5 DIY Outdoor Christmas Decoration Ideas You’ll Love

The holidays are here! Like most of us, you’re probably decorating your house so it looks pretty and festive for the season — the tree is up, candles are out and other decorations are placed carefully in every room. Maybe you’ve braved the cold to hang lights around the outside of the house, too.

If you’re looking to do something new and unique outside, here are five cool holiday decoration ideas — all of which you can do easily and inexpensively by yourself with just some basic tools. If you try one of these, send me a photo so I can see how it looks!

Christmas Light Balls

Aren’t those beautiful!?!

For this one, all you need is some chicken wire, wire cutters, LED lights, measuring tape and gloves. It’s a pretty simple DIY project that lets you make outdoor Christmas light balls in any size — just cut as much chicken wire as needed to get the sizes you want.

Full instructions: Visit ChristmasLightsEtc.com
Video tutorial: on YouTube

Giant Christmas Ornaments

You’ve seen those giant rubber balls in the toy department at your favorite store, right? Well, just add a cake pan, some ribbon and some basic tools and you’ve got these terrific Christmas ornaments that you can hang outside. You’ll also need some Gorilla Glue and a couple basic tools, but this is a really inexpensive way to add some holiday pizzazz outside your house.

Full instructions: Visit SmartSchoolHouse.com
Video tutorial: on YouTube

Glowing Gift Boxes

This is an oldie-but-goodie from none other than Martha Stewart herself! You’ll want to track down plastic boxes of different sizes, some outdoor-safe lights/candles to place inside and some waterproof ribbon … and you’re on your way to having a beautiful gift display that can fill a front patio, walkway, or even your lawn.

Full instructions: Visit MarthaStewart.com

Snowball Lanterns

This idea is really unique because it requires actual snowballs! It also only works if you happen to be in a weather stretch where it’s gonna be cold enough for several straight days that the snowballs won’t melt. (Last winter, we had like two consecutive months where it was so cold the ice and snow never melted, so this would’ve worked perfectly then.) All you need is the aforementioned snow, the cold temperatures and some tea lights.

Full instructions: Visit Little Green Fingers

Giant Silver Bells

Here’s one from Hallmark.com that involves maybe a little more work than the decorations listed above, especially if you want to paint the bells a certain color — but it’s still a pretty easy DIY project that most of us should be able to handle. You’ll need some plastic planters, an eye bolt and nut, an actual Christmas ornament to place inside, rope and spray paint if you need/want to color the bells. As you can see, you’ll end up with some really beautiful holiday bell decorations that are light enough to hang just about anywhere!

Full instructions: Visit HallmarkChannel.com
Video tutorial: on YouTube

There you go, I hope you like one or more of these ideas — or maybe these got you thinking about something similar you could do to make your home more festive this holiday season! If you have a favorite outdoor decoration that you’ve used at your house, let me know in the comments below. Happy holidays!