.

Materials:

• Used or recycled plastic bottles in varied sizes
• White and blue paint
• Silver/blue glitter
• Transparent glue or adhesives
• Paintbrush
• Scissors
• Puncher
• Ribbons/nylon (any type of string you desire)
• Newspaper

Instructions:

1. Wash the plastic bottles and dry them. Once dry, take off the cap and set aside. Cut the bottom of the bottle at least an inch or two above the base. Save the upper part of the bottle.
2. Set up your newspaper to prevent the paint, glue, and glitter from spreading around which can be toxic for animals and children when ingested.
3. Take out your paint and paintbrush. Start painting the outside as well as the inside of the cutout bottom. Make sure you also paint the crevices and corners. Interchange the white and blue colors for a variety of displays.
4. Set aside the painted bottoms and wait to dry.
5. Once the paint is fully dry, take your transparent glue and apply enough amounts to the surface.
6. Immediately, pour the glitter on top. Do this step until the entire snowflake is covered.
7. Again, set aside the snowflake to dry. You can use a hair blower or dryer for quick results. Make sure the air coming out is not too hot as it can damage the plastic.
8. Once the glittered and painted snowflake dries up, take your puncher and punch a hole on top where the ribbon or the strings will go.
9. For best results, use nylon so that the snowflakes will appear like floating.
10. Start hanging!

Congratulations! You have recycled yet another plastic bottle and sparked life into it. To prevent the DIY snowflake from obtaining any damage, store it in a shoebox where it can lay flat on top of each other. This is to prevent any dents from occurring.

Christmas Bells

Remember the upper part of the plastic bottle detached to make the DIY snowflake? You can use it to make Christmas bells! Here are the materials and instructions to make the Christmas bells.

Materials:

• Used or reused plastic bottles, ideally the ones used for the previous DIY
• Small styrofoam balls
• Scissors
• Assorted Christmas-themed ribbons
• Nylon
• Other old decorative pieces like dried flowers, pine cones, fake fruits, etc.
• Gold/silver paint
• Paintbrush
• Transparent adhesives or glue
• Toothpick

Instructions:

1. If you are not using the upper part of the plastic bottle used for the snowflakes DIY, cut your recycled plastic bottles on-hand at least an inch higher than the middle section. Take off the cap and set it aside.
2. Prepare your paint and paintbrush. Start by painting the entire surface of the cutout plastic bottle. There is no need to paint the interior.
3. Paint the Styrofoam balls as well as the same color you used with the plastic bottle.
4. Set the painted plastic bottles aside to completely dry. It typically takes an hour or two, depending on the amount of paint you use to cover the entire surface.
5. Once the paint dries up, take your thickest ribbon and wrap the bottom of the plastic bottle. Seal the ends with adhesives. Let your creativity flow! Feel free to use more ribbons to wrap the bells the best way you think. 
6. If you are happy with the number of ribbons you have used to wrap the bells. Take your ornaments and add them as decor.
7. Use a toothpick to punch a hole through the center of the styrofoam ball. Make sure the center hole is wide enough for a nylon to fit the pass-through.
8. Punch a hole in the top of the bottle cap. Insert the nylon or ribbon through the hole of the bottle cap and use the same toothpick, push the nylon inside the painted Styrofoam ball. Knot the end so that the nylon remains unmoved inside the ball.
9. Place the bottle cap on top of the plastic bottle and make a loop that will be used to hang the bells.
10. Start hanging!

From the leftover parts of the plastic bottles used for the snowflakes, you can create another decoration. Make sure to use different kinds and sizes of bottles for a varied shape of Christmas bells.

Christmas Wreath

Similar to DIY snowflakes, this Christmas wreath also deals with the bottom part of recycled plastic bottles. For this DIY project, make sure to use similar sized plastic bottles to create a balanced circular shape.

Materials:

• 30 Recycled plastic bottles
• Red/green paint
• Paintbrush
• Thick string
• Scissors
• Transparent glue or adhesives
• Newspapers
• Ornaments or decorative pieces like a little Santa figure, leftover styrofoam balls from the previous project or old acorns.

Instructions:

1. Start by setting up your newspaper to contain all the dirt.
2. Cut the bottom part of the plastic bottles at least an inch from the tip of the crevice. You will need 30 plastic bottoms in all.
3. Paint the bottoms with red or green. Depending on your preferred shade of wreathe. Commonly, wreaths are green just like a Christmas tree but red remains a great option too! Set aside to dry.
4. Once the bottoms are painted, cut crosswise starting from the section where it was halved up to the crevice. Do this to all sides, so you must have six cuts all in all.
5. Like origami, fold all sides inwards to make a crown-like effect. Do this to all sides.
6. Punch a hole in the middle of the bottom of the plastic bottle. The equipment or material to be used to punch a hole is not included in the materials list. Some people who DIY use screwdrivers.
7. Take your string and pass it through the holes of the plastic bottles. Make sure that each plastic bottle is facing towards each other. Knot the string together once all 30 plastic bottles are fixed.
8. If you have ornaments to add, do so! Once you are satisfied, start hanging!

The Christmas wreath is a simple way of showing you care for the environment and that breathing a second life to a plastic bottle remains the best way to recycle. For this DIY, make sure not to use steel wire because the material can be difficult to shape.

Key Takeaway

The little effort to recycle plastic bottles to create DIY projects that could give them a second purpose is indeed one of the best decisions that you can do. As a word of caution, never use a glue gun to seal and stick decorative pieces onto the surface of the plastic bottle because it will only melt. Plus, it can be dangerous for the environment. With this, enjoy your Christmas decor making!