Milk Carton Luminaries for the Holidays

Luminaries made out of Milk Cartons for the Holidays

Make Luminaries for the Holidays out of milk cartons and put them outside with votive candles or use small battery operated tealights candles. Just a simple craft that is environmentally friendly by reusing and recycling milk cartons. Give it a try!

Supplies needed

Milk Carton Luminaries Supplies List

Milk cartons (empty)
Black Acrylic paint (or desired color)
Cellophane (in desired color)
Sharp knife or utility knife, like Xacto
Hot Glue
Black card stock (or desired color)
Battery operated tealights candles

Theme Parties and Birthday Party line divider

Milk Carton Luminaries Directions

How to make Milk Carton Luminaries - Cut off top of carton

Step 1. Rinse and dry interior of milk carton. Cut off the top portion about 2″ from top using a sharp knife on a cutting board.

How to make Milk Carton Luminaries - Cut open windows on 2 opposing sides

Step 2. Draw a rectangular box with a pencil or pen, and then use an Xacto
knife to cut into the milk carton. First cut open the top and bottom edge of the “window”. Then once that is cut, you can work on the opening of the window.

How to make Milk Carton Luminaries - Paint with acrylic paint

Step 3. Use black (or another color) acrylic paint to paint the outside. You may have to do this 2-4 times, depending on the thickness of the paint. Make sure to let the paint dry in between layers. On the inside, add in window panes with the colored card stock.

How to make Milk Carton Luminaries - Cut a 2 pieces of rectangular cellophane for the windows

Step 4. Get colored cellophane and cut small rectangular shapes large enough to cover the windows. Tape the cellophane in place or use a hot glue gun. Using the black card stock create a roof top by folding a rectangular piece of paper in half and gluing one side to the luminary.

How to make Milk Carton Luminaries - Add votive to light up

Step 5. To light the luminaries use votive candles or small battery operated tealights. Use battery operated votive candles indoors for safety purposes as these milk cartons can be easily tipped.

How to make Milk Carton Luminaries - Finished carton

Step 6. These were made for Halloween to provide some spooky lighting in our haunted house, however you can also make these for Hanukkah, Christmas ,Kwanzaa or New Years. They do take some time to make initially but if you set up an assembly line style method of making them, it goes fairly quickly. Just another idea to to reuse and recycle milk cartons.