A terrarium in Singapore costs as little as S$14.80 for a ready-made mini jar, around S$22 to S$38 per person for a guided workshop, or close to nothing if you assemble one from a S$2 glass jar and a few cuttings. Those are three very different ways to buy the same little glass garden, and the gap between them is where you either save money or quietly overpay for sand and a figurine. This guide gives the real 2026 price for each route, names the shops and workshop providers behind the numbers, and works out which option is honestly worth it depending on whether you want a gift, an activity, or a low-cost desk plant that survives a week of neglect. Prices move, so every figure is dated and tied back to the provider you can check it against.
A terrarium is just plants in a sealed or open glass container, but you pay for it in one of three ways. You can buy a finished one off the shelf, pay to build one at a workshop, or source the parts and make it yourself. The price for the same end result ranges from a couple of dollars to over a hundred, so the route you pick matters more than the plant inside.
Ready-made is the fastest and, at the cheap end, the cheapest. Lush Glass Door lists mini egg terrariums from S$14.80 to S$14.90, with themed light terrariums around S$46 and geometric designs near S$73, as of June 2026. Love In A Bottle at Millenia Walk sells mini glass-jar pieces from S$15.90 to S$35.90. Those are gift-ready and need no effort, which is exactly what you are paying the markup for.
Workshops cost more per piece because you are buying an activity, not just a plant. Guided sessions run from roughly S$22 to S$68 per person depending on the studio and the container, and most include every material plus an instructor. Building one yourself from scratch is the value play, since a plain glass vessel, soil, a moss or succulent and some pebbles can total under S$15 with leftovers for a second jar. The catch is you absorb the learning curve and the dead-plant risk yourself.
| Route | From (S$) | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ready-made mini | 14.80 | Finished jar, no effort | A quick gift or desk plant |
| DIY home kit | 23 | Boxed materials plus a tutorial | Doing it at home, no class |
| Workshop (per pax) | 22 | Materials plus live instruction | A date, outing or team activity |
| Build from scratch | under 15 | Parts you source yourself | Lowest cost and full control |
| Custom or large piece | 49.90 | Bespoke design, bigger glass | Statement gift or decor |
If you want one in your hands today with zero effort, ready-made is the route, and the price spread between shops is wide. The same palm-sized jar can be S$15 at one studio and double that at another, so it pays to know the entry prices before you walk in or check out online.
Lush Glass Door sits at the bottom for finished pieces, with mini terrariums from S$14.80. A Tilly A Day starts around S$16 for minis and runs to S$35, with customised closed terrariums from S$49.90 and open ones up to about S$69.90. Mosto Terrarium runs figurine-themed jars from S$35 to S$55. Terrarium4u starts at S$38 and climbs to S$158 for elaborate themes, while The Green Capsule at Funan and OUE Downtown Gallery does film-character pieces from S$30 to S$130. The pattern is consistent: the floor is around S$15, and everything above that is paying for size, theme and customisation rather than a better plant.
For gifting, a ready-made terrarium reads as more expensive than it costs, which is the whole appeal. A S$30 jar looks like a considered present, and unlike a pooled housewarming gift it is self-contained and needs no wrapping. Just check whether the plant inside is live or preserved, because a preserved or artificial arrangement lasts for years with no care, while a live one needs light and the occasional misting.
| Shop | From (S$) | Typical range (S$) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lush Glass Door | 14.80 | 14.80 to 73 | Cheapest minis; geometric designs cost more |
| Love In A Bottle | 15.90 | 15.90 to 75 | Millenia Walk; Japanese-style glass jars |
| A Tilly A Day | 16 | 16 to 69.90 | Custom closed pieces from 49.90 |
| The Green Capsule | 30 | 30 to 130 | Funan and OUE; themed character pieces |
| Mosto Terrarium | 35 | 35 to 55 | Figurine themes |
| Terrarium4u | 38 | 38 to 158 | Concrete-dome and elaborate themes |
A terrarium workshop charges per person, and what you are really buying is a one to two hour activity with someone showing you how, plus the social part of doing it with others. Treat the fee as the cost of an outing, not the cost of a plant, and it makes more sense. As an activity it competes with a movie or a meal, not with a S$15 jar.
