Take your DIY outdoor Halloween decor to the next level with this easy craft project! Hanging pumpkin buckets in your trees is not only budget friendly, but it makes a high impact. And the best part is that you can finish in an afternoon. Here’s how:
Watch the full DIY video over on my YouTube channel!
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This project is sure to have your neighborhood talking about your outdoor Halloween decor in no time. Here’s what you need:
Materials
- Pumpkin Buckets
- Drill
- Drill Bits
- Clear cord
- Lights (optional)
- Ladder
Material Notes
I used 30 pumpkin buckets total for 2 trees.
You may also want a hair dryer to help you remove price stickers.
I used these lights last year outside and they held up with weather. The only downside is that there isn’t a remote, only a timer mode. Keep this in mind when hanging everything up!
How to Prepare Your Buckets for Hanging
Two things need to happen before you can hang your pumpkin buckets in a tree:
Remove the stickers. The bottom of your pumpkin bucket will be visible, which unfortunately means you have to peel all the stickers.
They’re not the easiest to remove, but I found that applying heat with the hair dryer for around 15-25 seconds made the process go so much faster.
Drill holes. You’ll need to create drainage so your pumpkin buckets don’t fill with water and break your tree branches. I drilled 5 holes in the bottom of the bucket with my largest drill bit.
How to Hang Pumpkin Buckets in a Tree
All that’s left to do in this Halloween craft is to hang the pumpkins up in a tree! Here are a few tips and tricks that I learned along the way:
1. It helps to loop the clear cord around the branch first then knot around the bucket handle. It’ll keep you from reaching higher than you need to.
2. Face your pumpkins in all directions so no matter where you’re standing, you can see a face.
3. Start around the base of your tree and work up as tall as you feel comfortable. We weren’t able to reach the top of our tree, but these pumpkins still make an impact because of how many we used.
4. If you’re going to use lights at night, either add them before you hang up, or have a plan for how you’ll add them later.
5. There’s really no wrong way to do this project! Just be safe on the ladder and have someone spot you as you’re working.
And that’s all there is to this DIY outdoor Halloween decor project!
The entire project cost around $70 and only took an afternoon to put in place. 10/10 will be doing this again. I can’t wait to put these buckets up year after year.
If you give this project a try, please tag me! I would love to see your Halloween decor.
Let me know if you have any questions. Happy decorating and Happy Halloween!
For more Halloween craft projects, be sure to check out the blog archives!