DIY A Budget-Friendly Birdbath Out Of A Few Simple Dollar Tree Essentials

Are you looking for a way to bring more feathered friends to your home without having to spend a fortune on a brand new birdbath? With a clever DIY, you can turn two mixing bowls from Dollar Tree into a cute and functional birdbath for just a few bucks. The idea is to stack two mixing bowls with the bottom one secured to a porch railing or other base. The second bowl, inserted on top, holds the water. It's a smart setup that's not only sturdy but also makes it super easy to change the water and clean the bowl. 

The habit of changing your birdbath's water and cleaning it is essential to prevent algae, moss, and, even worse, mosquito larvae from growing in the basin. Unfortunately, this is often overlooked. Whether you're using a DIY birdbath made of nursery pots or a store-bought stone one, the design of birdbaths sometimes makes cleaning hard to do. Tilting over an entire birdbath can hurt your back or cause the entire structure to break (especially with other DIYs). Well, this mixing bowl DIY could be the solution.

To create the birdbath, you'll need a few Dollar Tree essentials, which cost $1.25 each: two identical plastic mixing bowls and a couple wood dowels. You'll also need a drill and a screw plus a base to secure your new birdbath to.

Start by finding a flat and sturdy base for your birdbath. Ideally, a wood porch railing would do the trick, even if it's slightly thinner than the width of the bowl. If you don't have one, be creative. You could repurpose an old wine or whiskey barrel, a worn-out wooden table, or a tree stump. You can even use bases that are not wood, as long as they're made of materials that you can drill through, like plastic. 

Screw the bottom mixing bowl into the base tightly. Next, drill small holes just below the rim of the second bowl. This is where you'll insert the wood dowels, which will act as perches for the birds. You can either place two holes directly across from each other for parallel perches or space them out evenly around the bowl to make the rods perpendicular. If you don't like the look of the dowels, there are many other ways to provide a perch for birds: fill the bottom of the bowl with river stones or place one large item in the center like a rock or unique decor piece. For some added whimsy, consider using a Dollar Tree garden gnome or fairy door as a perch. 

Finally, insert the top bowl into the bottom one and fill it with water. Birds will come flocking to your bird bath to clean their feathers and have a sip of fresh water. They'll love you even more on hot summer days when a birdbath can help them cool off and regulate their temperature. To attract more birds to your birdbath, place it under some shade and in a shielded area.