How to make a DIY candle holder from a birch branch

Today I’m going to show you how to make an easy DIY candle holder using a birch branch!

One Christmas tradition we did growing up was to light some candles and listen to the Boney M Christmas cassette while decorating the Christmas tree. This is a tradition that I loved and that we want to continue with our own children. However, over the last many years with little hands and clumsy toddlers, we haven’t lit too many candles. But this year I thought the kids were old enough that with some supervision, I could finally light a few candles around the house!

And because it’s who I am, my first thought isn’t to go out and buy new tealight holders. I would rather make something myself. I’m going to show you how I made DIY candle holders of varying heights from birch branches I collected from our back yard.

Step 1: Find Birch Branches

We have about 28 acres of treed land, so it wasn’t too hard to find a small birch tree. Birch branches are so pretty with the paper bark and look really nice used as decoration. I have a small hand saw for trimming branches that I used to cut down a tree that was about three inches in diameter at the biggest point.

Step 2: Cut Branch Into Chunks

From the one small tree, I cut nine candle holders at various heights using our mitre saw. I made some three inches tall, some four inches, and some five inches. I liked the idea of putting them in clusters of three birch branch candle holders with different heights.

Step 3: Drill Hole For The Candle

To drill the hole for the tealights, I used a 1.5 inch diameter Forstner drill bit. I drilled the hole about 1 inch deep so the tealight was flush with the top of the birch branch candle.  

Step 4: Add Candles to your DIY candle holder

Next just clean off the dust and put in your tea light candles!

I kind of like how these DIY candle holders are imperfect. Some are a bit slanted and you can see the saw marks, but they are meant to be a bit rustic looking.

Now we’re all set to turn on the Boney M Christmas music! What do you think of these birch branch candle holders? Is this something you could see yourself making? These would also be great to leave up for winter decorating once Christmas is over!