Floating Halloween Candles

Looking for a fun and inexpensive way to decorate your windows? Then check out this Floating Halloween Candles tutorial I originally wrote for Crafts Unleashed! This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience and to aid in the maintenance of this site.

One of my favorite things about Halloween is how wonderfully crafty everyone gets! Why buy creepy decorations that are only going to go up for a couple weeks when you can just make them, right? Making your own Floating Halloween Candles is really easy but I must warn you that collecting the cardboard tubes can be harder than you think.

Toilet paper tubes, while plentiful, are too short. Paper towel tubes will work fairly well but are a little too wide. I ended up using a combination of paper towel and wrapping paper tubes, my favorite being an unusually thin wrapping paper tube that the candles fit perfectly in. Don’t sweat it too much, either way they’ll all come out looking great in the end!

Floating Halloween Candles

Materials:
– Cardboard Tubes
– High Temp Glue Gun
– High Temp Glue Sticks
– Spray Paint (Antique White)
– Flickering LED Tea Lights
– Black Thread or Suction Cups

Instructions:

1. Using scissors, cut the end of a tube to resemble the uneven edges of a candle.

2. Use a scrap piece of Styrofoam or a ball of wadded up newspaper wedged into the cut end to make a base for the tea light to rest on.

3. Apply glue to edge of “candlestick,” allowing for varying lengths of “wax drips.” Hold the glue gun in place through multiple pumps for extra long drips.

4. Cover entire candle with multiple coats of antique white spray paint. If you’ve got more time on your hands (or don’t have two crazy little boys running around!), you can always cover the diagonal lines of the tube with a thin coat of paper mache.

5a. Candles Hanging With Thread: Using a needle and black thread, tie a loop just above the candle base. I tried both fishing wire and black thread. Black thread definitely worked better! The fishing wire looked good during the day but, as you can see in my ridiculously grainy picture below, reflected the glow from the tea light at night.

5b. Halloween Candles Suspended With Window Hooks: If you’re using these inside and in front of a window, this is the way to go! Just puncture a hole in the tube large enough for the hook to fit in and suction to a window. Make sure you get suction hooks small enough to be hidden by the Halloween candles.

Now, what are you waiting for…start hoarding those tubes and get to making these fun floating Halloween candles. You’ll be oh so happy you did come Halloween night!

For even more Halloween fun, check out some fun projects from some of my favorite blogs!