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Easy Upcycling: Light Bulbs As Holiday Ornaments

upcycling light bulbs into fun holiday ornaments

upcycling light bulbs into fun holiday ornaments

Since moving into my new (but quite old) home, I’ve been on a quest to replace all the light bulbs with energy-efficient LED versions. However, in the interests of sustainability, I’ve been trying to wait until the old ones burn out before replacing them.

When my much-anticipated shipment of GE Link bulbs arrived, however, I couldn’t contain myself any longer. I decided to upcycle my old light bulbs into Christmas ornaments, making way for the new Wi-Fi enabled LED bulbs. I figure, the energy I save from my smart bulbs—which I can schedule to turn off when I leave the house and other energy-saving scenarios—more than offsets whatever small amount of life may have been left in the old bulbs.

I turned to Pinterest for some light bulb-into-holiday ornaments inspiration and came across this fun snowman light bulb. While there are a lot of ideas for turning light bulbs into decorations out there, what I like about this one was how easy it is. Plus, it uses very few extraneous materials.

materials for snowbulb holiday ornaments

I found almost all of what I would need to make the “snowbulbs” (as I dubbed them) lying around the house: a cardboard toilet roll, some spray adhesive, twigs and cord. I did have to buy some glitter though, and I also splurged on some black fabric paint and tiny orange pompoms for my snowman’s face and nose.

On the plus side, this was probably the easiest, least messy ornament I made during my family’s annual ornament-making afternoon. On the downside, it is easily the most breakable, and it’s a pretty nasty experience when they do smash on the floor—put these at the top of the tree where no little hands can grab.

snowbulbs

Directions:

  1. First, place your bulb on a covered surface and spray with the spray adhesive.
  2. Next, shake glitter over the bulb, turning it so it’s completely covered. Leave to dry for a few minutes.
  3. Place it on top of the toilet roll and attach your chosen ribbon or cord for hanging.
  4. Then, take your black fabric paint and dot on your snowman’s eyes, mouth and buttons.
  5. Using quick drying glue or a glue gun, attach something orange (I used little orange pompoms) for the nose, and two twigs as arms.
  6. Voila! A light bulb snowman.

These are so easy to make that even my three-year-old was able to do it (hers is the one on the left).

Happy holidays!

snowbulb holiday ornaments

As a mother of two, Jennifer Tuohy is always looking for fun upcycling projects she can do with the kids, and then share as how-tos for The Home Depot. You can find light bulbs to create your own snowman ornaments on homedepot.com.

One comment
  1. Mollie James

    Great idea! Upcycling decorations, especially Christmas ones, bring positive emotions! It is amazing how many things can be made or reused in different way with the upcycling approach. From bulbs to dresses and so on, I even read about a fountain made from old piano, which is absolutely creative as idea!

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