We recently celebrated the 50th birthday of my mom and aunt with a fun surprise party. After weeks of planning and coordinating with family we decided we wanted to go with a rustic but sophisticated theme. That means lots of DIY and lots of glitter, by the way. In the end, one of my favorite party elements were these chalkboard wine bottle guestbooks. Bottles of their favorite wine were primed, painted with chalkboard paint and then finished with some gold glitter. Guests were able to sign the bottles with chalk markers, making them a permanent keepsake.
The tricky part about this project is getting the paint to adhere to the smooth glass surface. I started out by soaking the bottles in a stock pot of room temperature water and dish soap. Then I used a sharp knife to remove the labels. There are a lot of ways to remove labels from bottles, but I was specifically avoiding any method that used heat since I didn’t want to spoil the wine inside. The labels came off fairly easily and I used a magic eraser to remove any remaining glue.
It would be ideal to order a primer specifically meant for glass, but I wasn’t able to find any locally and didn’t have time to order online, so I wound up using some standard household primer from Home Depot. I did four coats, waiting a half hour in between coats, and then allowed the primer to dry overnight. The next day I applied the chalkboard paint. This also took four coats to get an even coverage, again waiting a half hour in between coats.
I let each Chalkboard Wine Bottle cure for 48 hours, then came the glitter. To apply I just used some Elmer’s glue around the areas I wanted the glitter, then shook out the glitter to cover the glue evenly. Once the glitter was completely dry I decorated the bottles with their names and set them out for the party.
Signing the bottles was easy as the chalk markers dry quickly.
After the party I slid each chalkboard wine bottle into a basket along with some handmade pasta, sauce and a bar of Merlot infused chocolate so that our guests of honor could treat themselves to a quiet dinner!
Supply List:
Chalkboard Paint
Primer
Chalk Markers
Bottle of Wine
Foam Applicators
Allow at least four days to complete this project, as the primer and paint need to dry and cure before being used! Total active project time is about an hour, difficulty level: easy.
I love this project because it can be customized and used for so many events – milestone birthdays, weddings, engagements, retirement parties – and you can easily personalize the wine or champagne to the tastes of the guest of honor, making it a truly customized party element!
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