If you just had a crazy party last night and you've got a ton of empty cans and bottles laying around, don't throw them away yet. Perhaps you never gave it much thought, but there are actually a great many exciting things you can do with those aluminum and glass fun-holders. From games to crafts, furniture to art, there's something for everyone when it comes to empties. If you're wondering just what in the heck we're suggesting, check out the list below to learn of 13 new uses for your empty beer cans and bottles.
Make Christmas Ornaments
With the holiday season right around the corner, you might as well get festive with your empties. Small shot sized bottles make great Christmas ornaments if you decorate them properly. Beer cans can also be cut and folded into stars, sleighs, or almost any holiday-themed design you desire. All you need is some hot glue, a sharp pair of scissors and some basic arts and crafts supplies. Not only will this liven up your home, but its a fun way to kill an evening with your friends and six pack of brew.
Shank Somebody
Next time you get involved in a riotous bar fight with someone bigger and stronger than you, remember that beer bottles can be your best friend. Simply grab an empty by the neck and smash the end of it against the bar. Suddenly you are holding a sharp, jagged, painful looking tool that makes the average pocket knife look like a q-tip. Not only will your make-shift shank serve to protect you from your adversary, but you'll look damn cool smashing it against the bar and thrusting at your target.
Use Them For Target Practice
Clay pigeons are so expensive, and with the economy the way it is, who can afford to spend money on something you're just going to blast into pieces anyway? Instead of giving the sporting good store all your money for targets, simply grab a garbage bag full of empty cans and bottles and go to town. The best idea is to line them up at a distance, at varying heights and locations and try to take them out as fast as possible. Get creative by hanging them from trees, concealing half of them behind rocks, etc. Not only is this a fun way to get rid of your empties, you'll improve your shot considerably with practice.
Play Guitar With Them
In some genres of music, guitar players use glass slides to get warm bluesy tones out of the strings. Oddly enough, a glass beer bottle accomplishes this same goal. When performers gulp down a bottle, put the empty to the strings and wail away, the crowd always loves it and it makes them look like true aficionados of their instrument. Practice this technique at home before breaking it out on stage, as everyone sounds terrible doing it at first. After a while though, it'll become an entertaining addition to your live repertoire.
Collect Them For Money
Most people don't think about this, but every bottle and can you throw away is five cents you could be putting into your pocket. This might not seem like a lot right now, but over a four year college stay at a frat house that could be thousands of dollars in thrown away money. Some people even make a small income off collecting bottles and cans from around the neighborhood. This might not do wonders for your social image, but if such things don't matter much to you, the streets are lined with money for the taking.
Smash Them Over Your Head
Sometimes all that's needed to have a good time with your empties is a thick skull and something to prove to your friends. If this sounds like you, you might try picking some up and smashing them over your head. If you can successfully do this without reeling in pain, it'll make you look like a serious hard-ass. Having such a skill is no waste of time either - the next time some scrawny punk starts hitting on your girl in the bar you can just walk up with a deranged look in your eye and smash a bottle over your head while screaming and snarling at him. He'll run for the hills for sure.
Make a Chandelier
Who said Chandeliers had to be made of crystal? If you're not a super high roller but need a cool light fixture to spruce up your home or bar, why not work with what you've got? Insert the light-bulbs down into the bottle and arrange them on a wire or metal frame such that they resemble an organized piece. Try using a wide variety of colored glasses so that the light cast from the fixture is multidimensional.
Build a Sweet New Ride
In case you have such an absurd amount of cans that you've tried everything on this list so far and still have a pile left over, you might try sculpting a car such as the one pictured above. Always wanted a Lamborghini but never had the money? Try crushing all your old beer cans up and arranging them into the body of an '08 Gallardo! You might not be able to drive it, but it will make a great lawn ornament and conversation piece for years to come.
Play Baseball With Them
Looking for a fun and original game to play with your buddies the morning after a big party? Try this out: Build a stand about waist high and place a can on it. Now grab a baseball bat and crack it as hard as you can. Now go stand by your can and challenge a friend to beat your distance. You can even come up with crazy stipulations, like the loser has to buy the beer for the next party.
Grow Something in Them
Flower pots are over rated. Instead, why not try growing some pretty flowers out of your empty Bud cans or Miller Light bottles? Begin by filling the bottle three quarters of the way with dirt. If you're using a can, cut the top off and then fill it with dirt. Now throw in some seeds and then cover them the rest of the way with more dirt. Place the bottle or can on a sunny windowsill and water it once a day. Soon you can enjoy the radiance that only a beer bottle born flower can bring a room.
Go Bowling
If you have access to a long hallway and don't care much about making a big mess, you can have some real fun bowling with your empties. Set up the bottles or cans at the end of the hallway in a traditional bowling pin triangle. Now grab yourself a tennis ball (anything bigger would be too easy) and hurl it down the hall. The cans will topple and fall, the bottles might smash, and you'll have a blast. If you got enough empties, you and a few friends might even get a full length game out of it.
Make Fishing Lures Out of the Caps
With all this talk about what to do with the bottles, we forgot to mention something really cool you can do with the caps. If you enjoy fishing you'll be pleased to hear that all those shiny caps you usually discard so quickly can be turned into valuable lures. Grab yourself a bag of three prong hooks and a hammer and nail. Use the nail to gently make a small hole in the cap. Now attach the hook via the hole. Now make a similar hole at the other end and attach a swivel clip and you're ready to reel in some big ones. Seeing as fish don't have very big brains, these free little creations actually work quite nicely.
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