How to make antique style Christmas tree candles in minutes (and without the traditional German real candle look’s fire hazard).
Just call me Clark Griswold because when it comes to Christmas lights, more is MORE in my book!
I’m like Oprah talking to all of our garlands, wreaths, and mini trees in our house this year. You get fairy lights and YOU get fairy lights and YOU ALL GET FAIRY LIGHTS!
Anyways… you get it.
This year I wanted to add, you guessed it, more lights to our Christmas tree. And I wanted to do it in an antique-y sort of way to go along with this year’s rustic Swedish Christmas.
DIY Antique Style Christmas Tree Candles
(Some affiliate links are provided below. Full disclosure here.)
Supplies Used
- Battery powered remote controlled candle lights
- Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
- Metal clip-on candle holders
The Steps
So I found these battery powered remote controlled candle lights with these plastic clips I could put on its branches. But the clips were plastic and not pretty at all.
1. Put batteries in the candles first (one less step you have to do later) and test them to make sure they all work.
2. Take one of the metal candle clips and bend the prongs so they are flat. (They’re so pliable that I was able to use just my fingers. No tools necessary.)
3. Use your hot glue gun (set on high) to fill the inside space between the prongs with hot glue.
4. Place and hold the end of a battery powered candle into the hot glue, making sure it’s standing upright in the holder. Hold it for about a minute until the glue is slightly cooler and dried.
Repeat for however many candles you want. And that’s it!
Honestly, this hardly could merit a tutorial but there ya go.
Our Christmas tree has a little bit of antique style nostalgia now without the fire hazard of real traditional German candles.
So pretty, right?! I think I need to do this to other wreaths and trees in our house. But there I go Griswolding/Oprah-ing again. š
Girl, I was just wondering how I could add candles to our tree after watching Rudolph with the kids and watching a family light candles while theu were on the tree. Can you imagine how many tree fries there were back in the day… š®. Anyway, thanks fo much for this!!! Merry Christmas. š š
These are beautiful! I love it!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Great source of knowledge and really informative blog for this season thanks for points out great info.
Great idea! After gluing the candles into the clip, is there any way to be able to change the batteries?
Yes! The batteries are changed from the top, so the little “flame” can be screwed off to switch them out.
I’m with you …never enough lights! I actually just got these candles and put them on last night! love the antiqued ones tho” Where can I get those?
Where did you find the little candles? I haven’t found any that small of a diameter. I have antique candle holders like yours and would love to use them in this way! thanks for the reply!
Hi CJ! There is a link in the supplies list to the candles I used. They’re not as skinny as the traditional Christmas tree candles, which is why I bent down the prongs to make them fit with the hot glue.
What a great and easy idea!
I love this! I have metal clips I bought in Germany over 30 years ago. Every year I put in candles for the aesthetic, never lighting them of course. Now I can have lighted candles! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this wonderful idea ! I have already ordered the candles and clips. It’s so close to Christmas but I wanted to order these anyway. Definitely will enjoy them ! I also wondered how the batteries were removed, once they were glued down. Enjoy your blog ,Lauren !
You’re so welcome! The batteries are changed from the top which makes it a breeze to change out when needed.