Toilet Paper Upcycling
Empty rolls turn into figures, stamps, and decorations.
An empty toilet paper roll usually goes straight in the trash. But this unassuming cardboard tube is packed with crafting potential, and you don't need to buy anything for it.
We've put together some ideas that all use empty toilet paper rolls, from spooky Halloween figures to stamps and decorations for Easter and New Year's Eve. It's a perfect way to tackle that pile of paper rolls at home while having fun.
With just one click, you can find the complete step-by-step guide for each idea. It's a good idea to start collecting some empty rolls now, so you'll have materials ready for the next rainy day.
Fantasy characters and little works of art
With just a few simple moves, the round roll transforms into all sorts of new creatures: spooky, cuddly, or simply magical.
Halloween Craft Ideas with Toilet Paper Rolls
With just four empty toilet paper rolls, you can create four Halloween figures: a witch with a pointy hat, a bat with vampire fangs, a spider with eight pipe cleaner legs, and a mummy wrapped in gauze. There's even a printable template for the witch's hat and bat wings. In the end, all four come together to make a cute little Halloween display for your windowsill.
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Ghost Light from a Toilet Roll
At the end of a cardboard tube, attach a transparent sheet with a painted ghost design using tape or a rubber band. When you shine a flashlight or your phone's light through the tube, the ghost dances beautifully and eerily on the wall or ceiling. It's a fantastic shadow play for dark autumn evenings.
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Alien from Toilet Paper Roll
A pipe cleaner is wrapped around the roll, the ends are twisted into loops, and googly eyes are glued on, and just like that, the alien has its antennae. Some wool around it and a few pom-poms make it colorful and fluffy. Depending on how many pipe cleaners and eyes you use, each alien gets its own unique face.
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DIY Mushroom House Craft
Carefully cut out the door and windows from the toilet paper roll, then glue a red-painted muffin tin with white dots on top to create the roof. An LED tealight inside makes the windows and door glow like in a real fairy tale cottage. It's a lovely decorative piece for the shelf or bedside table.
View instructions →Stamping with the roller
By squeezing or cutting the round roll, you can create your own little stamp, which allows you to redesign cards and pictures in a whole new way.
Stamping Chicks
Dip the end of the roll in yellow paint and press it onto paper, and you've got the round body of a chick. Add some eyes, a beak, and thin little legs with colored pencils, and just like that, you've transformed a simple roll print into a whole flock of fluffy chicks. It's especially lovely around Easter.
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Stamping Hearts
If you gently squeeze a round toilet paper roll from the top, it magically transforms into a heart. Once dipped in color and pressed onto paper, you'll create one self-stamped heart after another, perfect for handmade cards for Mother's Day, Father's Day, or Valentine's Day.
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Stamping Fireworks
A few cuts at the end of the roll, slightly bent outward, turn them into a fireworks stamp. Dipped in colorful paint and pressed onto paper, they create little bursts of color like the New Year's Eve sky. Sprinkle a bit of glitter on the still wet paint, and the fireworks really sparkle.
View instructions →For Easter
Two classics that turn empty rolls into bunnies and chicks just in time for Easter.
Easter Craft: Cute Bunny from Toilet Paper Rolls
A toilet paper roll becomes the body of a bunny, and from a second roll, you can cut out the long ears and paint the inside pink. With painted eyes, a nose, whiskers, and a pom-pom for a tail, a cute little bunny will soon be hopping across the table, making for lovely Easter decor and a great example of how something that seems like trash can turn into something brand new.
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Make Easter Chick Egg Cups
A yellow-painted toilet paper roll is tightly wrapped with yellow yarn, and a small beak made of orange paper along with two googly eyes turns it into a chick. On top, a single Easter egg fits perfectly, transforming the old roll into a fluffy egg cup for the Easter breakfast table.
View instructions →For Christmas and New Year's Eve
From snowman cards to confetti cannons at midnight: it's worth collecting empty rolls even for the holidays.
Make a Snowman Christmas Card
Cut the toilet paper roll into three rings, paint them white, and stack them on a card to create a snowman. Add a paper carrot nose, draw on some stick arms, and sprinkle a few dotted snowflakes around to finish off the card. It's a handmade Christmas card that no one will want to part with.
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Party Poppers for New Year's Eve: DIY Fun for the Year Change
A halved and reassembled toilet paper roll is filled with confetti, small candies, or written New Year's wishes, then wrapped in colorful paper and tied at both ends. When pulled apart by two people, the surprise pops out, making for a lovely little ritual to welcome the New Year or as a party favor for a New Year's Eve celebration.
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Make a Confetti Cannon
At the end of a toilet paper roll, place a cut and tightly stretched balloon. Inside, hide some confetti and a few notes with the best moments of the year. When you pull the balloon hard at midnight, everything shoots into the air together, marking a loud and personal start to the new year.
View instructions →Noch mehr Inspiration?
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And if you're looking for more ideas for reusing and DIY projects, feel free to explore our categories or check out the free Grubenfuchs app. We wish you lots of fun collecting, crafting, and stamping.