This content may contain affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.

My DIY piggy bank jar upcycle will show you how to turn an old glass jar into a simple piggy bank, including my solution for a lid on a jar without threaded collar piece (like a mason jar has).

DIY piggy bank jar upcycle, the perfect craft for kids!

Hey guys! Today I’ve got a fun DIY piggy bank jar upcycle. I’ve been wanting to get R a piggy bank for a while. I’m really into personal finance and think it’s never too young to start learning about money and money management.

She doesn’t get an allowance or anything (she’s 3), but sometimes she gets a few quarters for helping with various things. And sometimes my dad takes her to one of the buildings he manages, and she helps water the lobby plants. She gets paid for that in four quarters 🙂

I decided to seize this accumulation of money at her first job by getting her a piggy bank. I even almost picked one up at Target, but I didn’t find any I liked. So I thought maybe we could make one together.

I popped down to my craft closet to sort through my massive collection of clean glass jars. You guys, I cannot throw them away. They are perfect good glass jars. I always remove the labels and clean the jars out after emptying pickles, jalapenos, etc. It’s a problem.

I usually use them for plant stuff, but I have accumulated so many that I needed to get a bit more creative! The particular jar I used for this DIY was a jar of jalapenos. I decided to run with it!

Here’s what I used:

And here’s my piggy bank jar upcycle!

Step 1: Cut out the DIY lid for the piggy bank jar

Since I was upcycling an old jar, it just had a regular lid. I ditched that and got to work trying to figure out a new solution for a lid. If you are using a mason jar with a threaded collar, you can buy cute little inserts with a slot in them. But you usually have to buy a bunch, so keep that in mind.

So I decided to work with what I had on hand and use black kraftboard and holographic adhesive vinyl. The black kraftboard is what I had left over from a few recent projects—some of the accessories I made for my post on how to throw a birthday party for a cat and some of the trim in R’s DIY dollhouse.

The black kraftboard is on the thicker side, but it isn’t super firm. It probably would have been fine with just one layer looking back, but I cut several pieces, glued them on top of one another, and then but the adhesive on top.

To make the shape in Design Space, I measured the top of the jar and made a circle that size. Then I found a rounded rectangle shape, put it in the middle of the circle, and used the slice tool to “punch” it out. I used my Explore Air 2 to cut everything.

If you’re new to slicing with Cricut projects, check out my post about how to use the slice tool in Design Space to knock text and shapes out of other objects. Pretty handy.

Step 2: Glue kraft pieces together and add holographic vinyl

I ultimately decided to stack three pieces of kraftboard on top to glue them together. That seemed sturdy enough! I then topped it off with the holographic adhesive vinyl layer to make it pretty. The holographic vinyl is the same stuff I used on R’s customized monster craft caddy.

Mason jar piggy bank lid DIY

If you are working with a jar that has a threaded collar, you can do this approach too! You can simple put this piece on top of the jar and then secure it in place using the threaded collar. So it’s pretty versatile.

Step 3: Glue the lid in place

Gluing isn’t the most ideal solution because you can’t remove it. But! It’s nice because it keeps R from taking the lid off and dumping the coins out. Also, she’s 3. It’s going to take a WHILE for the jar to fill up and I have to worry about getting them out!

I do think I’ll just end up pulling the lid off when we need to get the money out. And then reusing the jar for something else. It’s sturdy enough to stay in place with strong glue, but not so sturdy that I can’t remove it in the future.

For more kid stuff, check out my homemade sidewalk chalk paint, resin play jewelry, and cheap personalized craft caddy!

Step 4: Add the “savings” decal

And to make it look a little prettier, I cut out a rounded rectangle (the same one I used for the lid opening) in black adhesive vinyl. Then I cut the word “savings” out of holographic adhesive vinyl to match the lid. And applied that to the jar using transfer tape.

Pin my DIY piggy bank jar post!