Whether you already have some jars in your home, or you're looking to get new ones; Glass jars are some of the most fundamental and versatile everyday items you could have in your home.
There are 100's of uses for all kinds of jars, limited only by your needs and of course; fuelled by your vivid imagination...
Here's Just 41 of what we think are the best, easiest and most creative uses for glass jars.
We've them divided into 4 Categories:
You can skip to each section by clicking on the headings.
1: Crafts + Hobbies
2: Food + Drinks
3: Storage
4: Decoration
1: Terrarium/Micro-Garden
This is one of my personal favourites, it ticks all the boxes: it's crafty, it's therapeutic, it's aesthetically pleasing and you can even watch it change over time.
A mini natural world, encased in a portable jar, is the greatest addition to your shelf, window, table or any indoor area. They're easy to make and need little-to-no maintenance but bring a lot of positivity and mental health benefits to your indoor world.
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2: Catching Bugs + Small Aquatic Animals
Jars are really handy to bring along out on nature walks, especially if you have children in-tow. Kids are fascinated by nature and it's vital to teach them as much as we can about the natural world, that way they know how to take good care of it.
Catching insects, tadpoles and other small critters that live in your backyard is always exciting for both children and adults. You can learn a lot even just by observing, always take extra care when handling small wildlife and be sure to let them go free again!
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4: Motivation/Meditation Jar
If you're a quote person, fill your jar with your favourite ones written or printed on little pieces of paper. Each day you can take one out when you want some daily inspiration to wind-up or wind-down.
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5: Butterfly / Bee Feeder
Want to attract and help more butterflies and bees in your garden? Make a butterfly feeder and watch the winged-wonders appear. Pretty soon your garden will become a hotspot for butterflies and other nectar-loving insects.
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6: Beachscape/Forestscape
What's better than always have a reminder of the seaside or woods nearby? Again, like the micro-garden, this is a top recommendation. You can get beautiful effects from layering different types of sand + pebbles in your jars along with shells and other beach combings.
Placing them on your shelf or bedside table adds another dimension to the room's palette and visual texture.
You can also do this with different types of seeds, nuts, mosses and leaves from a forest if that's more your style.
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7: Potting Succulents, Cacti + Other Small Plants
Depending on the size of your jars, and of your plants, they can make a great team. If you want to hide the soil. you can paint, decorate or even line the inside of the glass with a thin layer of pebbles or sand.
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8: Make A Matchbox
Well, technically it's a match-jar, but let's not be pedantic. Here's how you do it:
Step 1: Get matches and a jar that fit well together. Get sandpaper (not too coarse, think of the strike-strip on matchboxes, and choose the same gradient of roughness.
Step 2: Cut the sandpaper to the same size as the lid and glue the sandpaper on. You can either do this on the inside or the outside of your lid.
Step 3: Fill it with the matches That's it. Simples!
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9: Carnival-Style Party Games
A basic one, but a game none the less, can be played with our Cork + Glass Tapered Jars that tests your patience and dexterity in equal amounts.
Start by standing the jars on a table or flat surface, and back away about 2-3 steps.
Using a gentle under-arm throw, try until you get the cork lid to gently land (and stay) on the jar. It can be played by all ages, and may cause an argument or two, but that's all part of the fun, isn't it...
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10: Make A Snow Globe
Make sure to use a jar that has a rubber seal for this one because you're going to need to glue it to the lid, and you don't want any leaks!
You'll need: Glue; Glitter; Ornament of Your Choice; Jars; Water
Step 1: Add 1 part glue and thin it with 2-4 parts water - depending on how fast or slow you want the 'snow' to fall.
You can pour the glue in first, then add the water and glitter-snow gradually.
Step 2: Finally, attach the tree, snowman, or whichever you picked as your ornament to the lid. Carefully place it into your glitter-glue-water concoction, screw it shut, turn it over and voila; 'tis the Season!
You can see the more detailed step by step Here.
Food + Drinks
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11: Food Preservation/Canning
This is not as hard as you might think, but there are a few guidelines to follow to get the best results. It's important that you have the right type of jars and then to follow the right process.
