Re-Purpose Bath & Body Works Candle Jars
Have empty candle jars?🕯️
Consider cleaning them out to re-purpose around the house! I’m addicted to buying those yummy smelling Bath & Body Works candles from Hip2Save deals, and quickly noticed a collection of empty jars forming.
Instead of tossing in the trash, consider turning them into handy containers for small bathroom supplies, beauty products, craft supplies, and pantry storage. There are so many things you can keep in them!
The secret to cleaning glass candle jars is to freeze them for at least a few hours, and then you’ll be able to use a butter knife and crack the wax easily and remove. Trash or save the excess wax to place in a wax warmer, if desired!
To remove the labels easily, first soak the jars in hot soapy water, and then they will usually come off pretty easily. For removing super stubborn adhesive residue, consider using acetone or Goo Gone.
Tip: If there’s still a little wax residue inside the glass, place in the microwave for a few seconds to help melt and it will be easier to wipe clean.
Here are three easy ideas I was able to implement right away to re-purpose my jars…
1.) Bathroom Apothecary Jars
To create a q-tip and cotton ball storage for the bathroom, I glued these small clear glass knobs to the top of metal candle covers using e6000 craft glue. They look so pretty on the bathroom counter!
2.) Food Storage Containers
Use jars in the pantry to store smaller items such as nuts, rice, and coffee, etc.
3.) Candy Dish
As a fun holiday idea, use as a candy dish to hold mini candy canes or small chocolates!
Great idea! Love the swab containers – adding the pretty knobs was brilliant!
Knobs yes totally adorable
I feel like no matter how many times I wash the glass out, I can never get the candle smell out of the them. š So I try not to store candy in them, otherwise the scent attaches to the candy.
Same here
Agreed. I personally would only use these for non-food items.
Have you tried soaking the jars in vinegar or scrubbing with baking soda and vinegar? I cannot be sure these work since I do not use candles but those to Merida have worked in deodorizing other things
hello, i have saved many of these jars…. to remove the candle smell, you need to leave the lids off of the jars for a while, and the smell disappears. Leaving the lids on holds the smell in….hope this helps!
Thanks for the tip!
Are these safe to run through the dishwasher? I would think that doing so would eliminate the smells. Or is that a no-no?
I put them in the dishwasher all the time. No problems ever. I don’t think they smell afterwards.
Thanks for sharing!
Try wadded up newspaper inside them to remove the smell too. That usually works pretty well for me!
I use them to hold craft items like bottoms, safety pins, sea glass, etc. I have mentioned numerous times in store to employees they should start an in store recycling program with a discount discount incentive. Itās a-shame they arenāt reused more often.
Yes thatās a great idea!! Thanks for sharing šš»
Thanks for posting! I buy a lot of candles too!
My husband would kill me as I already keep many things lol
I know, I know. I reuse, re-purpose, and recycle everything. My husband is okay with this since he is also thrifty, but I think it drives my kids nuts. That being said, I think this idea is pure genius.
Thanks Tammy!
Same here, lol!
I used them for centerpiece vases for fresh flowers at my daughter’s graduation open house. Looked great. Crisscrossed clear floral tape across the top to hold the flowers up.
Thatās so neat! Great tip – thanks!
I agree, don’t put food in there! They have made great containers though for diy scrubs & soaks.
SUPER DUPER CUTE!!!!
LOVE LOVE these ideas. Especially the cute handle on the lid idea!
I will be doing this right after the holidays when all my candles are burned.
So love this post. This will be my diy project after the holidays. Thank you.
Such a great idea!
Thanks Kalyan!
Thank you so much for posting this idea! I have held on to a zillion of these jars with the hope of figuring out a repurposing idea for them.
Oh thatās so great!!
Love this post! Thank you for wonderful ideas. I will be saving them from now on.
Thanks Kate!
Great idea!!! So pretty with the handles! Just wanted to add that peanut butter can also remove sticky residues. A bit messy but it works! Leave peanut butter on for 1-2 mins so the oil can ease the sticky part off. Hope this helps!
