Crafts for Kids: Christmas Milk Jug Night Light

A Christmas milk jug night light is a fun and easy craft your kids can make for Christmas. These night lights will fill your home with such warm holiday cheer! A milk jug night light is also a great gift to give to someone for Christmas.

To make a Christmas milk jug night light, you will need a 1 quart milk jug. The short quart jugs work best. They are about 6 inches tall with a base about 3.5 inches across. You also find juice in these size jugs. If you can't find that type of milk jug, you can use a larger one. Even a gallon size milk just will work, but it makes a very large night light. However, a large night light is great if you want to paint an elaborate Christmas scene.

You will also need an inexpensive night light for this craft. You can buy some at your local dollar store, sometimes 3 or 4 for a dollar. Buy the kind that allows you to take off the shade. You will use just the plug in part and the bulb.

The other craft supplies you need are scissors, acrylic paint, glitter glue and whatever other craft supplies you like to use, depending on what art work you plan on creating.

Start this project by cutting one side of the milk jug so it will lay flat against the wall when the night light is attached. You can see a photo here to get an idea of how to cut the milk jug. You can slip the night light into the base of the milk jug to make sure you have cut off the right amount. If you cut off too much, don't worry about it. The craft will still come out fine!

After you cut the milk jug, it's time to decorate it for Christmas. If you want to paint the entire milk jug to give it less of a milk jug look, use a clear acrylic paint. This will give the milk jug a nice even sheen. Then you can paint on any design that you want. Just remember that the more paint you use in solid colors, the less the light will shine through. So you may just want to paint things like a snow scene with one Christmas tree in the center, or a scene with Santa and his sleigh in the sky. Leave a lot of the milk jug unpainted (or painted with just the clear paint).

After you paint your design, you can highlight features with glitter glue. You can also glue on items like buttons, ribbons, etc. Just remember that this will be sitting over a night light, so don't use anything to decorate the milk jug that can't stand a bit of heat.

Remove the shade from the night light you bought and place it inside the mouth of the milk jug. If it does not fit snug, you can glue it to the mouth of the jug to secure it. You can use hot glue for this step. If the mouth of the jug is very wide, you can fill the mouth in with hot glue and let the glue harden, then add more and more until the mouth is small enough.

All that is left to do is to plug in your night light! You can use a clear light or a colored light for a different effect. Just do not leave the light on while unattended.

Gift giving tip: You do not have to use a Christmas theme if giving the night light as a gift. You can paint any type of design you want. That way, the gift recipient can use the night light year round!

More Christmas articles:

How to Make Christmas Cookies for Dogs

Christmas Craft Made from Recycled Christmas Cards

Free Printable Christmas Coloring Pages: Christmas Trees