Creepy Halloween Potion Bottles Tutorial (with Free Printable Labels)

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Halloween potion bottles are a great Halloween or Harry Potter party decoration.   Print up these free, printable Halloween potion bottle labels, stick them on some jars, and fill and you'll have a fabulous, spooky, EASY Halloween display.

DIY Halloween potion bottles made with free printable potion bottle labels.

I'm going to show you how to make these eerie Halloween potion bottles, and I'm even linking up free printables of the labels I made so it'll be even easier for you!

Halloween potion bottle, filled with green liquid and with an aged label that reads Freshly Squeezed Toad Juice

Because really, who doesn't need a potion bottle full of Freshly Squeezed Toad Juice at Halloween-time?

Halloween potion bottle with an aged label that reads Spiderweb Slurry

Or perhaps some Spiderweb Slurry.

Bottles for Halloween Potions


Bottles for making Halloween potion bottles on a black chalkboard background.

First, you'll need some bottles and jars. Look for bottles that have stoppers or lids.  It's best to have a bunch of bottles in different sizes and shapes for this project.

Ikea has some great, incredibly inexpensive ones, if you need to buy them for the project.    Also check out the dollar store.  No need to buy expensive containers.  

Halloween Potion Bottle Labels

Next up, you need labels.  I designed these free printable Halloween potion labels for this project, and love how they turned out. 


Free printable Halloween potion bottles labels

I'm not usually a graphics person--that's just not my forte, and I know it.  But every once in a while I manage to make something I like, and when I do, I'm happy to share it!  

Free Printable Halloween Potion Bottle Labels:

Click on the images below to download or print free, printable PDFs of the potion bottle labels.

Navigational image leading reader to Printable Halloween potion bottle labels

Navigational image leading reader to Printable Halloween potion bottle labels

Navigational image leading reader to Printable Halloween potion bottle labels

Each sheet has larger and smaller versions of the same labels, so you can choose the one that works best for your bottles.

How to Age Paper for Halloween Potion Bottles


Free Printable Halloween potion bottle labels stained with tea.

Go ahead and print out the labels on plain printer paper.  I actually wanted thin, flimsy paper, not cardstock, for this project.  It's easier to bend on curved jars, and looks more like authentic old labels.

To create the mottled, browned look of aged paper, I used the classic technique of tea staining.  But rather than dipping my paper in tea, I used a wet tea bag to blot the paper.  That gave me the perfect aged, blotchy look I was after, and also didn't take as long to dry!


Free Printable Halloween potion bottle labels stained with tea.

Already looking awesome, right?   Just the finishing touches are left now.

Finishing the DIY Potion Bottle Labels


burning the edges of Halloween potion bottle labels.

Cut out the labels, and distress the edges by holding the paper to a candle flame.  It will curl and brown gorgeously.


Free printable Halloween potion bottle labels aged with tea staining

Just look at the difference adding the burnt edge makes!

Glue the finished potion labels to your glass jars (a hot glue gun will work just fine for this task), and fill.

What to Put in Halloween Potion Bottles

Fill your DIY potion bottles with a mix of different liquids and solid materials to make perfectly spooky and fun Halloween decorations.

Materials for filling Halloween potion bottles.

Halloween Potion Bottles Filled with Food Coloring

Most of the potion bottles were filled with just food coloring and water.  This method works brilliantly, and is dead easy. 

IMPORTANT TIP: Be aware that most red and pink colors are very unstable in sunlight, so if you want a potion in the red family, keep it out of direct sunlight.  It will fade to clear shockingly quickly.  

Halloween potion bottle full of water with black food coloring being added.

You can use liquid, gel, or paste food coloring to color the water for your potion bottles.  

I used liquid food coloring designed for airbrushes for the black potions, and it looked seriously cool distributing into the water in the bottle!  I wish I could have suspended it like that somehow!

Halloween potion bottle filled with black liquid and with an aged label that says Bat wing Balm

Within a few minutes, the color had pretty evenly spread through the water.  Still cool.

Two Halloween potion bottles, one filled with black potion, one with green potion.

You can see that a few drops didn't make a pure black--more of a desperately deep brown.  Very spooky and awesome.
 

Halloween Potion Bottles Filled with Other Liquids

Halloween potion bottle with a Moth Musk label

You can use other liquids to fill your Halloween potion bottles, too.  I used leftover tea from dying the labels as the liquid in my moth musk potion.

Solid Items to Add to Halloween Potion Bottles

If you want to go beyond just colored waters in your potion bottles, you can add many solid things from around the house to create creepy effects, like:

Get creative with materials you already have around the house!  For example, to make the Moth Musk potion, I used tea and added some chibbled up parchment paper.  The Spiderweb slurry was just clear water and some batting I had on hand.


Halloween potion bottles with free printable potion bottle labels.

A collection of these make a fabulous, easy Halloween centerpiece! 


Halloween potion bottles with free printable potion bottle labels.

And if you want to make them look like they just came from a dusty apothecary shelf, pull out the baby powder.  Or wait two days in my house.  They really know how to make dust here in the desert!

Other Halloween Tutorials You Might Like

Navigational link leading reader to googly eyes Halloween napkin ring tutorial

Navigational link leading reader to Peter Pan's escaped shadow costume tutorial

Navigational link leading reader to DIY crystal bloody cut throat necklace tutorial

Navigational link leading reader to googly eyes headband tutorial

 
Nicole Wills, creator of Tikkido

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