Don't Throw Out Old Wine Glasses: 13 Genius Ways To Reuse Them Around Your Home

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It's natural for wine glasses to get stained after years of use. They might even start chipping over their lifetime. If you have a cabinet or a few shelves filled with wine glasses you'll no longer use for drinking, take a step back and think of ways you can repurpose them. For instance, you can turn them into fancy containers for your succulent cuttings or flowers. Or, they can serve as a base for a variety of DIY projects. 

But before you start repurposing them, ensure you give them a quick rinse, especially if they've been gathering dust for years. And if you don't have wine glasses to spare, buy cheap ones from Dollar Tree, or visit your local thrift store to score an incomplete set at a great price. You can even try out estate or garage sales to find glasses. Then, get creative and give them a new life.

Grab your old wine glasses to DIY unique candle holders. They can be safari-themed if you love animals or are looking for something a bit rustic. They can also be beach-y, Christmas-y, or spooky. Once you have your theme set, get some leftover cardboard (or wood round), a utility knife, a hot glue gun, and a few miniature decor pieces. Think trees and animal figurines for safari, or sand, sea shells, and starfish for beachy vibes. Put everything together under an upside-down wine glass and pop a medium-sized pillar candle on top of the base.

If you're looking for a pretty, economical table lamp for your home, get one of your old wine glasses and pop a lampshade over it. Craft one out of a decorative paper or a vellum sheet. You can even use round paper doilies like the ones from Dollar Tree. Embellish it with pearls, ribbons, and beads, or decoupage it with decorative napkins. Either way, avoid putting in lit tea lights, since they can be a fire hazard. Use their battery-operated counterparts instead.

For this DIY, you can use a regular or stemless wine glass. Based on its opening, buy some small succulents from your local nursery. Add a layer of activated charcoal at the bottom to prevent mold and mildew to make a succulent garden that will flourish. Top it off with some pebbles before adding in soil. Since your container lacks drainage, it's best to use a fast-draining succulent soil, like Back to the Roots' 6 Quart Organic Succulent & Cacti Mix. Finally, insert your succulents and place them in a sunny spot indoors.

Scented candles will have your home smelling fresh and pleasant within minutes. However, store-bought versions can be a hidden health hazard in your home. So, it's best to prepare one yourself so you can control all the ingredients that go into it. Plus, you get to customize the aroma per your preferences. Simply melt some wax pellets in a double boiler (or heat up leftover candles). After they melt, add in a few drops of your favorite fragrant oils. You can also add coloring pigments, like mica powder, and glitter if you'd like.

Wine glasses are can elevate your floral arrangements to new levels. To nail this look, you'll need a large glass, preferably one with a wide mouth. Place a few of your old wine glasses and start arranging your thriller, filler, and spiller around them. Pour a little water in the glass around the glasses and top the latter off with tea lights. If you're worried about them being a fire hazard, look for water-friendly options, such as Homemory's Water-Activated 24 Pack Flameless Floating Candles.

Love displaying decorative containers? Craft your own with a little sea glass and your old wine glass. Adhere the pieces to the exterior in a staggered design using hot glue. When the entire piece is covered and dry, mix some mosaic grout (you can even opt for pre-mixed varieties like Karidge's 7-ounce Mosaic Crystal Grout) and apply it all over the surface. Allow it to cure and display it as-is or fill it with plants or an LED candle.

Store your candy in beautiful holders for a clean aesthetic. Simply grab two matching glass bowls and take one of your old wine glasses, flip it upside down, and glue one of the bowls to its bottom. Ensure that it's clean since you'll be storing your candy here. Use a strong adhesive, like LMQ's Glass Super Glue, to permanently bond them. While it dries, grab another glass bowl and glue a cute drawer knob on top. For a vintage touch, look for antique pulls at thrift stores to use as the holder. 

If you have a stemless wine glass that's relatively unstained, it can serve as a cloche for your candles. This is a simple way to extinguish them and prevent them from collecting dust when they're not lit. Simply glue an attractive drawer pull on the bottom of the glass and you'll be all set. If you want to go the extra mile, hand paint designs on the glass or stick dried (or artificial) flowers in strategic spots. 

If you follow home office cleaning steps for an organized start to your day, you know you need strategies to keep your space neat and tidy. One of the best ways to achieve that is using dedicated organizers for your office supplies. But if you'd rather not spend money on mass-produced or fancy holders, grab one of your old wine glasses (slightly cracked ones work, too) and paint it if it's a little stained. When it's dry, pop your pens, pencils, markers, and sticky notes inside.

Do you feel like you can never have enough snowman decor when preparing your home for winter? Then, employ your wine glasses for a budget-friendly DIY. You'll need Mod Podge, a brush, a little Epsom salt (or artificial snow), and some paint to craft snowmen. Use embellishments, like buttons, ribbons, small hats (velvety ones look luxurious), imitation cherries, and dried pine cones to create your own design. Thin twigs can double as their arms, too. And if you want to craft snowwomen, give their painted face a little blush and add ribbons as well.

Want a magical Christmas tree decoration that's both economical and gorgeous? Build a beautiful winter wonderland scenery inside one of your wine glasses. Trace its diameter on a piece of cardboard and glue some cotton on top. This will serve as your wonderland's snowy base. Imitation snow, like Let it Snow's Instant Artificial Snow Powder, works well if you want to get the texture right. Glue bottle brush trees, elves, polar bears, a snowman, or a winter village figurine in the middle for a gorgeous seasonal decor piece.

It doesn't take much to transform an old wine glass into a pretty centerpiece. This is the perfect DIY for stained pieces. You'll be all set if you have a decent amount of twine, thin jute rope, or thin ribbons at home. Use one of them to cover your glass and flip it upside down. For more of a statement, add decorative touches like feathers, artificial flowers, and colorful leaves to the stem. If you attach them with wires or pipe cleaners, you can swap them out seasonally for a festive touch.

To DIY a wine glass bouquet, stick some floral foam over its opening. You can cut up a square or rectangular piece per your glass' diameter or purchase a spherical one. Once you have it in place, start inserting small flowers into it. You can use both real and artificial blooms for this, but spring for good quality ones if you go with imitation ones. Then, arrange it artfully, with your thriller taking up center stage and the filler complementing it. The spiller, like leaves draping over the glass, can hide bald spots and make your bouquet more lush.