DIY Halloween Pool Noodle Candles – Dollar Tree Craft

Inexpensive Outdoor Halloween Porch Decorations

I love how these DIY Halloween pool noodle candles turned out, and I had lots of fun creating this DIY project for our Halloween front porch. Making different Halloween decorations is one of the fun ways adults can celebrate and enjoy Halloween. It was so much fun watching the trick-and-treat crowd enjoy themselves, and I was excited to see a few families take pictures beside the candles.

For our outdoor Halloween decor, I made a pair of these pool noodle candles to sit on each side of our Halloween front porch. You certainly don’t have to make two of them, but you will see both in the how-to video.

How to Make DIY Pool Noodle Halloween Candles

For our outdoor Halloween decor, I made a pair of these pool noodle candles to sit on each side of our Halloween front porch. You don’t have to make two of them, but you will see both in the how-to video.

Halloween Pool Noodle Candle Supplies

The supply list looks pretty long, but you can make one set of these Halloween candles for less than $15. Plus the little embellishments you put on at the end cost me $8 more. For each set of pool noodle candles you will need a few simple materials:

You will also want to find assorted Halloween decorations from the Dollar Tree for embellishments, mice, spiders, snakes, skulls, and vultures, I couldn’t find the toad I wanted, that would have been perfect. Check out your local Dollar Store to see what low cost Halloween decor you can find to match your Halloween theme.

Note: You must use flameless tea candles for this project, open flames would be too dangerous. I suggest using black flameless candles. I also tried the thin tapered candles, but they are fiddly to turn off and on. These little black votives worked perfectly. I used some last year for Halloween and they are still lighting this year

How to Make Halloween Candles with Pool Noodles

Buying the Paint

If you follow the blog you know I am all about frugal decor and crafts to create something, I can’t afford to buy. For these Halloween DIY pool noodle candles, I used three containers of Dollar Tree black spray paint, and some leftover black spray paint I had on hand. If you can find black pool noodles you will need less paint than I did. I chose neon green pool noodles, as I could not find black.

I was able to purchase most of the supplies at the Dollar Tree, except the E6000. Dollar tree glue sticks worked well, but you need at least 1 package per candle set.

Step 1 – Cut the Pool Noodles

Leave one pool noodle full length, one pool noodle in half, and the remaining in different lengths.

Carve out an opening in the center of the pool noodle. This opening will hold your flameless tea light to form the top of the candles.

Step 2 – Paint the Pool Noodles Black

Begin by giving each pool noodle piece at least two coats of black acrylic paint. My pool noodles were very porous and wow did they use the paint. I ended up putting on three coats. Let the paint dry completely between each coat.

Step 3 – Add the Melting Hot Glue

This task was fiddly because my glue guns were worn out, and could not keep up with the need. Because of the amount of glue it takes, I used two glue guns and would use one while the other one heated its glue. Please invest in a large high heat hot glue gun, it will save you a couple of hours.

Starting at the top squeeze the hot glue onto the top of the pool noodle. Holding your candle at an angle pump the glue out while moving the gun slowly downward. The angle helps the glue to flow. Do it very slowly so the glue has time to bubble and flow downwards, forming faux wax drips. Do several drips on each candle. Do one side of the candle set aside to cool, while moving on to the next one, then return and finish the other side. Remember not to put the glued side down before it’s hardened.

Once the long candle drips running down the sides are done. Add more glue along the entire top edge of the pool noodle. Move slowly to give the glue time to bubble and flow on its own. Fill in any spots you may notice.

Once you have all the hot glue done, paint it black.

Step 4 – Make the Halloween Candle Arrangement

Arrange the candles as best as you can in various heights and then use long zip ties to hold them together. 

Once you have the bottom zip ties together add a second set farther up the candles. Once the candles are stable, cut off the zip ties as close to the closure as possible.

Note: While doing this some of your paint may chip off, don’t worry about it, at the end we will finish with black spray paint and will touch it up then.

Step 5 – Place Halloween Candles on Base

For the base I used leftover shingles the previous owners had left behind. Any old floor mat, or a dollar store rubber mat, would also work. You want to arrange the pool noodle pieces so they are different heights, it adds to the spooky look and makes the candle flames visible.

We are going to secure the bottom of the pool noodle candles to the base using large nails. The first step is to punch holes in the base for the nails to fit through. Hammer the nails through the mat, starting on the wrong side. You want the point of the nail facing upwards with the good side showing. Once you have the nails pushed through add some E6000 to the hole to hold the nails in place.

Add a thick layer of E6000 to the bottom end of your pool noodles. Next, push the entire bundle of noodles onto the nails. When doing this a couple of my nails bent over. I lifted the mat with the noodles still attached and straightened the nails from the bottom.

If you need better directions I show how to do this in the video tutorial.

Step 6 – Decorating the Halloween Candles

The next step is to cover our Halloween spooky candles with rope and glitter. Starting at the back attach the rope to a piece of the zip ties. then wrap the rope around the zip ties until they are covered. Tie in the back snip and tuck in the ends, and seal with hot glue.

Repeat this for any zip ties you want to cover. Unfortunately, I did not have a black cord, so I spray-painted mine black.

Painting the Pool Noodle Candles

Once I had the ropes on covering the zip ties I gave everything a quick coat of black spray paint, including the shingle base, and anywhere the paint had chipped off. Once the final painting is done, let dry and then we will add pretty purple glitter.

Adding Glitter

Adding glitter can be messy, make sure to do this outside or in a garage. Begin by placing a large piece of tin foil on the bottom and then I used a second piece of tin foil to capture as much of the falling glitter as possible.

With a small brush paint on Mod Podge where your drips are then using a sponge brush scoop out some sparkles and push them into the glue. Hold a piece of tin foil underneath to catch as many of the sparkles as possible.

I tried three of four different ways to do the sparkles and the sponge brush worked the best. I put black sparkles on the rope first, then added the purple glitter to the candle drips.

Step 7 – Decorating the Halloween Candle Base

Painting the Vultures

I chose two Dollarama vultures that were grey, so I painted them black with one coat of black spray paint and let them dry. I created a small paint area using a box for the back/top/both sides and then a second larger box to make the bottom. This worked very well I had no splatters at all.

To help the vultures stand well on their own, and stay in place, use a nail and poke two holes on each side of the vulture’s feet. Pull some thin black wire florist wire through the holes and twist. If using creepy cloth, I suggest adding the wires, then the cloth, and then finally the vulture.

Then twist the florist wire tightly to hold the vultures.

I also purchased some pink spider lights from Dollar Tree and dark grey creepy cloth. I finished the bottom with dollar store plastic rats I have had for several years. I really wanted a toad so I could add a help me sign, but had no luck. There is always next year I guess.

Step 8 – Adding the Flameless Candles

Carefully shove each tea light candle down inside the opening of your pool noodle. You want the candles to be inside the pool noodle far enough to hold it in place yet still show. I found two of mine were harder to fit in. I used some pliers to crush the pool noodle a bit and it worked.

This is how the Halloween pool noodle candles look at the entrance of our Halloween front porch. I think the dimensions of them work well.

Halloween Pool Noodle Candles Video

If you want to watch me work through all the steps of this Halloween DIY, I have created a video how-to for you. I hope you find it helpful.

Other DIY Halloween Front Porch Decorations

My granddaughters are at the age where they will enjoy spooky decorations more than cutesy ones. But I always consider the young trick and treats; although these candles are spooky, I don’t find them frightening. Here are some of the other easy Halloween DIY ideas we made for our front yard this year. This Halloween wooden sign diy sits in the corner of the porch. You can’t see it in the above photo.