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Every year, when the stores begin stocking their shelves
with Halloween products you will inevitably see those orange plastic pumpkin
pails that kids use to hold their treats.
Since they are very
inexpensive, selling for only around a dollar a piece and come in
several different styles, sizes and shades of orange, we began trying to think of
ways that they could be used as Halloween decorations.
What we
came up with was a unique and festive way to create an outdoor Halloween tree
that our visitors just loved. In addition to a lot of great comments,
many people asked for detailed instructions so they could do the same
thing in their yard next year. |
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First, we selected the tree that we wanted
to use. The larger the tree, the more pumpkin pail you can
hang in it and the more impressive it will look. On the down side the
taller the tree, the taller the ladder you will need to hang them up.
Next,
we took thirteen of these pumpkin pails and
placed an
Artificial Candle Pumpkin Light inside each one. These great
battery powered lights randomly flicker just like a real candle using three ultra bright
yellow colored LED bulbs and can be used inside these plastic pumpkin pails because
there is no flame that would cause a fire hazard. The random flickering
inside the pumpkin pails is what really makes this a great looking
effect.
Each unit uses
three AAA batteries and will easily last all night long. We put the
batteries in a couple of days before to save time, as we are always very
busy on Halloween.
Once the pumpkin lights were situated inside the
pumpkin pails, it was time to bring out the
ladder.
About a couple of hours before dusk, we switched on all of the lights
by pressing the little button on the side and hung the pails in the branches of
chosen Halloween tree using twist ties attached to a handle and a branch.
As we hung the pails, we were
careful to position them so that the
embossed Jack O' Lantern faces were pointing in the correct direction, so
that our visitors would be able to see them clearly.
If
you believe that you might receive any rain in your area, drill a hole
in the bottom of each pail as a drain and then slip each Pumpkin Light
into a Zip-Lok bag to protect it.
Since the pumpkin
pails are translucent, the flickering light from the artificial candles
show through them quite nicely. Once they were all
hung and the ladder was removed, we had our 2006 Halloween tree. It was
complete with Halloween decorations and ready
for all to see.
The day after Halloween, we remove all of
the batteries from the Pumpkin Lights so that they don't leak and damage
the unit while in storage over the next year. We wrap each Pumpkin Light
in bubble-wrap and pack them in a small box, and store them with our
other Halloween decorations. The pumpkin pails can be stored in large
boxes or lawn bags.
**Unfortunately,
Pumpkin Lights is no more so you can use any battery powered pumpkin
light which can be found at most drug stores and mass market retailers
in the Halloween section**
Halloween Decorations Hanger
Because of the height of the tree we chose to use, we were only able to
hang the pails about half way up the tree using our ladder. To hang the
rest on higher branches we assembled an extension pole from two pieces
of 1/2" electrical conduit pipe.
