DIY Halloween Candy Dispenser

This Halloween Candy Dispenser has been compensated by #CollectiveBias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. We hope you enjoy our fun Halloween Crafts this season! #SweetOrTreat

With Halloween on its way, that means the candy is about to roll in! Are you ready? Why not display the candy in a fun Halloween Candy Dispenser!

For us, my biggest problem is always having some place to store all the candy as it comes in. So we love to be festive with our Halloween Crafts and make our own.

We usually like something that lasts more than one year. And this year I have a favorite that your entire family will love! It’s not a traditional Halloween candy dish either! It’s more like a candy feeder!

Easy Halloween Candy Dispenser!

You will need

•  1 quart or pint jar (regular mouth)
• 1 Galvanized Feeder Base for Birds
• paint brush
• Pebeo Vitrea 160 Glass Paint in orange, black and white
• Pebeo Vitrea 160 Glass Paint thinner
• Felt or vinyl stickers for decorating the jar
• Halloween style grosgrain ribbon 3/8″
• Skittles®/Starburst® Variety Pack (30 ct.)
• Newspaper to keep your table clean from all the paint

First begin by painting the jars orange. You need to use the Pebeo vitrea glass paint as it is safe to use with dishes, and after baked it is non-toxic and can be used with items that come in contact with food you eat.

You have to use the same paint thinner otherwise it will change the chemical composition and then it won’t be non-toxic any longer.

You mix the paint and paint thinner and begin painting the mason jars in smooth even strokes.

You can find a great tutorial on how to color glass from my friend Maureen at Made By Marzipan.

Now I used a Shimmer Orange paint and that made it more difficult as it’s not as clear and see through as say a glossy would be. So pick your colors to fit exactly what type of look you are going for.

I painted both a Quart and a pint jar because I wanted to have options to change out the size of the Jar later on. But you can pick just one size.

Once you have the jar painted, then you can move onto the bird feeder.

I wanted to paint it to fit better with the Spooky Halloween theme. So white and black it was!

For this part I didn’t use any paint thinner, just the paint itself; because I didn’t care much about it being see through like I wanted with the Jar.

Once both the jar and bird feeder are painted, set them aside. Make sure they are out of reach of little fingers. And allow them to dry for 24 hours.

While you are waiting this is the perfect time to go get a lot of candy to fill it up! I had a monthly grocery shopping trip to Sam’s Club due, so I picked up the awesome Skittles & Starburst 30 Pack from Sam’s Club.

The kids are crazy for both Starbursts and Skittles and they will be perfect for our fun candy feeder.

Once the Jar and bird feeder have dried for 24 hours, it’s time to bake them! Baking them makes the paint permanent. And also allows you to wash and even place in the dishwasher without the paint coming off.

Place the jar and feeder on a cookie sheet. Place in the cold oven. Then turn on the oven to 325 degrees and allow to bake for 40 minutes.

It is important to put the items in before you turn on the oven. Once they have baked for 40 minutes, turn off the oven and leave them in the oven until they cool.

This protects the glass from exposure to drastic temperatures and prevents it from cracking or breaking.

Once they are cool use the felt/vinyl stickers to decorate the Jar.

Now make sure you put it on upside down. At first, I had the jar sitting upright.

Yeah, it didn’t work well once the jar gets turned upside down in the feeder dish. So I had to take off the stickers and turn it around. So, just make sure you put them on the jar upside down so you don’t have to back track like I did.

Then it is time to fill it full of goodies! Open up those yummy skittles and pour them in!

Leave the Starbursts in their individual wrapper so they don’t stick to each other. And fill up the jar.

Place the bird feeder attachment to the jar with the feeder upside down and the jar right side up.

And then attach a fun Halloween grosgrain ribbon tied into a bow.

Once secure, flip. Now the feeder is right side up and the jar is upside down.

 

Tada! You are done! Now the candy feeds with gravity through the fun little feeder openings. And you have a fun Halloween candy dispenser that is great for guests or as a reward with the kids.

Plus it looks great on my new mantle next to our Gargoyles we got while we lived in Germany!

You can make these feeders for your own home, as gifts for neighbors, or even for your kid’s teachers!

The Skittles and Starbursts are just the right size. They are big enough to stay inside enough and not flood out.

But small enough to be able to easily get them out of the feeder without much difficulty.

Plus, they happen to be my kid’s favorite non-chocolate candies.

Or you can do something entirely differently for the kid’s teachers.

The boys wanted to do something fun, so we got some adorable Halloween Tumblers, stuffed them full of Skittles and Starbursts.

Then put the lid back on and top with a cute little Witch hat. If you want you can also use a Halloween Ribbon to make a bow.

But I didn’t like how the bows hid the fun Pumpkin faces on the cups so I took the bow off.

Now we have a fun Halloween gift for each teacher. And they were insanely easy.

The kids can’t wait until I let them take these to their teachers, but I’m making them at least wait until October 1st.

How would you decorate your fun Halloween Candy Dispenser?

 

What candies would you fill in your Halloween Candy Dispenser?