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This one simple hack will give you fancier solar garden lights for everyday use or for parties and holidays.
It’s so amazingly simple that you’ll either be thinking to yourself that you already knew this or you’ll slap yourself in the forehead wondering why you hadn’t thought of it before.
I was the latter.
While browsing online the other day I came across a picture of a stained glass butterfly secured to the base of a copper walkway light.
You know when you see an idea so creative you just can’t stop thinking about it?
That was me – which led to hours of my mocking up photos of the different accents I could add to my own lights like bows, birds, and even faux flowers.
So, that’s my big ah-ha moment – simply adding something to the base of your regular solar lights can make them look incredibly different, unique, and so much prettier than ever before.
My parents are always putting extra touches in their yard like those wood faces that you put on trees, a bear holding a solar lantern at the corner of their patio, and a fairy garden tucked between the shrubs at their back door.
They love this kind of additional detail that makes their home so warm and cozy and personalized.
I’m not nearly as good as they are with this kind of thing but I do love to decorate for parties. In fact, we just hosted a baby shower and now I wish I’d seen this idea ahead of time.
Following are three accessories you can easily attach to your lights with mocks ups so you can picture what they’d look like in real life.
Add Bows
Bows seem an obvious choice, at least for Christmas. They’re such a quick way to add color. I used several in my in-laws holiday display. My first thought would be to use large, red ones.
Here they are on some modern pillar lights and a small, copper stake light. Very festive!
You’d definitely want to use the sturdiest wired ribbon you could find. If you get ready-made bows, those usually have ties in the back that you could use to wrap around the light.
You could also try using a thick rubber band to keep them from blowing off in the wind or slipping down the stake.
Here’s what they’d look like if you had a row of them lining your driveway or the path up to your front door.
Make sure to check how hot your lights get before putting any kind of fabric near them. You might want to secure the bows further down the stake to avoid the risk of overheating the ribbon.
Solar ones usually have very small bulbs that do not emit much heat at all and it might be safer to use this idea with those than wired ones.
I found these shepherd’s hook garden lights and with bows attached they look adorable. They’d make a pretty display around the winter holidays. (Kind of reminds me of Little Bo Peep!)
You could even use striped ribbon like this combination of red and gold.
One of my favorites, though, was this large, sparkly gold bow:
I think it’s the blend of the warm white coming from the stake light and how nice it looks with the color of the bow. Couldn’t you just see these bordering your yard when throwing an evening dinner party?
Attach Large Butterflies
Having seen the butterfly idea I tried out a few more of them on some pictures of yard lights.
You could use stained glass ones or those that are sold at a place like Michaels or Joann Fabric and used in floral arrangements if you could find the right size.
Those might also come with wire ties but I’d still secure them with either a rubber band or a zip tie to keep them from falling off.
If you go with fabric it’s likely to fade over time but that’s probably a less expensive choice than glass ones. Glass will do a better job reflecting light, though, and adding some color at night.
I’m drawn to the red butterfly attached to the copper stake lights in this image.
Yellow or orange might stand out better during the night. This cozy patio has tall lights and flowers all around so the addition of butterflies seems to be a natural fit.
This plain row of green shrubs looks so much more colorful with the butterflies on the lights.
This patio has a border of red, yellow, and purple flowers and lots of green plants. For this location, I thought the red butterflies with white dots on the wings were the perfect addition to the copper-toned garden lights.
Wrap Them in Faux Flowers
If I had a shabby chic or Victorian garden and patio area my first choice would be to add faux flowers to the base of any patio lights.
These would fade if left out all the time but for the holidays, for a luncheon, a tea party, or for a baby shower they’d be an excellent way to add something special to your party decorations.
I love roses so I went with that option first. Pretty, right?
I took this picture of a patio that has a green lawn around the edge and added stake lights with the same roses. If you’re having a friend over for lunch it would look incredibly fancy.
Even a single light with the roses – maybe one that sits at the corner of your yard by itself – looks nice with an added accent.
Because we live in the desert and have a lot of brown everywhere I tried out using yellow flowers which could be cute for Spring.
The best time to use this little trick, though, is for weddings and baby showers.
Picture an evening wedding on the beach where you need to add some light but you want everything to look all elegant and coordinated.
You could so easily add solar stake lights and wrap the bases in flowers.
Here’s an evening wedding set up on a patio with all sorts of lanterns placed alongside the chairs. I’ve added in some stake lights with pink flowers and green leaves attached.
These are all just ideas using photo software to create the look so I could test them out but I’m about to have a lot of family members over for Thanksgiving and I’m thinking of finding a fall-themed accent to add to my light set. Maybe some orange flowers with gold ribbon?
Time for a bit of shopping!