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6 Clever & Creative DIY Christmas Lighting Ideas You Can Make Today (With Pictures)

Tea Lights

If you’re on a budget or want to use some stuff you have lying around the house, making your own Christmas lighting is a great way to brighten up the holidays. Many of these ideas are fairly simple, while others require more time and work. Let’s dive into some of the best DIY Christmas lights you can make yourself at home today.

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The 6 Clever & Creative DIY Christmas Lighting Ideas

1. Mason Jar Lanterns

Mason Jar Lanterns
Image By: A Piece of Rainbow
Items needed: Mason jars, candles/LEDs, paper, scissors

This is a fairly simple way to add some cheer around the holidays if you happen to have some mason jars lying around. Put a candle or LED light in the jar, then get out your scissors. Cut some designs into the paper and wrap them around the jars. Now the light will shine through your holiday landscapes or simple designs.


2. Fairy Light Christmas Tree

Fairy Light Christmas Tree
Image By: Spell
Items needed: LED string lights, nails, hammer

LED string or fairy lights are always handy for projects, especially around Christmas. First, measure the length of string lights you have on hand and measure out a 2D Christmas tree design. Strategically hammer nails into your wall and tie the LED string lights into place. For bonus points, clip on some Christmas decorations to add a festive touch and make it more like a real tree.


3. Wine Bottle Lamps

Wine Bottle Lamps
Image Credit: ehow
Items needed:
Empty wine bottles, knife, adhesive remover, string Christmas lights

One of the cleverest ways to reuse empty wine bottles is to transform them into holiday lamps. First, use a razor knife and carefully scrape off the bottle’s label. If there’s adhesive residue remaining, you’ll need to use an adhesive remover to soften it before you can easily remove it with your knife. Next, carefully feed your Christmas lights into the neck of the bottle until you’re satisfied with the light level. Depending on the color of your bottle and the lights, you can achieve numerous types of effects.


4. Dress Outdoor Trees for the Season

Dress Outdoor Trees for the Season
Image Credit: Love Our Real Life
Items needed: Tree(s), string Christmas lights, nails, hammer

You’ve likely seen people use this trick before, and that’s because it lets you mimic a professional light show in your own yard with minimal work involved. You can use as many or as few lights as you want, but it helps to trace a pattern to figure out where to put your nails. The lights will have to wrap around the nails to stay in place, which is fairly easy to accomplish. Experiment with different colored lights to see what looks the best on your tree and alongside other decorations.


5. Christmas Shrubbery

Christmas Shrubbery
Image Credit: Home Guide SFGate
Items needed: Bushes/shrubs, string Christmas lights, extension cord

This lighting idea works best alongside trees wrapped in lights but works with virtually any bushes or shrubs you have in your yard. Hook your lights up to an extension cord and weave them through the branches of your bush/shrub, loosely tying them off at the end to make later removal easier. This is a great low-effort way to add some Christmas cheer to your otherwise boring shrubbery.


6. Wire Ball Orb Lights

Wire Ball Orb Lights
Image Credit: Chat Field Court
Items needed:
chicken wire, wire cutters, string Christmas lights, string, nail, hammer

If you have some extra chicken wire and a pair of wire cutters tucked away somewhere, you can create a very beautiful Christmas wire orb. Cut a length of chicken wire with the wire cutters and shape the wire into a ball. It’ll be more difficult to thread your lights through the wire if you make small, tight orbs, so keep that in mind when making your orb. Once you’re satisfied with your wire orb, thread and weave string Christmas lights through the orb. To make removing the lights easy later, you can loosely attach lights around the orb instead.

See also:

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Conclusion

DIY Christmas light decorations are a crafty way to add some holiday magic and festivity to your home and yard. You can make lanterns out of mason jars pretty easily but wrapping trees in string lights is extremely effective if you don’t mind a bit more work. Either way, there’s a decoration on this list for everyone, so get to work!

See also:


Featured Image Credit: moniquayle, Pixabay

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