Two years ago I made a Pumpkin Boxed Wine Dispenser. I seriously love that damn thing. I like wine. I drink wine. Being able to walk up and pour wine out of a spout at any given moment… dangerous, but awesome!! There’s one problem… As much as I love Halloween all year long, my pumpkins do get packed up after Thanksgiving, and don’t get pulled back out until each Fall. As Thanksgiving approaches, I am always painfully aware that my time with my pumpkin and it’s never ending amount of wine is coming to a close. And every year, I say the same thing… “I wish I had one of these I could use all year long”. While I am certain that a year-round version will be in the making before long, for now, I figured out a way to keep the wine flowing for just a bit longer with this Holiday Boxed Wine Dispenser with a gothic twist, of course….
The key to these wine dispensers is finding a vessel that can house the bag of wine. It dawned on me that boxes are fairly easy to come by this time of the year, and since they come in such a variation of sizes, it isn’t too hard to find the right size for a bag of wine. I happened to come across a nested set of boxes while out thrifting, but I’ve seen similar boxes on store shelves just about everywhere that has a decent offering of Christmas wrapping and packaging. I recommend a square box. It will give more stability once on the stand. Also, make sure the box is not flimsy. The boxes in the nested set I picked up were actually double walled, so they were incredibly sturdy. Think true Hat Box… not cheap gift box. I chose to use a 7″ square box for my dispenser.
The second piece of this project is the stand. When I created the Pumpkin Dispenser, I attached the pumpkin to a candlestick to create a pedestal. This allowed me to hold a glass of wine under the valve without having to hang the pumpkin over a counter edge (like most other pumpkin dispensers do). To me, this was a given. Besides, I collect candlesticks from all of my thrifting adventures, and always have one on hand for such a project. The one I picked for this project actually used to be part of a set of glass candleholders in my kitchen. A few weeks ago, one of the glasses broke. Instead of tossing it in the trash, I smashed all of the glass off of the base, and put it aside…. turned out to be perfect for this project! If you’re heading out in search of a perfect candlestick for your box, just keep in mind that the wine and box sitting atop the candle will be fairly heavy, so find a sturdy candlestick with a wide top for the box to attach to, and a heavy base.
Once I had the basics, I had to figure out how to decorate it. I was in a fun mood when I worked on this box (probably just excited to have a new dispenser for my wine!) so I decided to go for Dark Whimsy! It seemed like a given to wrap the box like a present. I know I was making this for the holidays, but bright red & green is not exactly my style. Black & Blood Red? Now you’re talking! Black paint, and a red Halloween ribbon for the box, and since a bow would be far too boring… I topped the box with a black rose, and a few die cut bats… a perfectly goth Holiday box for your wine. I know what many people are thinking…. all of those supplies are decidedly Halloween-ish. Don’t worry – I used a few red berry stems to add a Christmas-y vibe. 😉
What you’ll need to recreate this dispenser:
- Heavy Candlestick
- Square Box
- Drill with 1 1/2″ Hole Saw Drill Bit
- Exacto Knife
- Paint
- Wide Ribbon
- Craft Glue (I used Gem-Tac
)
- Awl or other pointed object
- Black E6000 Glue
- Black Rose
- Red Berry Floral stems
- Die Cut Bats
or Bat figures
- Boxed Wine
)
or Bat figures
1. Clean and paint your candlestick. I decided to add a bit of dimension to my candlestick by painting the crevices red, and then painting the entire thing in black, allowing some of the red to peak through.
2. Using your drill, cut a circle centered on the lower part of the box for the pour spout.
3. Test the size of the hole with the valve from the bag of wine. Most valves are 1 5/8″. Depending on the thickness of the box wall, some valves may easily fit through the hole. If yours does not (like mine)… use an exacto knife to carefully shave the hole just until the valve fits snuggly. You may ask… why not just use a 1 5/8″ Saw Bit? You do not want the hole to be bigger than the valve. Start small and adjust as needed. The valve should fit snug, so that it will stay in place.
4. Paint the box.
5. Attach the ribbon to the base of the box using Craft Glue, up the center of the sides, and tucked into the inside.
6. Repeat attaching the ribbon to the box top, ensuring the ribbons align along the sides.
To finish off the top of the box, you can certainly tie a big bow with your ribbon or have a bit of fun… and mix black roses, bats, and a few red glitter berries.
7. To attach the rose, I used an awl to poke a small hole in the top of the box.
8. Then I removed the rose from the stem. Depending on the flower you buy, some will pop right off, and some will need to be clipped off with a wire cutter.
9. I pushed the small base of the stem through the hole in the top of the box, and added a dab of black E6000 to secure in place.
10. I used the floral wire at the base of the red berry stems to wind around the base of the rose. Use another dab of E6000 to hold in place.
11. To top it off, I placed a few die cut bats into the mix of petals and berries. You can obviously skip this step if you want to keep this more holiday and less spooky, but what’s the fun in that? Truth be told… I’m starting to think I can use this for more occasions than just the holidays! It’s definitely coming out for Bat Appreciation Day!!
12. Now, to finish your wine stand….. Using E600 glue, attach the base of the box to the top of the candlestick. Make sure it is centered!
13. Allow to dry for 24 hours.
14. Once dry, insert the bag of wine into the box.
15. Push the Spout thru the hole.
16. Pour!
A tip…. once you get to the bottom of your bag of wine… it helps to put something in the bottom of the box to lift the bag up over the spout, so it continues to pour out with ease!
Enjoy!!
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