The cheap end starts near S$22 per pax, with Terrarium Singapore and Terrarium Workshop Singapore listing sessions from S$30. J2 Terrarium starts at S$38 per person, and FunEmpire runs in-person sessions from S$30 with premium packages from S$55. Crafts For Green near Marymount sits higher, with succulent or candy-jar workshops at S$55, a square-tank mossarium at S$68, and its best-selling teardrop terrarium at S$65, all for a one to one-and-a-half hour session. Most market sessions land in the S$33 to S$40 band, and almost all include the glass jar, soil, moss, plants, pebbles and figurines, so there is rarely a surprise add-on beyond optional figurine upgrades from about S$2 each.
Workshops earn their keep two ways. First, as a couple or small-group activity where the experience is the point. Second, for corporate or team bookings, where providers like FunEmpire run groups from 5 up to 500 people and fold in photography and logistics. If it is purely a date idea, weigh it against other low-cost outings the way you would slot any treat into your personal budget rather than calling it a plant purchase. The plant is the souvenir; the afternoon is the product.
| Provider | From (S$/pax) | Session length | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terrarium Singapore | 30 | About 1.5 hrs | Min group sizes apply |
| FunEmpire | 30 | 1.5 hrs | Groups 5 to 500+; premium from 55 |
| J2 Terrarium | 38 | Up to 2 hrs | Yishun studio; any group size |
| Crafts For Green | 55 | 1 to 1.5 hrs | Teardrop 65; square mossarium 68 |
| Market average | 33 to 40 | 1 to 2 hrs | Most studios cluster here |
A DIY home kit is a workshop in a box. The studio packs the same materials, ships them to you, and points you to a video tutorial so you build it at your own pace. You skip the venue and the instructor, and the price drops accordingly.
FunEmpire sells a DIY home kit at S$35 with delivery in three to five working days, and runs a virtual workshop at S$35 per pax where a live host walks you through the shipped materials. Funworks lists a DIY terrarium kit from S$23 per set, and Crafts For Green has budget DIY kits in the S$39 to S$42 band, available on request. A Tilly A Day bundles its kits with a QR-code video tutorial. For one person, a kit usually undercuts an in-person workshop by S$5 to S$15, mainly because you are not paying for studio time.
The honest read: a kit makes sense if you want guidance and curated materials but not a class, or if you are gifting an activity to someone elsewhere on the island. If you are comfortable sourcing parts yourself, the kit's S$23 to S$42 still carries a convenience premium over the build-from-scratch route below, which can come in under S$15.
The cheapest terrarium is the one you assemble from parts, because you cut out the studio margin entirely. The components are basic and most are sold cheaply at neighbourhood nurseries, FairPrice, Daiso or online, and a single shopping trip usually yields enough for two or three jars.
You need a clear glass container (a recycled jam jar, a S$2 Daiso vase or a cookie jar), a handful of pebbles or activated charcoal for drainage, potting soil, and a low-light plant. Sheet moss, fittonia, a small succulent or an air plant all work, and these are the same plants covered in our guide to cheap indoor house plants. Decorative sand and a figurine are optional cents-on-the-dollar extras. Sourced this way, a closed terrarium often totals under S$15, and a second jar from the leftovers is close to free.
The trade-off is time and a learning curve. Layer drainage at the bottom, then charcoal, then soil, plant, then mist lightly, and a closed jar can run for months between waterings. Get the balance wrong and the first plant may rot or mould, which is the same dead-plant risk a workshop quietly insures you against. If you treat one failed S$3 plant as cheap tuition, building your own is the clear value winner and a far better use of a spare hour than a last-minute store-bought gift.
The sticker price is only the start. What separates a S$15 jar that lasts years from one you bin in a month is whether you match the terrarium type to how much care you will actually give. Get that right and the running cost is almost nothing.
Closed terrariums recycle their own moisture, so a sealed moss or fittonia jar can go weeks, sometimes months, between waterings, which makes it close to free to run. Open terrariums, usually succulents and cacti, need bright light and a little water every week or two, so they cost slightly more attention but no more money. Air-plant arrangements need a soak every week or so and no soil at all. Preserved or artificial pieces, common in gift terrariums, need nothing and last for years, which is why a S$30 preserved jar can be better value than a S$15 live one you neglect to death.