Oh thanks for sharing that tip!
Don’t through that old wax out! Save your candle wax leftovers along with used up scent-cubes that no longer have much scent. Also save your dryer lint — a whole bag full. And your PAPER egg containers (not styrofoam). When you have enough wax and lint, stuff handfuls of lint into the egg container slots. Then microwave it in a disposable container (like a yogurt cup), and pour over the lint in the eggs container. Let it cool and reform. Cut the egg slots apart. Now you’ve got firestarters for your stove or wood fireplace for winter! (Bonus: they probably smell good.)
Thanks for the great ideas!
Ack — /THROW that old wax out
I made these back in my Girl Scout days. You can also use saw dust instead of lint. With lint you need to be careful that it’s natural fibers to avoid fumes/chemicals as it burns.
Fill empty toilet tissue rolls with lint from the dryer for either a wood stove or to start a fire as well. Loving these ideas, too, gals!
I have been doing this for a couple years š . I painted the candle jars after they were cleaned so they match the dĆ©cor in my bathroom and in my bedroom. I don’t use them for food. But in my bathroom, they hold tampons, q-tips , earrings, small samples of creams, and one on the dryer for my scent booster pebbles! The ones in my bedroom have got buttons in them and some random odds an ends from my dresser. My family thought I was crazy putting them in the freezer Lol…and then asked what I was going to do with them. They are cute and very handy š
Thanks for sharing!
I just want to thank you for this post! I was just trying to think of what I could do with my old candles. (And now I can have room for new ones.)
Oh youāre welcome! Thanks for stopping by. š
My husband and daughter are artists and they put decorative sand and rocks in them and use them to hold paintbrushes/ sharpies/blades for matting, ect. and my daughter also uses them for Makeup brushes….really pretty
I pop out the unused wax and put in my clothing drawers for scent
Oh nice idea!
They don’t get melty/oily?
I add the leftover wax to new candles instead of trimming the wick. This makes the candles last along time and we have fun creating new scents with different combinations of wax. We continue this throughout the life of the candle instead of trimming the wick.
BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!
Great idea!!!!!!
I just mine to hole my sharpies onmy desk. It looks so colorful and I never misplace them now.
I love this idea! I am going to use these to store my daughter’s ponytail holders on her bathroom sink. The knobs make them look so pretty. Thanks for sharing!
Love these ideas–especially knobs for the bathroom!! Also additional tip I found for removing stubborn sticky labels–even when goo-gone fails (and goo gone not recommended for acrylics!) Spray with WD-40, leave overnight and magically comes off next day.
Thanks for the tip!
Such a great idea, thanks for sharing.
Youāre welcome! Thanks for stopping by!
Lemon essential oil takes the leftover sticker goo right off!
Oh nice! Thanks for sharing šš»
I run them though my dishwasher a few times and sanitize them after cleaning out. I use them as sugar, creamer, and stevia jars next to my coffee pot. I added cute vinyl labels from my Cricut. I love the bathroom idea too!
Oh great tips! Thanks for sharing!
Cute for “stuff” but I would be leery of using these for edibles. It just doesn’t seem food safe to me.
Same here.
E6000 near food and anything that touches my face? No.
Itās in the outside of jar- use another glue if desired.
Agreed! And not because of the glue but because of the glass! That’s not intended for food! It may have lead or other things in it. There’s a reason that candles come with labels that say not to reuse. It’s fine if you want to make another candle (though I’m not sure how many times it can hear and cool before cracking which can be dangerous). The clutter collectors are cute but NOT for food items!!!
Wonderful ideas! Thank you!
Youāre so welcome!
Great ideas! Now I just need to figure out what to do with all of the Oui yogurt jars.
I use the Oui jars for paperclips, pushpins, or as a small vase for pansies or violas. So many uses, I also like to spoon jello or tapioca pudding into individual jars for after school snacks. Enjoy š
Great ideas!
Place candles on your stove stop while your cooking,, as the heat of the stove turn candle wax to pure liquid (discard or keep as you mentioned) ā” i will be hoarding all candles i buy from here on out. Thank you for this post.
