Apply red, white, and blue acrylic paint to glass jars to create these super cute and patriotic candle holders! Then place them in a row to form an American flag. It’s such a fun summer craft for both kids and adults!

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How can I use these 4th of July mason jar lanterns?

Use these patriotic mason jars to light up your party by placing a flameless tealight candle inside. You can also add a string of LED fairy lights, or even light a real votive or tealight candle. If you don’t want to use these red, white, and blue mason jars as a lantern you can also use them as containers for cutlery and straws. They would look so cute sitting on a buffet table at a barbecue!

What’s the best paint for these 4th of July mason jars?

We used craft acrylic paint to create our mason jar lanterns. We needed to add 2 coats, and it worked well enough, but the paint can peel off fairly easily if you’re not careful when removing the stickers. If you want to make a lantern that can be re-used next summer you can use chalk paint. It sticks really well to glass without peeling. Or you can also buy special glass paint or use spray paint for these decorated mason jars.

How else can I add the paint to these mason jar lanterns?

You can definitely use a regular paintbrush if you like – we just found that the brushstrokes were really visible through the mason jar when we put the flameless candles inside. To try to hide the brush strokes you can also use a foam brush (sponge brush) or an actual sponge to apply the paint on the jars. We enjoyed using a cotton ball to dab paint onto the mason jars. It created a textured look without leaving brush strokes or streaks of paint on the jars. Plus there’s no paint brush to wash at the end!

Enjoy making these 4th of July mason jar lanterns inspired by the American flag! These festive and patriotic mason jars are such a fun summer decoration, perfect for decorating your Independence Day BBQ or picnic.

Here’s even more 4th of July party ideas:

Red, White, and Blue Layered Drink

4th of July Cupcakes

Easy Fireworks Cupcakes

Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!

Where to buy:

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