For this year’s Halloween party I’m keeping things simple with a “Haunted” theme. Which means lots of skulls, gravestones, and of course… As many drippy candles as possible. The problem with real candles (besides the cost) is that open flame paired with fake cobwebs, people in wigs and alcohol don’t mix. I don’t want to be ‘that person’ on the news November 1st.
Thankfully, that’s where flickering tea lights and toilet paper rolls come in. I hoarded all the toilet paper and paper towel rolls from my home, work, and mother in law’s house until I had far too many for the amount of tea lights I had… Whoops. I’ll put the extras to use somehow. A bit of glue and paint later and I’ve got these!
You need:
- Toilet paper and paper towel tubes.
- Hot glue gun and SO MANY GLUE STICKS.
- Paint in your colour of choice and a brush.
- Flickering tea lights.
- An oven and baking sheet with parchment paper (optional).
- Eye of newt (optional).
Directions:
- Cut the tubes to different heights and paint them black, inside the top and out.
- OPTIONAL: Add a bunch of glue in globs to the top of the tubes, and stick them in the oven on 350 until the glue has pooled at the bottom. Be careful though to not burn them. These are fake candles, not real ones.
- Add several layers of dripping hot glue and paint them again. You can also squish them together in a cluster in this step or in the previous one if you opted to use the oven.
- Add a little cardboard shelf on the inside of each tube about an inch deep for the tea lights to sit on. Paint the tubes again and your tea lights to match.
That’s it! I found the paint didn’t want to stick to the glue so that’s why I painted the tubes first, that way if anything showed through it would match.
Now put them together in one spot and watch as your sceptic of a husband go “Wow.. Those look really legit. Like really. I wasn’t expecting them to look that good. Wow.”
Oh yes, the eye of newt was for snacking. I normally throw a bit in the oven while the tubes are heating up for a nice warm snack. Mmmm.
Good Cryptkeeping 
What an easy and smart way to set the mood without setting a fire! Now I’m going to have to start saving tp rolls!
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Love these! I made he hanging version a few years ago and they’re still going strong. How did you make your ‘shelf’? I ended up using a 2nd rolled up tube for mine, but I’m sure they must be a simpler way. I’ve seen others use a ‘glue’ shelf, but I can’t seem to get that to work for me. I like that you used a different method. I may have to try making more and going the oven route! Sue
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I used a round hole punch to cut circles of thin cardboard and glued that inside about an inch deep, I also used a strip of cardboard like a cereal box and glued it in by folding each side down to make a flap on some of them. The tea lights are so lightweight that you don’t need much to hold them up!
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