Plastic Shot Glass Patio Lights!
3 Materials
$4
1 Hour
Easy
I love having fun lighting on my patio besides the big floodlight for letting the dogs out. I had these adorable lights with ping pong balls on them, but since moving them from a covered patio to an uncovered patio they have been a disaster. They were constantly filling up with water so they had to go!
I headed on over to the dollar store and came across these adorable shot glasses and knew they would look perfect!
All you need for this DIY is a string of LED lights, enough of the plastic shot glasses for your amount of lights and your hot glue gun and glue. The shot glasses came in a variety of colors - blue, green, pink and purple. These are perfect because you can choose one color or a variety of colors. I chose the blue and green to match perfectly with our patio.
First thing you need to do is put holes in each shot glass. Because these shot glasses are the hard plastic, trying to punch a hole in them makes them crack.
The best way I found was to use your hot glue gun! Yes! When your glue gun is hot, place the end of it on the middle of the shot glass and with a little pressure, hold it there until the plastic starts to slowly melt. Keep pushing, but not with too much force, your glue gun tip into the shot glass until you have a hole big enough to just fit your light bulb through.
Continue putting the holes in all your cups. It takes a while, but it will save you the frustration of cracking cups!
When you have all your holes done it's time to add your lights. Add a little hot glue around the hole on the outside of your glass. Then quickly put your light bulb through the hole and glue the glass to the base of each light.
Here you can see how each bulb is through the glass and the glass is attached at the base of the bulb on each light. Now you can be creative with your colors if you chose more than one. We put on all the blue cups and then did all the green cups. Pay attention so you don't screw up! 
Once you have all your cups glued on you are ready to hang them up. I have a fenced in backyard so I hung my lights on the fence in my patio area. I pounded it a little nail to the top of each 4x4 fence post and hung the light strand from that.
These lights give such a nice soft glow and are perfect for those nights out on the patio. Now order up the drinks and call your friends over!
For more great DIY's like this, visit us at CrazyDiyMom.com
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Comments
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2 of 17 comments
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Yes, I am definitely going to try it out. have lots of Christmas lights in the storage shed. thanks
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Wow love this
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
I have a lot of small cups. The ones that come from medicine bottles. There used to measure how much you take. But they are all clear. Is there any way I can color them and still have the light shine through?
I thought that the small lights were for indoor use only. Are these different or do you take them down each time? I love the look.