Make Halloween Pumpkin Light Decor With A Budget-Friendly Dollar Tree DIY
Every year, finding cute outdoor Halloween decor ideas that will transform your yard without breaking the bank can be hard. If you don't have the ability to spend a lot of money on giant skeletons and blow up characters but still want to have fun decor when kids come to your door, a DIY pumpkin light is a great option. Made out of items you can buy at Dollar Tree or find around your house, this project from TikTok channel @dollartree.hacks upgrades a popular seasonal DIY decoration to create an even more eye-catching and eerie Halloween display. It's quick to complete and looks great near your door, along your driveway, or anywhere in your yard.
First, get a plastic pumpkin bucket. Around Halloween, these are a classic feature for trick or treating. You should be able to buy one at many stores in October, including your local dollar store. Just make sure the bucket has holes in the bottom, whether you buy it like that or have to drill the holes yourself. This is a fall decor item you can DIY with Dollar Tree pool noodles, so pick up a Colorful Foam Pool Noodle for $1.50. While you're at Dollar Tree, grab an Essentials Black Plastic Broom Handles, Dark Creepy Halloween Cloth, and a plastic plant container. Be sure to also look for fun ribbons and other ornamental details, like a witch hat or a faux head of hair, to decorate your assembled pumpkin display. Finally, you will need to pick up a strand of LED string lights or an LED tealight to shine a light on the situation once you're all done. Otherwise, this project will only require some common household tools, namely a knife and a trusty glue gun to pull the whole design together.
Turn Dollar Tree items into a fun, lit-up Halloween display
To get this DIY yard-ready, cut down a pool noodle to glue inside the plastic plant pot, attaching one end of the noodle to the center of the bottom of the container. Remove the piece at the top of the broom handle so you just have the broom shaft. Push the handle through the pool noodle hole all the way until it reaches the bottom of the plant pot. Once everything is attached, layer on enough creepy cloth (you could also try making your own creepy cloth with dyed cheese cloth), to drape over and cover up the plant container. With the plant container being upside down and its bottom pointing up, glue down the plastic pumpkin bucket on top of it. Finish by putting LED lights in the pumpkin, adding a spooky glow to welcome trick-or-treaters. The broom handle can then be stuck into the soft ground or secured to a porch railing with zip ties.
@dollartree.hacks Outdoor Halloween DIY! #halloween2025 #dollargeneraldeals #outdoordecor #diy
Decorating your little light-up figures is up to you. You can add ribbon, like Dollar Tree's Seasonal Collection Halloween Ribbon, and other accents to create a costumed look for your pumpkin head. A fun variation on this light-up decor is to use a different pumpkin bucket color, such as red, yellow, green, pink, or purple, to create creepy-cute Halloween decor that isn't just black and orange. You could even simplify by eliminating details like the creepy cloth and plastic plant pot. The items needed are budget-friendly, which means you can create a whole miniature entourage of light-up pumpkin figures for your yard. Line your driveway or sidewalk as a creative way to light the way for trick-or-treaters. Or, stick it in the ground near your mailbox for a Halloween accent.