This Halloween Gumball Machine is the perfect way to display candy and treats on your Halloween party table.
It is easily made with some Dollar Store crafts and a terra cotta pot and saucer. The pots and saucers can be used in lots of different ways to make cute themed decor for your home for the holidays.
I love using terra cotta pots to make craft projects. To see another seasonal project that uses them, check out my clay pot snowman tutorial.
For today’s DIY Halloween decoration, we are going to turn the clay pots into a fun gumball machine.
Making a Halloween gumball machine
Note: Hot glue guns, and heated glue can burn. Please use extreme caution when using a hot glue gun. Learn to use your tool properly before you start any project.
This cute project is simple to make. All you need are the following supplies:
- Terra cotta pot and saucer
- Halloween ribbon
- 3/4″ wooden ball
- Plastic spider
- craft paint
- Round jar – I got mine at the Dollar store
- Round bubble vase will also work
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
I used a pot with a 4 1/2″ opening for my project and a larger 5 1/2″ saucer for the lid.
Start by painting the lid of the glass jar, the wooden spool, and the terra cotta pot and sauce plain black.
Terra cotta paints very easily and dries quickly too. I love working with it.
Once the paint has dried, attach the ribbon to the saucer rim with hot glue. I used a design with orange pumpkins on it.
Next, hot glue the jar lid to the terra cotta saucer so the saucer faces downward. (The jar lid fits inside the upside down saucer.)
Attach the painted ball knob to the center of the lid with hot glue.
Using hot glue, attach the gumball machine to the upside down terra cotta pot.
Print out this gumball machine label on glossy photo paper. I printed mine 1 1/2″ in size.
Cut the white round area out and attach it to the front of the bubble gum jar.
The final step is to hot glue a plastic spider on the jar for a spooky touch! Spiders are one of the symbols of Halloween, so adding one to this DIY gumball jar is fitting for the season.
TaDa! It’s done so quickly. Other than the painting, this project only took me a few minutes to assemble. LOVE that!
Displaying your Halloween gumball machine
Your party guests will like to dig into this gumball machine and will love that you made it yourself with garden pots!
I also made a terra cotta candy jar for candy corn on my Gardening Cook site as a variation of the project. Display them both for double the fun!
For another clay pot project, be sure to check out my clay pot love bug candy dish for Valentine’s Day!