This lighted pumpkin basket can be put together in less than 10 minutes and adds such a pretty glow to your fall decor. Light up those darker fall evenings and create a warm and cozy welcome with this easy fall DIY project.
Getting Ready for Fall
We’re officially on our last week of summer vacation, so I’m bouncing back and forth between soaking up those last little bits of summer and dreaming about all things fall. There’s just something about all of those fall colors, textures, and natural elements that I just love. Over the past week or so, I’ve gradually been adding a little bit of fall decor into our home and have been planning all of the fun fall content that I want to share with you this season. I hope you’re as excited as I am to start gettng ready for fall!
The Fall Seasonal Simplicity Series
Today I’m happy to be joining Krista from The Happy Housie {and 25 other amazing bloggers!} for the The Fall Seasonal Simplicity Series. Each week we’ll be sharing our best fall ideas – from fall crafts and wreaths to seasonal recipes and fall printables! To kick things off, we’ve put together some beautiful fall DIY and craft projects to inspire you for the upcoming season. You can find all of the awesome ideas at the end of the post, so be sure to check them out before you go!
Lighted Fall Pumpkin Basket
I’m definitely not a minimalist when it comes to seasonal decorating, but I am working on keeping things more simple this year. This easy lighted pumpkin bucket is super quick to put together and creates such a pretty and welcoming glow. There’s just something about twinkle lights that’s just so cozy and inviting, don’t you think?
DIY Pumpkin Basket Tutorial
This is a reall simple project to put together, but I wanted to show you a few tricks that I used.
Materials
- galvanized bucket or other container. I bought mine at Joannes but it’s actually a copy of this DIY farmhouse pumpkin bucket from A Night Owl. If you don’t want to purchase something new, look for old planters, bins or other containers that you may have around the house.
- newpapers
- linen tea towel {optional}
- faux or real pumpkins. I usually like to mix in a couple of real pumpkins with my faux pumpkins, but since it’s so early in the season, I went completely faux on this one. I’ll probably pop in a couple of white baby boos once they’re out.
- faux fall leaves. Look for stems that can be bent and will hold their shape. Feel free to mix in some real leaf branches too!
- mini lights. Look for ones that have an automatic timer to turn on and off so you don’t need to worry about them.
Instructions
- If you have a deep bucket, add some crumpled newspaper to raise the pumpkins up to the level that you want. There’s no point paying for pumpkins just to fill up the bin! I covered up the newspaper with a linen towel just in case there were any little holes where you could see through, but you could always skip this step.
- Arrange the pumpkins the way you would like them. Play around with slightly different angles until you get the best look.
- Take a faux fall leaf stem and break it up into smaller chunks {vary the size so you have some pieces bigger than others}. Depending on your stems, you may need to use a wire cutter for this. If you don’t have one, you can usually still get them to break off by bending the wire back and forth a bunch of times. I used one large stem for my bucket and broke it off into five sections.
- Start filling in any holes between the pumpkins with the leaf stems and fluff up the leaves until it fills up the space. Try to keep the bigger stems towards the back and work the smaller stems in towards the front. You’ll probably need to lift up the pumpkins a bit to fit the stems in underneath them. Play around with bending those stems until you get the look you want.
- Add in the twinkle lights spacing them randomly throughout the bucket. Tweak them until they look fairly balanced.
- Get ready to glow!
More Fall Crafts and DIY Projects
If you’re looking for more fall inspiration, check out this beautiful collection of fall crafts and DIY projects. There’s sure to be something that sparks your creative juices! Enjoy!
Sweater Pumpkins at The Happy Housie // Chinoiserie Pumpkins at Shabbyfufu //Wire Basket Bundt Pan Pumpkins at Bless’er House // Plastic Fall Fruit Makeover at Craftberry Bush // Pumpkin Topiary at Inspiration for Moms
Forest Pine Candle at Setting for Four // Wooden Trough at Deeply Southern Home // Thrifty Magnolia Wreath at Home Made Lovely // Pumpkin Vase at Amber Tysl // Autumn Watercolour Place Cards at Finding Silver Pennies
Wooden Pumpkin at The Turquoise Home // Cotton Wreath at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia // No-Sew Burlap Table Runner at Jenna Kate at Home // Cute Pumpkin Plants at House by Hoff // Fall Flannel Quilted Pillow at TIDBITS
Hoop Wreath at Lolly Jane // Tiled Coffee Table Tray at In My Own Style // Pom Pom Garland at Modern Glam // Acorn Garland at Jen Woodhouse // Hello Fall Pillow at Love Create Celebrate
Silk Fall Floral Arrangement at Town and Country Living // Soy Candles at The DIY Mommy // Simple Fabric Pumpkins at Confessions of a Serial Do It Yourselfer // Handprinted Pumpkin Pillow at Hallstrom Home //Corn Husk Pumpkins at Paint Me Pink // Lighted Pumpkin Bucket at Clean and Scentsible
You may also like these fall crafts…
Lolly Jane says
So pretty, Jen! Love your style!
xo
Ashley says
The perfect fall touch for your front porch. Love this project and especially love the twinkly lights!
Jenn Lifford says
Thanks Ashley! I love the lights at night. 🙂
Summer Adams says
Jenn, this is perfect! Simple and beautiful. I’m doing it! xoxo
Krista says
So cute, Jenn! This would work perfect right through Halloween! Thanks for being on this hop!
