Ten Creative Ways to Recycle Baby Food Jars: Crafts and Practical Uses

Baby food jars are cute and can be recycled for many uses. And if you use baby food in your house, you know how quickly you go through them. Here are some ideas for transforming your baby food jars into fabulous fun and many practical uses.

1. Candles. Baby food jars make great candle holders. They can hold a votive candle or some people make their own candles. Yes, people will even buy baby food jars in lots on online auction sites for this purpose.

2. Buttons. baby food jars are terrific for holding buttons. How many times have you lost a button a shirt and not known where to put it? Create a baby food jar just for your various buttons. Sometimes we lose buttons that aren't actually needed (such as when you get a button or two that comes extra with a shirt or sweater or is sewed inside the garment as a spare). So, you might not need the button to repair something now, but it may come in handy in the future.

3. Spices. Some people mix up their own spice creations in advance, such as a spice recipe for a salad dressing or a soup mix or a dip. Baby Food jars are the perfect size for herbs and dried spices, just be sure to clearly label the jar. If you like your jars cute and pretty, then you can use printed labels with a picture design and cover the lid with fabric and ribbon.

4. Hardware. Not the computer type, but the garage handyman type! Baby food jars make excellent containers for organizing various size screws, nuts, bolts, picture hangers, tiny nails and other small hardware needed for installing or hanging or fixing things around the house.

5. Artist Paints. Baby food jars are fantastic for anyone who paints. They provide a way to mix several shades of one color or just have a container to store major different colors. They work for watercolor paints, crafts paints and most paints, so long as the lid is sealed tightly. If you don't paint, you probably know someone who does and would be delighted to make use of those jars.

6. Guitar Picks. Baby food jars are the perfect size for storing your guitar picks.

7. Clarinet reeds. Baby food jars are excellent for storing your extra musical instrument reeds.

8. Push Pins and Paper Clips. Use a baby food jar just for push pins and another baby food jar just for paper clips. They are small efficient containers and they will keep you from cutting your fingers as you rummage around a supply tray in your desk drawer reaching for a loose office supply. You can organize other office supplies this way too--- binder clips, thumb tacks, etc.

9. Seeds. If you save seeds for planting, baby food jars make a great way to organize various breeds of seeds. Create labels with the names of each seed and the date you stored them. Be sure the seeds are properly dried before sealing with the lid.

10. Potpourri and decorated gifts. Baby food jars can be decorated by painting lids or hot gluing fabric or lace or wooden shapes that have been embellished. They can be used for holding potpourri, inspirational quotes, sand art, bath salts, colorful embroidery threads, beads for crafters or anything else small that would be useful to someone who is creative. Small silk flowers, tiny metallic gift bows, stickers, costume jewelry, glitter, pom poms and foam shapes are just some craft items that any crafter would love to receive in jars.

Recycling doesn't have to just be a chore, but sometimes it proves to be functional and fun!

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