DIY St. Patrick’s Day Mini Treat Jars

DIY St. Patrick’s Day mini treat jars are ideal for teacher gifts, co-worker gifts, party favors, and other small presents.

DIY St. Patrick's Day Mini Treat Jars

Mini glass jars are perfect for creating easy treat jars to give teachers, classmates, co-workers, neighbors, party attendees, and more for St. Patrick’s Day. I love the small size of the jars for a quick craft and a little treat. As my daughter Olivia is eating tons of purees these days, I have a lot of glass baby food jars around and used some of those jars for this tutorial. Any small glass jars will work well, as long as they have lids.

I give you all of the instructions that you need to create St. Patrick’s Day mini treat jars with my best tips and resources, including links for St. Patrick’s Day candy and free printable lid toppers.

While the colors and details in this tutorial are specific for St. Patrick’s Day, you can easily customize this concept for any holiday and for other occasions, such as favors for weddings, baby showers, and bridal showers. I’d love to see what readers do with this concept!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and happy crafting!

Clean Baby Food Jars

Prepping baby food jars and other upcycled glass jars

Baby food jar labels come off easily in just one piece. However, they do leave behind some sticky residue. It’s important to remove it completely before using the jars for crafts.

After you pull off the label, spray the jar with Goo Gone. I love the Goo Gone remover spray gel. It distributes the product in an even thin layer. Let the Goo Gone sit for a few minutes. Use a couple of squirts of your favorite dish soap to remove the Goo Gone and clean the jar. Allow it to dry completely.

Wash the lid as well, as you’ll also need it for this project. Let it dry completely.

Painted Baby Food Jar Lids

Painting the jar lids

I give all of the jar lids I’m using for craft projects a base coat of white spray paint. I prefer Krylon spray paint, but you can use any brand that you like. A matte or glossy finish works best here. I don’t recommend specialty spray paint, such as metallic or stained glass.

Then I give the lids a couple of coats of color in acrylic paint. For the DIY St. Patrick’s Day mini treat jars, I kept it simple with white acrylic paint. Green or gold works well for St. Patrick’s Day, too.

For some projects, I recommend giving the finished painted items a coat of spray acrylic. However, as treat jars aren’t an item people will keep for a long time, I don’t for this project.

DIY St. Patrick's Day Mini Treat Jars

Supplies for DIY St. Patrick’s Day mini treat jars

DIY St. Patrick's Day Mini Treat Jars

Resources for St. Patrick’s Day candy

Around the holiday, you may find St. Patrick’s Day candy in stores, including but not limited to, grocery stores, big box stores, party supply stores, and dollar stores. You can also purchase it online. Here are a few of my favorite options from Amazon.

  • Holiday Rolos. I used this holiday Rolos mix for my St. Patrick’s Day treat jars. Technically, it’s a Valentine’s Day mix and includes red Rolos but also has plenty of gold and green Rolos.
  • Green M&Ms. You can always find single color M&Ms, as they’re popular for weddings and graduation parties. Certain colors work well for holidays, too, such as green M&Ms for St. Patrick’s Day.
  • Mint green M&Ms. Mint green M&Ms are a great choice for St. Patrick’s Day as well and one of the few candies you’ll consistently find in stores in the spring that work well for St. Patrick’s Day.
  • Light green Hershey’s kisses. I love the look of the all-green Hershey’s kisses for St. Patrick’s Day.
  • Hershey’s mix with gold coins. You can’t go wrong with gold coins for St. Patrick’s Day. For treat jars, it’s nice to have the Hershey’s mix with gold coins, as the other candies help fill out the jars a bit.
  • Hershey’s mix with Kit Kats. While not as classic a choice for St. Patrick’s Day, you also can’t go wrong with the Hershey’s mix with Kit Kats. I often give out Kit Kats for Halloween, and they’re ridiculously popular.

Instructions for DIY St. Patrick’s Day mini treat jars

Clean Baby Food Jars

Gather your clean, dry baby food or other glass jars. Put a small amount of rubbing alcohol on a paper towel. Wipe the jars to remove any oil and other residue. Let dry.

Cut lengths of ribbon long enough to wrap around the top of the jars, just below where the lids screw closed. I cut my ribbon long enough to overlap slightly.

DIY St. Patrick's Day Mini Treat Jars in Progress

Put a thin layer of tacky glue on the jar where the ribbon will go. Glue the ribbon, taking care to smooth out any wrinkles. Put glue on the end of the ribbon and smooth it into place. Hold it for a minute or so until the glue starts to dry. Repeat with each jar. Allow the ribbon to dry.

Punch one shamrock out of green card stock for each jar.

DIY St. Patrick's Day Mini Treat Jars in Progress

Put a pea-size amount of tacky glue where you want to glue the shamrock. I lined mine up opposite from where I glued the ribbon in place to hide that detail as much as possible. Glue the shamrocks. Allow them to dry.

Print your jar lid toppers. Cut them out with a circle punch. You can also trace a one-and-a-half-inch circle around the design and cut it out by hand.

Screw the lids on the jars. Having the lids on while you glue the toppers ensures that the lid toppers line up with the shamrocks.

Painted Baby Food Jar Lids with Glue

Put glue on the raised part of the jar lid.

St. Patrick's Day Treat Jar Lids with Toppers

Glue the topper in place, smoothing it down as you go. Repeat with each lid. Allow the toppers to dry.

DIY St. Patrick's Day Mini Treat Jars

Open up the jars. Fill with the candy of your choosing.

DIY St. Patrick's Day Mini Treat Jars

Secure the lids. Your DIY St. Patrick’s Day mini treat jars are ready!

DIY St. Patrick's Day Mini Treat Jars

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Easy Upcycled St. Patrick's Day Mini Treat Jars

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