winter wonderland in a jar

These little winter wonderlands in a jar are a fun and inexpensive holiday or winter decoration. They’re super easy to make, requiring little skill and just a few items.

And I should know because I made 8 of them. We have our annual family Christmas party this weekend. We have a large extended family and the party is always a great time – and my family is the best. I told my mom I would help her and do the centerpieces this year. She usually buys pretty poinsettias for each of the tables but I had this idea in mind so I told her I would take it on. I would make these little winter wonderlands in glass jars and decorate them with all different bristle brush trees, fun holiday figures, and lots of snow.

I love how these winter scenes came out, and I think they’ll look great decorating the tables, but I don’t think I was all that helpful. Since we needed 8 centerpieces, that meant 8 of everything. Including the 1 gallon glass jars with red metal lids.

Once I saw these jars (at Walmart!), I knew we had to use them. So I sent my mom on a wild goose chase to find said jars. But we (she) did it. I think buying the poinsettias might have been a lot easier.

This is a really great project to do in place of baking holiday cookies, or making a gingerbread house. Or they make a great party craft if you’re hosting. They’re fun, you can customize them, and go home with a cute decoration. You just might not want to limit your jar style to the 1 gallon glass jars with the red lids. Plus they’re gone.

To make your own little winter wonderland, you’ll need the following materials:

• Glass jar with a twist on/off lid. The jars I used are out of stock online but the stores have several sizes, most with silver lids now.
• Bristle brush trees. I found several different kinds, colors, and sizes at Michael’s and Target stores.
• Other small holiday figures. I used mostly outdoor figures such as sleds, signs, snowmen and gifts by which I found all at Michael’s.
• Faux snow flakes – also at Michael’s store. This product is similar.
• Hot glue
• Coordinating ribbon, baker’s twine and jingle bells.

First, I arranged the elements to my winter scene by how they could fit in each jar. I used 2-4 trees per jar, a few other winter figures such as sleds, signs, snowmen and wrapped presents. Then I used my hot glue gun and attached each piece to the bottom of the jar, starting with the largest ones. I kept some of the smaller pieces to attach later – on TOP of the snow.

It’s a little awkward to keep reaching into the jar.

There’s no right or wrong way to place the items. The only things I considered was that the jar could be viewed from all angles. And I placed the larger pieces closer to the center of the jar but not exactly centered.

Once I finished gluing all the larger elements onto the bottom of the jar, I glued the snow on. I just went in sections, adding hot glue to the bottom of the jar and placing the snow on top. I did my best to glue all the snow but some of it will still be loose and that’s ok because it looks more realistic. When I was done filing the entire bottom with snow, I went back over any open spots and added more glue and snow.

For some of the smaller elements such as the gifts and signs, I just glued them right on TOP of the snow so they didn’t get covered. When all the items were placed, I went back and cleaned up any stray glue pieces and attached the lids.

I added some ribbon around the mouth of the jars, just under the lids. It’s a small area so my ribbon is 1/4″ wide.

I wrapped it around twice and tied it in a knot a little off-center.

Then I added the jingle bells. I used silver and white bakers twine to attach these to the mouth of the jars too. Again, wrapping the twine around a few times. I like the bells staggered a bit.

I used these wood chargers as a base for the finished jars. I found them at Target for $3 – so cute.