Thanks for reading!
Great ideas, I don’t like tossing those!!
Thanks Christa!
Be careful cleaning out the candle jars, I had one break in my hand sending the butter knife through my thumb, 2 surgeries later I still donāt have full function and itās been 4 years, all because I wanted to reuse a jar i teas of spending a dollar for a new jar at the store
Yikes! Sorry to hear and thanks for reminder.
I have the smaller ones at work to hold paperclips and pushpins. I glued a bird from the dollar tree on top.
I find after soaking them, a combination of olive oil and baking soda helps get the the adhesive off.
Charcoal Lighter fluid works great on removing sticky stickers and I also use it to remove magic marker from new packages of things that I have got at a thrift store or yard sale and if it has not been on there a long time it will remove every trace of it. I have also discovered liquid silver cleaner will remove metal marks from my baking dishes. I do not use it on the inside just on the outside where it has marks.
OOOOH the Oui yogurt jars are the perfect size for a battery tealite. I have hot-glued a rope around the top, a ribbon, glued on sparkles–use your imagination!!
We just did that for a craft with our kids at church š. And you can get battery tea lights 2/$1 at Dollar tree.
Instead of putting them in the freezer, you can also get the old wax out by pouring a pitcher full of very hot water over the top of the candle. That’ll loosen it up and you can remove the wax easily or use a butter knife to help pry it loose.
Love these ideas! So creative! What wonderful ways to make use of these candle jars! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Now that is a great DIY / epicycle ! Makes me want to burn my candles more frequiently to use them up.
*UP cycle not epicycle !
when you get that frozen wax out, don’t toss it – instead burn it in a wax melt burner!
I just carved the balance of my Pumpkin Spice candle from the bottom of the jar the other day (thereās enough to make at least one votive-I canāt waste anything!). BUT I didnāt give any thought to reusing the jar it comes in-what a great idea!
Does anyone know when they will be having the big candle sale on the 3 wicks? š
The sale was today 8.95 each and I had coupons!!!! You can probably still get them online with free shipping (I think there is a code) until midnight
I use it to plant my succelents and place them by the window
same!!
Those are not food grade containers. I would not use them for food. The only thing I would say you could maybe use them for is packaged candy.
Exactly. Call the candle manufacturer. They will confirm that the containers are NOT food-safe and could leach chemicals. I love the idea of re-using them, but not for anything edible.
I have been re-using these for years . Without the knobs, they stack nicely. I have several on my desk holding push pins, paper clips, etc… Any leftover wax goes in my wax warmers. So many pretty lids on them, now … I love all of the new ideas as I fully intend to continue buying them š
Thanks Angie!
love this!
This made for a beautiful Snowy Christmas look: I used the Yankee candle that had the pine label. Mix 1 cup Epsom salt with 1 TB fine glitter. Spread a THIN coat of tacky glue then roll your jar in the Epsom salt/glitter mixture. Let set over night. I didn’t cover the label as this made for a pretty look and didn’t go to the top since I wanted to put the lid back on & put a clear glass knob on top. I put q-tips in one & cotton balls in another.
These are al great ideas. I use my leftover jars as little flower pots!
Oh I really like that idea!
This may be a dumb question, but I don’t see this addressed in the original post or the comments. The wax came out easily, but how do you remove the metal wicks that are attached to the bottom?
I just used a butter knife to pry it out.
I guess I just wasn’t putting enough muscle into it. I ended up just working them loose with my fingers.
Hi there!
So I just used the end of a butter knife to life up the wicks! Hope that helps š
We reuse ours for a lot of things and i LOVE those glass knobs! They make it look so fancy! Thank you for the link!
Sure! Yes they are so pretty!
I’ve had luck with freezing and then soaking/scraping. I tend to re-use the jars but never think to keep the lids. I really like how you added the knobs! Will keep that in mind in the future and keep some of my lids. š
luv the idea of knobs on the lids…I could use some ideas for jars that don’t come with lids…????