Light Bulb Christmas Ornament

Hate throwing away those old, burned out light bulbs? Why not make a light bulb Christmas ornament the next time you need to replace one in a lamp or fixture? This inexpensive recycling project is a hit with kids and there are a number of adorable holiday decorations you can create. The one that I will present here is a personal favorite.

My light bulb Christmas ornament of choice is a snowman. The shape of the recycled item is perfect for this character and you can create a number of different styles and expressive characters with this craft. You will need some inexpensive supplies before you get started.

Most of the craft supplies are probably already in your home. Rubbing alcohol is in just about every medicine cabinet. You simply wipe the bulb with rubbing alcohol to clean the surface. White paint is also used in the project. The rubbing alcohol helps the acrylic paint stick to the surface of the light bulb Christmas ornament.

Of course, you can make your snowman any color that you like. In fact, my son made a great snow man light bulb Christmas ornament in red and green. The vivid holiday colors are great for this kind of project and you really don’t have any limitations on what you can do.

Now that you have the paint ready to go you can start painting. Be sure that you give the rubbing alcohol enough time to dry completely before applying the paint. Many light bulb Christmas ornaments require two coats of paint each layer should be given time to dry before adding another coat.

You can make a cute hat for the light bulb Christmas ornament by forming it out of any scrap material that you like. We used a baby sock for my son’s snowman. Find a sock that runs about 18-36 months in size and you will have a great fitting hat for your project. I prefer this to using scraps because there is no measuring or cutting involved.

Use a permanent black marker to create an adorable face and glue some buttons on the belly of the light bulb Christmas ornament. Basically, you simply need to glue the hat on with a glue gun to insure a good hold and add a hook. You can get really creative with this project and add pipe cleaners or toothpicks for arms and even a vest if you want.

The possibilities for this project are vast and you can make a collection of light bulb Christmas ornaments in little time at all. This is a great holiday project.