Light Up Your Hanging Planters With A Simple DIY Dollar Tree Hack

If you love spending time outside, make the most of every opportunity to be in the fresh air by creating an outdoor retreat in your own backyard or patio. Adding some accent lights to your garden space will create a relaxing ambience and enhance your enjoyment of your time outside. It's easy to add ambient lighting that's inexpensive to put together and simple to install, and it all begins by attaching fairy lights to a few hanging planters. Attach two baskets together to create a globe, then add the lights and a little foliage to give it an organic feeling. You can even design them to reflect the different seasons of the year. Begin with a trip to Dollar Tree to find most of the materials you need to create these decorative lights.

There are many benefits to adding accent lighting to the backyard. Additional lighting enlarges the living space of your home, making it more enjoyable for your family to spend time outside or to entertain guests for the evening. It's also safer to have additional illumination as people make their way in the dark. Providing accent lighting is subtle enough to make a difference in your own garden without creating a harsh effect in your neighbor's yard. Lights that are easy to position and move around the area will encourage you to make the most of the space throughout the year, whether it's grilling season in the summer or sitting by a firepit in cooler months.

Begin by selecting two of these black metal baskets from Dollar Tree. Set aside the hook and chain that are included, and then position one basket on top of the other. Use zip ties to secure the baskets together so that they create a round fixture. Because the baskets are made of black metal, using black zip ties such as these from Amazon would blend well with the color of the metal.

Once the baskets are secured to each other, string a set of fairy lights so that they are intertwined throughout the wires of the basket. Consider where this planter will be positioned in your yard before you decide which type of lights to use. If the basket will be in direct sunlight for much of the day, you have the option of using ones that are solar-powered like this set from Amazon. The advantage of these lights is that you won't be constrained by the battery life of traditional lights. However, if your planter will be illuminating a dark corner of your porch that doesn't receive much sunlight, then depending on solar power may not work as well as using traditional batteries. If you decide to use ones that are battery-operated, a set like this one from Amazon has several advantages. It has a brightness dimmer, which will prolong its battery life, as well as a remote control, which is especially useful if the planter won't be hanging within easy reach.

After you've finished intertwining the lights, use another zip tie to secure either the base of the solar lights or the battery pack to the wire basket, depending on which type of lights you're using. The next step is to cover the globe with your choice of faux greenery that can be found at Dollar Tree. Using a hot glue gun, carefully attach the leaves along each wire frame of both baskets. Once you've covered the entire planter with foliage, it's time to reattach the hook and chain and decide where to position your new fixture. Hang several of them from a cable stretched across an open space above your patio, or suspend them from branches in a tree to illuminate a garden dining party. The advantage of these pre-lit planters is that they can be repositioned easily without the need for an external power source. 

Depending on what type of greenery you use, this decorative planter could be used as a holiday decoration as well. To create an autumn theme, attach red and gold leaves and use lights with a warm, golden glow, or integrate them into your Christmas decor with poinsettia leaves and red berries. Attach faux flowers to create lighting for a springtime picnic, or you may choose to decorate with simple greenery that will look festive all year long. However you choose to style your new lights, the special ambience they create will always make your time outdoors special.