To welcome the spooky season, I’m sharing how I made a set of painted Halloween glasses over the weekend. They’ll serve as guest favors for an upcoming dinner party on the Gone Batty: Black, White & Purple Halloween Table.

And, they’ll be featured in the annual Halloween Tablescape Blog Hop. It’s my fifth year participating. So, styling a table that wasn’t repetitive of what I’ve already done was challenging.

Usually, I alternate between two different sets of Halloween theme plates. Last year, however, my wedding china, and heirloom crystal and sterling were used for the Halloween Gothic Glam Table & Skeleton Napkin Fold. It’s one of my all-time favorite tablescapes!

This year, I’ll be pulling the Wiccan Lace plates once again. But, to mix things up a bit, I’ve decided to incorporate purple into a Halloween table setting and created a marbled pumpkin centerpiece.

Since I don’t own any Halloween specific stemware, I’ve also transformed smoky black, Dollar Tree stems into painted Halloween glasses. Come see how!

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Use Paint to Transform Dollar Tree Glasses for Halloween

Originally, I purchased eight wine glasses(13.5 ounce) from Dollar Tree to complement the Greek Tablescape & Olympic Torch Napkin Fold. Their smoky color complimented the black in the decorative plate rims, and olives embroidered into the tablecloth I had purchased while in Amazing Ancient Athens.

Unfortunately, when I went to Dollar Tree last week, the store was out of both the smoky black wines and goblets (16.5 ounce) I wanted for the painted Halloween glasses. Usually standard stock items, I guess people were grabbing them up for Halloween? Also, the store manager told me that they were having trouble getting deliveries with the pandemic interrupting the supply chain.

Rather than run around from one store to the next to find them, I decided to use my unpainted wine stems at home. Later, when they’re back in stock, I’ll pick up replacements at Dollar Tree.

Materials & Supplies

• Glasses
• Rubbing alcohol
• Paper towels
• Cotton swabs
• Glass or multi-purpose acrylic paint(s)
• Paint brush(s)

You’ll also need a ruler, pencil, paper, black marker, scissors, and tape. A plastic paint pallet (Dollar Tree) comes in handy too, along with a plastic glass to hold water.

As far as stemware for the painted Halloween glasses, you could also use clear or other color like light orange or purple.

I had everything on hand, including the paints, from past projects. Painted glasses were favors for three My Favorite Things Parties.

Now, let me show you I created the painted Halloween glasses in four easy steps.

Step 1: Prep Glasses

First, I run glasses through the dishwasher, but you can just wash them in soap and water. Once dry, wipe any outside surfaces you plan to paint with rubbing alcohol.

Step 2:  Create Template

Last year, I showed you how to Paint Thanksgiving Turkey Glasses as Table Favors by starting with a drawing or template.

Instead of using a paint pen to trace the Halloween design on each glass, I only used the sketch for positioning, painting the stemware freehand. It’s the same approach used for the peacock feather and DIY Shamrock Glasses.

For detailed instructions on using a template, see DIY Hand Painted Glasses & Champagne Flutes. That’s the method used for both the Alice in Wonderland characters and Holly Golightly party favor glasses. Tracing the design adds a step to the process of painting Halloween glasses.

Step 3:  Paint Halloween Glasses

You’ll need to use specialty paints designed for multi-surfaces and/or glass specifically. For the painted Halloween glasses I used five colors; purple, orange, yellow, black and white.

Craft Tips: While painting, I find it helpful to lean the stemware on a roll of paper towels — it works like an easel. Keep rubbing alcohol, paper towels and cotton swabs handy to quickly remove mistakes before the paint dries.

Some colors or designs may require multiple layers for desired coverage. Always be sure to allow two hours to dry between coats.

Night Sky & Moon

Start by painting in a night sky, being careful to leave an open circle for the harvest moon. I used purple paint for the spooky scene, which showed up well against the smoky black glass. A shade of midnight blue would also work well.

Then fill in the moon with orange paint.

Two hours later, I dipped my flat-edge brush, half in watered-down orange and half in yellow. Then I went over the moon in a circular motion.

A second coat of purple went over the outer rings of the night sky, along with mixing in a bit of the orange and yellow for a circle directly around the moon.

Additionally, I painted a circle of orange on the foot which evolved into a jack-o-lantern.

Haunted Tree

A day later, I began painting the haunted black tree freehand. The right edge of the tree hugs the night sky, with crooked branches reaching around the moon.

I also dragged the black paint down one side of the stem and created roots at the foot of the glass.

A second coat of straight black paint on the haunted tree added some texture — as if it had bark. And, I slapped a second coat of orange to the pumpkins.

Flying Bats

After fully drying overnight, I painted three paints flying across the moonlight sky of each glass.

Be careful to not put too much paint on the brush, or it might run. In fact, I had to pull out dry Q-tips a couple of times to clean up several edges. So go slow and take your time. One coat of black paint was all that was needed to paint the bats.

By the time I had painted the bats on all four glasses, I moved on to carefully add the white eyes to the trunk of each tree. I also added the black details to the jack-o-lantern faces.

Refine Details

A few hours later, and it was time to add the finishing details to the scene. Basically, I watered down and mixed black, white and yellow paint on a brush. Then I just went over the thoroughly dry paint to add some light reflecting from the moon onto the tree trunk and its branches.

And, I added another coat of white and black pupils to the eyes.

Painting the four Halloween glasses took me multiple sessions over three days. Adequate drying time between colors insures you don’t smear the paint.

Step 4: Cure Paint

At minimum, you need four days for the glasses to properly cure before using. But to be top rack, dishwasher safe, requires 21 days of air drying.

Or, speed up the curing process by placing the painted Halloween glasses in a cold oven. Then bake at 350 degree for 30-60 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the glasses cool to room temperature.

Painted Halloween Glasses as Party Favors

Since there are only four, I painted different jack-o-lantern faces on the foot of each glass — for guests to differentiate between them.

Actual Halloween theme wine charms would probably work best for larger groups.

And, do remind guests to preferably drink from the unpainted side of the glass.

See how the painted Halloween glasses work with purple, silver and orange Marble Pumpkins for Fall & Table Decor.

They are part of the centerpiece on the Gone Batty: Black, White & Purple Halloween Table.

I’m also looking forward to pairing the glasses with the DIY Eerie Black Pumpkin Decor as a centerpiece for another Halloween table.

Have you been crafting any decorations for Halloween?

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I regularly participate in: Metamorphous Monday, Share Your Style, Tablescape Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Crafty Creators, Saturday Sparks, Happiness is Homemade, and Love Your Creativity.

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