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12: Pickling, Chutneys and Jams
If your jars are air-tight, you can make and store any range of delicious sweet or savoury jams, pickles, salsas and sauces.
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13: Serving Cocktails
There are a small few who might object to drinking out of glass jars, but it's definitely great for mixing it up at your dinner parties and taking beautiful photography... or just on Wednesday afternoons?
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14: Coffeebar Containers
A great idea for your jars is to keep different types of coffee beans, teas, sweeteners and other hot drink essentials in them. It keeps them fresh and accessible, as well as adding cafe vibes to your kitchen, particularly if they're all matching jars or part of a set.
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15: Storing/Displaying/Organising Foods
Storing your herbs, spices, dried foods, grains, pickled veg, fresh goods, dressings, drinks, snacks + treats in jars is one of the fundamentals of jar ownership. I'm assuming you've already thought of this one, so let's move on to some more unconventional uses for jars...
16: Measuring Ingredients
If you know the volume of your jars, or better yet - if they have measurements marked on the glass, you can measure out ingredients for baking or cooking. This applies to both solids and liquids!
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17: Food Preparation
If you like to cook Mise En Place - or pre-chopping and prepping all your ingredients before starting - you can keep your prepped foods in your jars before cooking up that storm.
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18: Soaking Chickpeas, Oats, Lentils Etc.
Always need those extra 4 minutes in the mornings? To save you time the following day, pre-soak your porridge oats, chickpeas and lentils overnight.
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19: Germinate Seeds + Sprouts
Wheatgrass can be made into delicious super-snacks, and beansprouts make a wonderful addition to any to stir fry or salad. Jars make convenient, washable containers to sprout them in!
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20: Smoothies + Desserts
Whether it's for drinking your daily breakfast smoothie, serving a fresh fruit salad, or setting a pannacotta you made hours in advance; go boho and serve it up in a jar.
21: Keep Wine, Juice, Milk + Other Liquids
If the lid is sealable, then keeping your wines and other drinks in jars is an ideal way to store them. Liquids maintain their freshness and flavour best when kept in glass containers. The drink will also look more appealing without the obstruction of labels and logos etc.
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22: Bake A Cake In A Jar
Perfect for a birthday cake gift, and here's an awesome list of 35 cake in a jar recipes!. Bake your favourite one and give it to your favourite birthday girl or boy.
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23: Marinading
Forget doing this in shallow plastic or metal containers, keep the flavours all locked in and untainted by using your glass jars for marinading. You can also get the most flavour-to-marinade ratio as most jar's tall narrow shape will ensure everything is soaked and infused evenly with very little liquid.
24: Sourdough Starters
Do you make your own bread? You'll know how important it is to always have some culture growing for your next loaves in the fridge.
Something that's sealable, reusable and easy to clean, anybody? The glass jars have done it again...
Storage
25: Bulk Food Storage
If you're a bulk-buyer of foods, storing them in jars at home not only looks so-darn-Instagram-worthy, but it's also a very practical way of keeping everything fresh, organised and accessible.
26: Knick-Knacks and Doo-Hickeys
Those loose ends, keep-sakes and never-needs. They all have to live somewhere; an idle jar can be the perfect solution for clutter-containment.
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27: Toys + Kids' Things
Children are some of the most delightful tornadoes to ever pass through your home. God bless them, they need a little help with organisation. Glass jars let them see which toys and art supplies are inside without them having to empty it all out on your clean carpet.
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28: Cooking Utensils
Too many of us have cooking utensils tucked away in the drawers where it takes you 89 minutes to sort through to find the one that you need. Instead, keep all your spatulas, ladles, whisks, etc together in a jar by the cooker where you need them.
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29: Potpourri
Keeping it in jars is super convenient compared to a bowl; it gives you the ability to close it off when you may not want to have such a strong fragrance...Or when you're preparing food in the area...Or if you happen have adventurous pets that are on the loose and hungry!