Match the plant to your habits and the ongoing cost stays near zero. The biggest hidden expense is replacement: a dead plant means buying another, so the cheapest terrarium over a year is the low-maintenance one that survives. A jar of moss on a shaded desk asks almost nothing of you, which is also why a terrarium beats most desk plants on a pure effort-to-cost basis.
If the appeal is greenery and a hands-in-soil hobby rather than a glass ornament specifically, Singapore hands out a chunk of it for free, and that reframes the whole spend. A terrarium is the paid version of something the state actively subsidises.
NParks runs the Gardening with Edibles programme, which has distributed hundreds of thousands of free vegetable seed packets to residents who register, alongside free online growing resources. Its Community in Bloom movement supports more than 1,500 community gardens with around 40,000 gardeners, and NParks operates over 1,000 allotment plots across eleven parks for residents who want a patch of their own. None of that costs the S$22 to S$68 a workshop charges.
The point is not that free seeds replace a terrarium, since a sealed glass jar of moss is a different thing from a balcony of kangkong. The point is to spend deliberately. If you want a low-cost desk plant, build one from scratch for under S$15. If you want a hobby, the free NParks route is hard to beat. Pay workshop prices when the experience or the gift is genuinely the thing you want, the same discipline that keeps any hobby from drifting into lifestyle inflation.
There is no single cheapest answer, because the routes solve different problems. The trick is to be honest about what you are buying before you pay, since the same S$40 buys a finished statement piece, a workshop afternoon, or three home-built jars.
For a quick, presentable gift, a ready-made jar from S$14.80 to S$30 is the best ratio of looks to spend, especially a preserved one that needs no care. For a couple's date or a team-building session, a workshop from S$22 to S$40 per pax is fair, as long as you bank it as an outing rather than a plant. For the lowest cost and full control, building from scratch for under S$15 wins outright, and it scales: one shopping trip yields several jars. A DIY kit sits in between, worth its small premium only if you want curated materials without sourcing them.
Whatever you pick, treat it as discretionary spending and decide the budget first, not after you are charmed by a figurine upsell. A terrarium is a nice thing to own, and at under S$15 self-built it is genuinely cheap. The overpaying happens when a S$15 idea quietly becomes a S$100 one because the studio had a prettier jar.
A ready-made mini terrarium starts from about S$14.80 at Lush Glass Door, with most finished pieces between S$15 and S$75. Guided workshops run roughly S$22 to S$68 per person depending on the studio and container. Building one yourself from a cheap glass jar, soil, pebbles and a plant can cost under S$15, which is the lowest-cost route by far.
Making your own is cheaper. A recycled or S$2 Daiso jar, some pebbles or charcoal, a small bag of soil and a S$3 to S$8 plant often totals under S$15, with parts left over for a second jar. A ready-made piece starts around S$15 and a workshop costs more because you are also paying for instruction and the experience, not just the plant.
The cheapest guided workshops start near S$22 per pax, with Terrarium Singapore and FunEmpire listing sessions from S$30 as of June 2026. Most studios cluster in the S$33 to S$40 range, and prices include the glass jar, soil, moss, plants, pebbles and figurines. A DIY home kit from around S$23, such as Funworks, can be cheaper still for one person since there is no studio time to pay for.
Closed terrariums are lower maintenance because they recycle their own moisture, so a sealed moss or fittonia jar can go weeks or months between waterings and costs almost nothing to run. Open terrariums with succulents or cacti need bright light and watering every week or two. Either way the running cost is near zero; the main expense is replacing a plant that dies, so matching the type to your habits keeps it cheap.
Yes, a terrarium reads as more thoughtful than it costs, which is part of the appeal. A ready-made jar of S$20 to S$30 looks like a considered present and needs no wrapping. For a no-care option, choose a preserved or artificial arrangement that lasts for years, since a live terrarium needs light and occasional misting and a neglected one becomes a dead gift.
Yes. NParks runs the Gardening with Edibles programme, distributing free vegetable seed packets to residents who register, plus free online growing guides. Its Community in Bloom network supports more than 1,500 community gardens and over 1,000 allotment plots across eleven parks. That suits anyone who wants the hobby of growing rather than a glass ornament specifically, at no cost.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.