How to Make Summer Beach Lanterns

DIY Beach Themed Candle Holders

Bring the beach and your summer vacation memories into your home. These coastal candle holders are so easy and fun to make and they add the perfect bit of beach decor to your home.

A quick and easy DIY project, was just the thing to get my summer house decorating started. I love this coastal lantern DIY idea. Especially since it took less than 15 minutes from start to finish (and that is counting the material gathering part too).

This beachy candle holder diy is so easy! You can whip them up in 15 minutes and they will add a lovely summery feel to your home. Can you imagine lighting the candles on a warm, summer evening? That is so magical. I love candles all year round, they add so much ambiance and set the mood perfectly. If you love a candle or two too, than this super easy and extremely inexpensive beach themed diy project is for you!

I love it when I see something in my head, and my hands turn it into reality in minutes. The most time you will need for this diy beach decor will be spent gathering up your materials, but you can use so many things for this, I am sure you have all that you need already.

Related Reading: DIY Fall Lantern Decor Ideas

You could make these diy jar candle holders for every season. I can see a fall and a winter variation in my mind easily. But these ones are decorated with summer in mind, so I made some coastal lanterns to create a beach house feeling.

I made three candle holders but I think I might make some more and line them up down the center of my outdoor table.

If you are so lucky to have a fireplace I think these would look lovely scattered across the mantel. Anyway I am sure you can see lots of uses for these diy beach lanterns. So let’s see how to make them.

How to Make DIY Beachy Candle Holders

This nautical candle holder diy could not be more simple to make! If you don’t consider yourself to be crafty you will prove yourself wrong when making these beach lanterns!

Once I collected everything to make these beach filled glass jars they were so easy to put together. I don’t think they took 10 minutes to make. And they look so pretty!

Materials and Instructions

1. Gather materials

• Glass jars, vases or cylinders (You can find lots of Glass Cylinder Vases HERE)
• Sand, either collected from the beach or store bought. I used Decorative Sand that is meant for the bottom of birdcages.
• Collection of beach decorations. Think sea shells, sea stars, pieces of driftwood, sand dollars etc. (There are very pretty collections of Assorted sea shells and decorations HERE)
• Pillar candles and or tea lights.

If you don’t have glass cylinders, vases or candle holders that are suitable for this beach decor diy than you can use simple glass jars from your kitchen as well. A large pickle jar or mason jar would work too. Maybe add an extra embellishment on the outside to style your simple glass jar up a bit. I am thinking some Natural Jute Rope for Crafting tied around the jar or a sea star glued to the outside.

2. Fill the glass jars, vases or cylinders your are using with a layer of sand.

3. Fill up to about a quarter to a third of the height of your glass cylinder.

4. Add a layer of small beach decorations. Make sure there is room to nestle the tea light. Or do step 5….

5. Add a pillar candle and fill the space around it with sea shells, sea stars and more beach decorations. Make sure the candle has plenty of room to burn safely.

6. Make more candle holders! And turn them into a beach lanterns centerpiece!!

You are done! Now wasn’t that easy…….

As you can imagine, lighting up these coastal lanterns adds a lot of coziness to our living room. The tea light in the big lantern is nestled on a shell, so no fire risk there.

In the smaller one I have added a little glass container, if you look closely you can see it sticking out at the top. I nestled that small cup in between the shells (it is originally meant for floating tea lights in water) . Using an insert like that not only makes using the lantern safer but it is also much easier to change out the tea light.

My floating tea light lantern is a reincarnation of the project that was part of my Lamp Makeover Project. Told you that that little project would be perfect for seasonal decorating.

More Summer and Beach Inspired DIY Ideas You Will Like

<<<< beachy farmhouse decor >>>>

<<<< how to make glass fishing floats >>>>

<<<< easy DIY macrame lanterns >>>>

Decorating with your Coastal Candle Holders

Place your beach candle holders together and add some more coastal decor around them Maybe place some larger shells around them, put them in front of a mirror or a sea fan and add a bit of faux coral. Those sea fans are just the perfect backdrop for my beach lanterns. To me they have summer written all over them…..

I love this big Home Sweet Home jar. You might remember seeing it here when I used it in my alternative way to display tulips, but it also has been used quite often already as a regular vase. Now she is a beach lantern, gotta love versatile decor objects.

One of my favorite parts about this beach centerpiece is all the little details. Using sea shells and pieces of driftwood I have collected over the years on beach trips and vacations adds a personal touch to this beautiful vignette. It becomes a little summer beach vacation on my side table.

Not only is this a fun way to decorate your home for summer, but it also would make a beautiful centerpiece for any beach inspired party or wedding.

UPDATE AND TESTIMONIAL

This project is originally a few years old. I updated the post recently and realized that I still owned the majority of the materials used. So I decided to make some extra pictures detailing the materials and the steps.

And as I was doing that….

I had so much fun….

And it was such an easy and fast DIY project…..

That I totally copied myself and recreated my favorite beach candle holders.

So this year. Once more I have a beach lantern centerpiece on my table.

Sand, shells and sea stars…..

Operation summerification has begun once more!

Btw if this post has got you in the mood for more summer decor you might want to check out this Summer Home Tour, or this collection of stunning summer mantel decor ideas. I hope it will inspire your start your own little summer decorating operation for your home.

If you liked my summer beach candle holder idea, then don’t forget to save it your Pinterest board for future reference.