30: Office Desk Organisation/Display
More and more as time goes on, we are starting to realise that adding some extra touches to our workspaces makes a big difference. You can store all your office necessities in jars and even mix and match with a terrarium or beachscape jar to help make your desk that bit more inhabitable and welcoming.
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31: Sewing + Other Craft Supplies
There are some really creative ways you can turn jars into yarn dispensers, sewing kits with pin cushion lids and more...
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32: Bathroom Storage + Dispensers
Make anything from soap dispensers to toothbrush holders, or just organise all your bathroom-related accessories, lotions and potions!
Decoration
33: Photo Frame
There are a few different ways you can make these, all of them are quite easy to do. Here are a few of the best examples:
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In a nutshell, you attach your chosen photo on either the inside or the outside of your jar. You can then fill the jar with water or sand, or plant-based oil, paint it, decorate it, use it as a vase, and so on; it's very customisable and can make a lovely handmade gift for someone you care for.
34: Lighting
Oh, where to start with this one... making DIY lighting from glass jars is worthy of its own entire blog post, which we may even write in the future - so be sure to come back and check for that!
Until we write that post, here's an awesome example of how to make the lights pictured just below
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35: Candle Holders
No matter how simple or elaborate you want to go with this one, the end result is always a work of art. If you want to use regular tea-lights, floating candles, or make your own from scratch; candles in jars are a great combination of practicality and decoration.
36: Flower Vases
Add some water, maybe a ribbon around the middle, and you've got yourself a beautifully custom vase that's perfect for a centrepiece!
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37: Speaking of Centrepieces
When it comes to making a display for the centre of your table, jars are a great starting point to work from. Also, the many different styles and versatility of jars mean the choices are boundless, put your creativity to the test and see what you come up with!
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38: Seasonal Decorations
There are so many absolutely stunning designs and ideas for DIY decorations that people have thought of to match all times and events the year. From spring/summer to autumn/winter, Easter, Christmas and other public holidays.
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39: Phone Torch Lamp
This one is possibly the easiest 'Wow' you will ever get...
Just fill your jar with water, add colouring (optional); turn your smartphone's torch on and place it screen-down on a flat surface.
Put the jar on top and turn off all the other lights in the room. It will look and feel like you're underwater, as well as turning the jar into a pretty-looking lamp.
- Be careful not to crush or wet your phone!
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40: Natural Air Freshener
For Summer - Light and refreshing with a heady touch of vanilla
- Start with: two fresh lemons; one teaspoon of vanilla; two stalks of rosemary; and add them all into 2 litres / 5 pints of water in a pot on the cooker.
- Bring them to the boil and then turn down the heat to let them simmer for about 25 minutes.
- Keep adding more water as it evaporates, so that the herbs and fruit are covered in water at all times.
For Winter
- Start with: four fresh oranges; four cinnamon sticks and a few pinches of whole allspice. Add them to 2 litres / 4 pints of water and bring it to the boil.
- Allow it to simmer for around 25 minutes and follow the same process as above!
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41: Tinted/Dyed Jars
Tinting your jars can be used in combination with any of the above ideas and it's pretty straightforward to do it.
- I highly recommend that you only tint the outside of the jar if you're going to be using it for anything that's food or drinks related! -
You'll Need: Glue; Food Colouring/Dye; Water; Oven
Here's How It's Done:
1) Mix the glue, food colouring and a little water (use more water for a more transparent colour and less water for a darker colour).
2) If you're dying the inside of the jar, pour your mixture in and slosh the jar in circles until there's an even coat all around.
- If you're dying the outside, apply it on in thin even layers using a paintbrush or sponge.
3) Allow the excess dye to drip off and let it stand until it's dry to the touch
4) Set your oven to 80 °C / 175 °F and put your jars in for approx 10 minutes. Turn the jars over and put them back in the oven for another 8-10 minutes.
If in doubt, check on them regularly. Take your tinted jars out of the oven after no more than 20 - 30 minutes (total).
There you have it, now you have some inspiration for what you can do with yours!
Comment below and tell us your thoughts; which one will you, or have you already tried?
That's only a fraction of what jars can be used for... be sure to sign up to our email list to get more tips and exclusive gift cards!
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