Decorate on a Dime Outdoor Christmas Edition

We decorate outside for Christmas every year.  Sometimes we go all out and sometimes it's more understated, but it's not always cheap to buy those fancy light projectors or those lovely blowup Santas and Reindeer.

I found two really easy things your can make for the outside on a budget.

1. Tomato Planter Wire Christmas Tree.  Get them in three different sizes.  Wrap them in lights and zip tie the top ends together. Top with a star and voila 3 Christmas Trees. 

• Various Size Tomato Cage they can be as big or as small as you like
  
• Christmas lights enough to wrap around top to bottom
  
• One 8″ Zip ties
  
• Three or Four 6″ Garden Stakes

2. Plastic Cup Lighted Balls.  Drill Holes in some clear plastic small cups and staple them together to form two halves of a ball, then insert lights through each hole in the cups then staple the two halves together.

• Fifty 9 oz Solo type Clear Plastic Cups 
• 2 packs of 50 indoor/outdoor mini lights
• 5/16" staples
• Ribbon

  Carefully drill a 3/8" hole in the center of of the bottom of all the cups

  Lay 12  of the cups side by side, forming a wreath like type structure. Staple the cups side by side by the rim

  Stack 9 cups on  the sides on the first layer. 

  Staple the cups to the cups next to them and also to the cups underneath them. Always staple by the rim for best support.

  Repeat with four cups to make the one half of the ball.

  Repeat steps to create the second half of the ball.

  Push the lights through each hole in the cups that you drilled and make sure to leave the long end of the plug hanging out. Connect both halves of your ball and staple them near the rims.

  Reinforce by adding more staples where they are needed.