Shot Glasses DIY – Glam for the Holidays!

This shot glasses DIY is a case of thinking outside the box. An entire box of one dozen to be exact! I was so excited when Hubs found an entire box of shot glasses in the garbage. But he was going to donate them because they had a branded logo printed on them. Consequently, he didn’t think I could do anything with them. Boy was he wrong! And given the time of year, of course I found a way to make them look festive for the season!

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This post is a two-parter. I’ll show you how to decorate the glasses today, then I’ll show you an incredible sustainable way to light them up! You’ll find the link for part two at the end of this post.

Shot Glasses DIY

If you pick some of these up from your local thrift store, don’t forget that it doesn’t matter what they look like, because we are going to fix that!

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Materials for Shot Glasses DIY

* [If you’re looking for some of the things we used, we’ve got you covered (disclosure): Clicking on the affiliate links below means we may receive a commission. But don’t worry, you don’t pay a cent more and it helps us make more unique crafts to share with you! Thanks for helping to support our blog!]

To add sparkle and hide the advertising in the process, you’ll need to gather:

Prep Work

Place a piece of 1/2″ painters tape over the glossy side of the lable backing and mark 1/2″ increments on the tape with a pencil. Due to the glossy side being too slick to mark, the green tape will help you see the marks clearly.

Then cut the strip of tape into 1/2″ squares with the paper cutter.

Peel off the green tape and you’ll end up with the white squares shown below. Use the scissors or the paper cutter to cut some strips of silver and gold foil slightly wider than 1/2″:

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To prevent the glass from rolling as I worked, I used a curved piece of wood I already had, but you could also nestle it into a towel to keep it steady.

Add Adhesive

Measure a piece of the double-sided tape to the length of the graphic you want to cover; 2″ was perfect for my shot glasses so I could create four 1/2″ squares with the foil. Apply the double sided tape right over the graphic on the glass. If your piece is too long, trim it back to 2″ using an X-acto knife.

You can see right through the tape, but not for long!

Shot Glasses DIY – Decorating

Take the square pieces cut earlier and apply two of them to the clear tape – glossy side down – leaving a 1/2″ space in between (you can use one of the squares as a spacer as shown below). The squares will stick temporarily to the tape and act as a mask where you don’t want the foil.

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Alternating Squares of Silver & Gold Foil

Apply the silver foil (shiny side should be facing you) to the first exposed square and rub it well to adhere it to the tape. Carefully peel it back to expose the foil that’s stuck to the double-sided tape.

If you’re happy with the result, move on to the next exposed square with the same colour of foil and adhere it in the same way. You can rub a fresh piece of foil onto any spots that were missed to fill in, but it doesn’t have to be perfect!

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1st square receives silver coloured foil

Once the first two squares are done, remove the white squares that are still covering the tape. Then apply the gold foil to those remaining squares. As a result, you’ll end up with alternating silver and gold metallic squares.

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Gold being applied to 2nd square

So now the alternating squares of silver and gold are complete!

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If you have straight-sided shotglasses, you could do this foil treatment all the way around if you wish. My shot glasses are angled so I couldn’t apply the tape in a straight line around the entire glass without going off kilter.

For my particular display, you aren’t going to see the back, so I didn’t bother applying the foil in the back to cover the logo.

A big advantage with this tape method (especially if you opt for cheap double-sided tape from the dollar store) is that the metallic feature can easily be removed to restore the glass just by removing the tape. You could switch up the design every year if you get bored of the look. Try using a decorative washi tape, for instance, instead! Or switch up the colours to red and green foil! The sky’s the limit!

Before and After

Below you can see a side-by-side comparison of the before and after. So at this point, you could fill them with battery operated tea lights – but only if they will fit!

Because of the angled sides, my little shot glasses unfortunately won’t work with battery operated tea lights as you can see below. However, if you happen to be decorating clear glasses made for tea lights (shown on the right), you’re golden (so to speak!).

I knew my upcycled shotglasses would look phenomenal with glowing light radiating from within. So I came up with a unique way to make oil burning candles using upcycled items you probably already have at home!

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Hanukkah Menorah or DIY Christmas Centerpiece

I’m going to leave you with this sneak peek of my new holiday candles. Use them as a Hanukkah menorah or for Christmas candle decoration; the possibilities are endless. They’d look just as stunning any way you choose to display them!

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Still to Come

Next week I’ll show you exactly how easy it is to light up your new creation – and reveal how I displayed mine for the holidays.

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Get inspired to upcycle branded shot glasses. This shot glasses DIY breathes new life into them for the holidays! Birdz of a Feather | christmas decor | christmas decor ideas | christmas decor diy | christmas candle holder | christmas candle decoration | shot glasses upcycle | shot glasses repurposed | christmas candle holder centerpieces | christmas table decorations | christmas decorations | christmas candle centerpiece ideas | elegant christmas centerpieces | diy christmas centerpiece

Get inspired to upcycle branded shot glasses. This shot glasses DIY breathes new life into them for the holidays! Birdz of a Feather | christmas decor | christmas decor ideas | christmas decor diy | christmas candle holder | christmas candle decoration | shot glasses upcycle | shot glasses repurposed | christmas candle holder centerpieces | christmas table decorations | christmas decorations | christmas candle centerpiece ideas | elegant christmas centerpieces | diy christmas centerpiece

Get inspired to upcycle branded shot glasses. This shot glasses DIY breathes new life into them for the holidays! Birdz of a Feather | christmas decor | christmas decor ideas | christmas decor diy | christmas candle holder | christmas candle decoration | shot glasses upcycle | shot glasses repurposed | christmas candle holder centerpieces | christmas table decorations | christmas decorations | christmas candle centerpiece ideas | elegant christmas centerpieces | diy christmas centerpiece

In the meantime, if you are looking for other seasonal ideas, like a hostess gift – or even for someone on your gift list who loves to wine and dine – look no further! Make this seasonal BYOB gift bag:

 

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3 thoughts on “Shot Glasses DIY – Glam for the Holidays!

    • Thanks Maria! We use these every year at holiday time so it was an especially useful upcycle for us! They’re also great for emergency lighting when the power goes out 🙂

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