Lauren says
So sweet and simple, Jenn! These would be so fun for Halloween night. 🙂
angel says
wow so nice.
Heather Luckhurst says
Love this pretty display and the twinkle lights add the perfect glow for fall nights! xo Heather
JenWoodhouse.com says
Ooh, this says “Fall” so perfectly! Love it Jenn! Thanks for sharing!
Jenn Lifford says
Thanks Jen! The air is already starting to turn to fall here.
Christy James says
You just can’t go wrong with twinkle lights! Love this project for fall! XO
NitkaDesign says
It looks amazing and it’s so simple:-))) Beauty lies in simplicity:-)))
Greetings:-)
Danielle says
This is adorable! I love the addition of fairy lights. So pretty.
Julie Briones says
Beautiful decor for fall! Thanks for sharing!
Jenn Lifford says
Thanks so much Julie!
Julie Briones says
So fun to see this shared at Tuesday Turn About this year! I love your posts, Jenn! We are blessed to have you linking up with us!
Jenny says
The pumpkins in the bucket are super cute & great idea to add the lights. It’s beautiful! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday, hope to see you next week!
creativejewishmom/sara says
Really lovely, and happy to say I actually have some of these lights as I used a bunch for centerpieces for my son’s bar mitzvah….no pumpkins in sight around here, but this would be cute with some gourds and squash and maybe a pomegranite or two. Thanks for sharing on craft schooling sunday!
Susan Jackson says
Super cute that is! Never thought of that before. So glad to hop on over to your post via TFT! I will share on Pinterest now!
Jenn Lifford says
Thanks so much Susan!
Carol@BlueskyatHome says
Jenn, this is a super cute idea. we have a ton of remote control lights from Christmas and this would be a great way to use them. Did you stencil the galvanized bucket? Very creative.
Leslie says
Pretty! I may try this outside with solar lights. I think it would look nice in the kitchen too.
Jenn Lifford says
Yes, it would be pretty anywhere! Solar lights would be great!
Kate | The Organized Dream says
This seems so easy to do and it came out so pretty! I love the pumpkins! I’d love for you to share your basket at the Make Life Pretty Monday link party beginning tonight at 8 pm! Hope to see you there!
LINDA says
I want to make this NOW!! Love love love it. It’s the lights that make it special. Best wishes for the week ahead. Linda @Crafts a la mode PINNING
Sheri says
Love the little lights. Thanks for sharing at the To Grandma’s House We Go DIY, Crafts, Recipes and More Link party! Pinned this! Hope to see you again next week. Have a great day!
Jann Olson says
Very cute! Lights make everything magical. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Jodie Fitz says
This is such a cute idea and would be the perfect piece on the porch for fall. Thanks for joining us at last week’s Reader Tip Tuesday! This week’s party is up and live all week long. We hope to see you there…
Kippi says
Great decor idea. The lights are so cute at night so the vignette will be so romantic too.
Karren Haller says
I love the use of those tiny lights. Thank you for sharing on #omhgff last week, this week it has been Pinned on our Friday Features on Pinterest and is currently being featured on this week’s Friday Features, congratulations!!
Please stop by and linkup again and share your awesome blog posts.
Have a great week!
Kippi says
So pretty with the fairy lights its the perfect arrangement that can be displayed early fall all the way to Christmas.
Happy Fall,
Kippi
Jenn Lifford says
Thanks! I love anything with fairy lights! lol!
Carolyn says
That is a great idea! I love how you can get inexpensive string lights now at the dollar store – it makes it much easier. Thanks for sharing!
Jenn Lifford says
I haven’t had a lot of luck with the dollar store lights but the multipacks at Costco are still really reasonably priced.
Alexandra says
This is beautiful! So fun, and so fresh. I have been looking for something to put on my porch. Perhaps I can find some of these little fairy lights, and make my own decor bucket for it. Pinned for inspiration, and congrats for being the most clicked project on this week’s Snickerdoodle Create Bake Make Link Party, which goes lives Saturday at 5pm EST.
Jenn Lifford says
Fairy lights make everything better! lol! 🙂
Mother of 3 says
That is just beautiful!! Thank you so much for sharing with us at Encouraging Hearts and Home. Pinned.
Jenn Lifford says
Thank-you! I appreciate you hosting! <3
Amber Ferguson says
So so cute Jenn! Thanks for sharing at TFT. I am happy to feature you at this week’s party! Follow the Yellow Brick Road.
I also wanted to invite you to the new All About Home party on my blog every Monday at 7:00 p.m-Thursday at midnight. We would love to have you party with us there too!
Have a great weekend!
Jenn Lifford says
Thanks so much for the feature! Will see you at your party!
Kerryanne says
You always have the best ideas Jenn and I love the simplicity of adding the lights to your fall pumpkin basket.
Thank you for sharing your DIY fall tutorial at Create, Bake, Grow & Gather this week. I’m delighted to be featuring it at tonight’s party and pinning to.
Hugs,
Kerryanne
Michelle says
This is so pretty! I love how simple it is, too. It looks amazing on your fall porch.
Jenn Lifford says
Thanks so much Michelle!
Linda Manns Linneman says
Fall is almost here. I love decorating for fall. These are some really cute ideas. Thank you so much for sharing
Jenn Lifford says
Other than Christmas, it’s my favorite time of year to decorate! Happy (almost!) fall!