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Speaking of bright lights and big balloon-filled celebrations, what about getting into some DIY action with LED lights? LEDs are awesome and make it easy to turn household items like bottles, jars, and cotton balls into gorgeously illuminated pieces of decor.
Illuminated Bouquet
For this bit of floral illumination, you use a doily dimensional flower punch and an LED branch! (Tutorial and photos: Saved By Love Creations)
Electric Umbrella
This one is definitely more involved, but with pretty incredible results. We might try hacking it with individual LED lights and cleverly placed wire, but ours probably wouldn’t close as nicely as this one. (Tutorial and photos: Instructables)
Bright White Carpet Light
What do you get when you combine a DIY knotted rug with an LED tube light? This awesome carpet, that’s what. (Photos: Tops Tail)
LED Wedding Table Cards
Ready to get 80s on your wedding? These glowing table cards will do just the trick. (Tutorial and photos: Instructables)
Outdoor Cactus Lamp
This playful little number is a sweet piece of lighting for any outdoor space, whether you’ve got a teeny tiny balcony or a full on secret garden. (Tutorial and photos: Apartment Therapy)
LED Lego Lamps
You don’t have to be a kid to love playing with Legos. We love these table lamps made using transparent legos and LED lights! These are available to buy but we think they’d be totally DIY-able! (Photos: Brando)
Holiday Centerpieces
When the holidays start to roll around, you’ll see all sorts of stars, candles, and snowflakes showing up in LED form. Turn them into centerpieces with pine cones, ornaments, and salt! (Tutorial and photos: Brit + Co.)
Vintage Movie Marquee
This DIY involves mini bulb lights on a strand, but we think you could also get away with LED lights if you like the idea of keep things unplugged. (Tutorial and photos: Oh Happy Day)
Glowing Cotton Candy
Featured in our roundup of DIY projects that glow, substitute traditional cotton candy sticks with multi-colored LED wands! (Photos: Two et Two)
LED Cloud Lanterns
For a dreamy look, combine cotton batting, paper lanterns, and LEDs to create cloud lanterns. Love these! Great for a wedding, baby shower, bridal shower, or just for your bedroom. (Photo: Kitchen Undone)
Bottle Chandeliers
Now, this project calls for an Arduino Duemilanove, but I’m pretty sure we could hack something similar by dropping in LED lights right before the party gets started. Easy enough to replace! (Photos and Tutorial: Instructables)
Ping Pong Lights
Like the movie marquee, this one called for bulb lights on a strand. We’re gonna go ahead and take this as inspiration for creating a whole bucket of illuminated ping pong balls. So fun for a birthday party or wedding after party! (Photos: Instructables)
64 RBG-LED Color Table
Ok ok, this one might not be the easiest one to recreate but it is definitely inspiring. (Photo: Hacked Gadgets)
Sparkleball
Kind of obsessed with the name of this LED object. All you need for this are plastic cups, a hole puncher, a string of LED lights, and zip ties. So fun! (Photo and Tutorial: Instructables)
Illuminated Furniture
Want to turn your grayscale living room into a crazy colorful space just begging for a holiday party? Use LED strip lights to light it up. (Photos: Apartment Therapy)
