Christmas Ice Mold

 

I love finding ways to decorate for Christmas without spending lots of money. When I saw a Christmas ice mold for holding a bottle of wine I knew I had to make it. It not only is so beautiful, it only cost me $.99 to make. It was easy to make, although it does take a bit of time to freeze. I would recommend making it at least a day in advance. It will look beautiful in your kitchen or on a table at a holiday party.

You will need a large pitcher, an old 2-liter bottle, some cranberries, and some pine needles. I already had everything except for the cranberries which I found on sale for $.99.

Place some of the cranberries and the pine needles in the bottom of the pitcher. Then fill the pitcher with about 1 inch of water. Place in the freezer and allow to freeze. This will make a nice sturdy base for the wine holder.

While it is in the freezer, take the empty 2-liter and fill it about 2/3 of the way up with salt water. Adding about 2 tablespoons of salt to the 2-liter will keep the water in the 2-liter from freezing. If you have sand or some other product to weight down the 2-liter you can use that too. When your base is fairly solid you can set the 2-liter on the base.

Now you will need to add some more cranberries and pine needles to the pitcher. I used about 1/4 of the bag of cranberries at this point.

Then I added about 2 to 3 inches of water to the pitcher and placed it in the freezer. After a couple of hours the next level had frozen.

Once again add some more cranberries and pine needles to the pitcher and fill up with a couple of inches of water. Place in the freezer until completely frozen. Once it is frozen remove from the freezer and allow to sit for a few minutes until it is easily removed from the pitcher. It usually takes about 5-10 minutes before I can remove mine.

Then carefully remove the 2-liter from the ice mold. I like to dump out the salt water first so I can bend the 2-liter carefully out.

 

Once you have removed the 2-liter you can put it on a plate. I like to add some pine needles on the plate around the ice mold. Place a wine bottle inside to keep chilled. I have found that mine usually lasts for about 2-3 hours before it starts getting too melted. Last year I left it out for an hour or so and then put it up. I was able to use it on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that way.

 

For just $1 you can easily create a beautiful Christmas Ice Mold to hold your wine or other bottled drinks. It's an easy inexpensive way to bring the holidays into your home.