How to Make Drink Charms from Pipe Cleaners

5 authors | 13 revisions | Last updated: December 12, 2012

Joanna Kerpinger, Carolyn Barratt, Teresa, Flickety, ZareenPin ItArticle EditDiscuss

Need wine or drink charms in a pinch so your guests don’t mix up their glasses? Don't dash off to the store in a last minute attempt to stock up on charms; simply grab some pipe cleaners from your craft box and fashion a few yourself.

Edit Steps1Choose suitable trinkets. Get creative and use as many trinkets and goodies from the craft box to make drink charms your guests will appreciate. Find any charms or faux jewels that can be glued or hung from a pipe cleaner. This includes large beads, rhinestones, pieces of old jewelery or colorful string.

2Grab as many colorful pipe cleaners as possible. Use brand new pipe cleaners, or ones that look new.

Keep a few tools on hand like a sharp pair of scissors, hot glue and perhaps some wire cutters. Depending on the intricacy of the design, you’ll want to have tools on hand for easy assembly.

3Design your drink charms. A simple design would consist of merely winding differently colored pipe cleaners around the glass stems and telling each guest their color. But prettifying the pipe cleaners is a lot more fun and makes them "charming":Create a theme. For any type of party theme, from bachelorette to baby showers, choose trinkets that reflect the event. For example, if you're throwing a holiday party, use red and green pipe cleaners and string snowflake or snowman charms down the side or each one.

Consider your guests’ tastes. If you're putting pipe cleaners on drinks for a bunch of guys, you may not want to bedazzle the bejewel the cleaners. Keep in mind overall taste and mood.

4Size up the type of glass that will be holding the charm when shaping the charms––be sure to leave room for holding the glass. Cut smaller stemmed drink charms down to size. For example, for a wine glass you may not need a full sized pipe cleaner to create the charm, so cut it in half (doing this will provide you with double the pipe cleaners).

5Shape and fashion the charm on the drink glass itself. Because pipe cleaners are so malleable, it tends to be easiest to shape the charm directly on the glass itself. Examples of shapes around the glass using pipe cleaners include:A wound-around charm. Be sure it doesn't wriggle too much though, as the glass needs to be sturdy to hold.

A simple heart shape.

Animal or plant shapes.Letters for people's initials.Iconic shapes, such as Christmas trees for the holiday season, a butterfly for spring or a flip flop for a summer party.6Add embellishments. Once you've finished winding the shape of the pipe cleaner and it's attached to the glass stem, add a few embellishments. Glue, hang, wind or staple the trinkets to the pipe cleaner, whichever method proves easiest and most durable.

Be careful not to drip glue onto the glass itself. Also, be certain that all glue has dried permanently before giving the glasses to guests.7Done! You now have a set of pretty drink charms that look fantastic.

Edit TipsIf you plan to recycle and reuse your pipe cleaner wine charms, consider finding a box are drawer for storage, where they won’t be crushed.Cut pipe cleaners into small strips and use them simply to hold charms or trinkets.

Edit Things You'll NeedPipe cleaners (also known as chenille sticks); colors up to you but matching to a theme or season is a good choiceCharmsScissorsHot glue gunWire cutter (optional, very sharp scissors might be adequate)

Edit Related wikiHowsHow to Make Your Own Glass Beads from ScratchHow to Clean Wine GlassesHow to Make Cheap WineHow to Make a Paper Cocktail UmbrellaHow to Reuse Old Wine Corks

Edit Sources and Citationshttp://www.realsimple.com/new-uses-for-old-things/new-uses-crafts/drink-labels-00100000071316/index.html – research sourceArticle Info Featured Article

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