‘Tis the season to clean off the porch and get it ready for spring and summertime fun! I don’t know about you, but with the changing of the seasons, I always feel the need to redecorate. Or, at the very least, buy a few new accessories. It doesn’t take much to transform a space and make it feel fresh and new.
In fact, changing up the lighting will make a huge difference, whether outdoors or indoors. Unfortunately, however, lighting can be expensive. Even just one light fixture or lantern can set you back a bit, let alone entire sets of lights. That’s where the Dollar Store comes into play. Around this time every year, the Dollar Store starts to carry these $1 solar lights. While they are fine on their own, there are so many ways to dress these lights up and create a beautiful space!
Mason Jar Light
Isn’t this light absolutely gorgeous? I’ve done a similar DIY with the glass stones, but this one is much easier. The one I did before also used a mason jar and glass stones, but I glued each stone on individually to the outside and then put a tea light inside.
This DIY is simply unscrewing the top of a solar light and fitting it into the ring of a mason lid jar. Fill the jar up with beads and then screw the top on. Easy peasy, and not burning your fingers while trying to light the tiny candle. That’s a win-win in my book!
Upcycled Candle Light
Who doesn’t have a bunch of *almost* used up candles on hand? Even if you don’t, you can pick up these cute little candles at the dollar store and then save this idea for when they are burnt out.
Boil the candles in order to heat up the remaining wax so you can pour it out and have a clean jar. You can always reuse the wax by sticking a candle wick into an empty jar, then just pouring the old wax in. This is a great idea if you’re going to be emptying out several candles. Once the jars are clean, just stick the very top part of the solar light on top of the jar and you’re good to go!
Mounted Light
Love this cute idea! For this project, you’ll of course need a solar light, as well as some shower curtain rings, industrial strength glue, and a backing of sorts. In this example, they used a cutting board to mount the light.
Simply glue the shower curtain ring onto the surface and then plop the top of the solar light inside the ring. Then, either drill the board directly into the wall or attach a wire so you can hang it.
Lantern
How cute is this?! Like the other projects on this list, this one involves taking the top of the solar light off and sticking it into a container of sorts. Since the mouth of this jar is much too big to fit the solar light, you’ll need to cut a section in the lid to fit the light in. You can easily do this by heating up the blade of a box cutter and slicing through the plastic lid.
Once that’s done, all you have to do is decorate the jar! You can make a fun jack-o-lantern, draw a crazy pattern, or even write your address on the outside and place it on your front porch so people can see your house number in the dark!
More Examples
By now you’re probably catching onto the fact that these ideas are basically placing the top of the solar light into different jars. Here are a few more examples of what you can do with these solar lights! For a stake light, you can attach the solar light to the end of a Dollar Store broom and stick it in the ground. You can also use a jar with a handle and hang it from a hook. Really, any container that lets light shine through will make an excellent decorative light option!