Last year at The One of a Kind Show we bought some concrete succulent planters. Everyone who comes into our house loves and comments on (in a positive way).
They look really cool, and I love a good little project, so I decided to build some myself.
While they are messy to build, they are super easy. And, you can do some cool spray painting like I did, or you can give some to the kids to paint themselves.
The only thing “DADable” about this post is letting your kids paint the final product, which can be a good arts and crafts project for an hour – my niece, nephew and second cousin-in-law had a blast doing this (in the video below you can hear them trying to name some new colours for painting, while I was making a second batch).

Here’s what you’ll need:
- Quikrete (any hardware store should have this)
- Spray paint (I used metallic gold and bronze,for any surface)
- Red Solo Cups, and some smaller cups (Dollar Store)
- A big plastic spoon for mixing and pouring (Dollar Store)
- Vegetable oil and wet paper towels – or, some PAM Spray
- A big jug of water
- Medical gloves
- Painters tape
Making the planters:
-
- Put on the gloves – you don’t want to get concrete poisoning (I don’t actually know if this is a thing, but I had it in my mind that I didn’t want to touch any of the stuff
- Pick a work area, and cover it with plastic wrap
- Layout all the materials
What you’ll need, all laid out - Take the paper towels, and pour on the vegetable oil, then rub the inside of the Red Solo Cups and the outside of the smaller cups – dont be shy with the oil, as this will help you release the forms
- Mix the concrete – I make it a bit wetter than the instructions call for
Mixing the Concrete - Pour the concrete into the Red Solo Cups, and fill about an inch from the top, then tap them to get out bubbles
- Push the smaller cup into the Red Solo Cup, and repeat for as much concrete and cups that you have
- Set them in a well ventilated space, and let cure for 24 hours
All the planter forms filled and ready for curing
Painting the planters:
- Grab the planters, and remove the cups – if you used a lot of oil, this should be easy. I lost 3 planters because I couldn’t separate them
The final planter, pre spray paint - Grab the painters tape, and tape cool designs on the planters – remember, you’re basically working with a negative – so tape where you do NOT want to see paint on the planter
All the planters taped, and ready to be sprayed - Then, go spray them up, and let dry for 30+ minutes
- Remove tape, and you’ve got your planters
The Final Painted Product - Run to the store, and buy some succulents, and drop them in!
Done!
Special shout out to Casie Stewart for showing me how this is done.
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