If you’re in the middle of planning how you want to festively decorate your home for the holidays without too much hassle this year, I have a quick Christmas decorating idea for you.
This idea uses something most of us already own—taper candle holders. With the addition of a few Christmas ornaments and faux evergreen garland ties, you can transform even the most basic taper candle holders into elegant holiday décor.
Every year around this time, I start pulling out the boxes of Christmas decorations I’ve stored in my attic to figure out which ones I want to use to decorate my home.
Once I have all the items laid out in front of me, I take a look at each piece, decide if I want to use it, and then try to come up with a new way to style it so it doesn’t feel tired or repetitive.
One thing I found in a box were three glass candle bobèches. “A what?” you might be asking. On a candlestick, a bobèche is a dish-like ring that catches wax drips. I love the three I have, but they’re mostly invisible.
I always use these candle holders in my holiday decor, but this year I wanted to create something with more visual impact.
The word “bobèche” can also refer to a decorative element in that same shape—and that’s exactly what I made for a set of candle holders I own.
Materials Needed:
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Christmas ball ornaments (smaller sizes or a mix of different sizes work best—I found these mini Shiny Brite ornaments at HomeGoods)
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Faux evergreen garland ties or florist wire
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Wire cutters
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Optional: Twisted, covered wire garland of any kind
Instructions:
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Cut a garland tie to about 4–6 inches in length. String ornaments onto the garland and push them toward the center.
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Place a candle into the candle holder. Wrap the ornament-filled garland tie around the top of the candle holder and pull the ends together as tightly as you can. Twist the ends like you would a bread bag tie. Use wire cutters to trim the excess, or simply fold the cut ends under the garland tie.
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If needed, gently adjust the spacing of the ornaments with your fingers.
Practical Tip:
Use more ornaments than you think will fit, and vary the sizes to create a fuller look at the top of the candle holder.
For the brass candle holder, I used 12 mini ornaments.
For another, I used two different sizes of ornaments.
If you don’t have round ornaments, try using jingle bells, buttons, or beads to decorate your candle holders.
I tied three jingle bells together with narrow red velvet ribbon.
Then I twisted the ends of the garland loop to secure it on top of the candle holder. I positioned the garland so the jingle bells sat slightly off-center for a playful touch.
I also found a brown, wired garland with small jingle bells at Hobby Lobby. It didn’t work well as a collar for the candle holder, but it looked fine positioned just below the top.
Bobèches, candle rings, candle collars—whatever you like to call them—can be made in many ways. I showed you what I created using items I already had, but if you don’t have garland ties, you might use large twist ties, cable ties, or florist wire.
The best part about this holiday decorating idea is that you can enjoy restyling your candle holders in a new way this year to match your decor style and color theme.