Easy DIY Light Stands for String Lights
Here’s the story behind these stands… My sister was getting married in November and I put myself in charge of decorations (of course!). At her venue she wasn’t allowed to hang anything from the ceiling beams, have balloons, or tack things to the walls of the large auditorium like room. With so much space around the ceremony I challenged myself to find a way to make the setting more intimate with some sort of mood lighting. Thus the “diy light stand” came about. Now I just needed a stand that could support a taller than the average human as well as lights being draped across them and NOT be hideous.
What we came up with worked perfect.
How to Make DIY Light Stands
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What You Need:
- 1.5-2 gallon painter bucket (preferably white to go with more settings)
- 1 large bucket for mixing
- 1 mixing shovel
- 1 bag of concrete
- 7 foot tall heavy wood casing/dowel/trim (***We got our heavy duty door casing pieces from Restore for $7 each! Check your local stores for similar bargains before hitting the hardware store!)
- Paint of choice
- (For bracing) 2 Chairs, 2 random paint cans, and two pieces of wood.
Steps:
- According to the bag, mix enough concrete in your large mixing buck to fill just a third to a half of your small paint bucket. Pour it as smoothly into the bucket as possible and clean the walls and lip of excess or smeared concrete. A half concrete full 1.5/2 gallon bucket will weigh about 15 lbs. It can definitely support a 7-8 foot pole without any sign of tipping. If you keep your poles 7 feet and under you could easily get away with a third of a bucket of concrete. Still, 15 lbs was easy enough for the average person to lift and transport as needed.
Insert your pole into the concrete and brace between two pieces of wood balanced on equal height chairs with paint buckets holding it steady vertically.
Leave your stands like this over night to set. You can remove the braces after that, but expect the full set to happen over the next 2-3 days.- If you haven’t already, paint your wood the desired color and drill a hole to attach a screw/cup hook on the side near the top to rest your lights on.
Insert your pole into the concrete and brace between two pieces of wood balanced on equal height chairs with paint buckets holding it steady vertically.
Leave your stands like this over night to set. You can remove the braces after that, but expect the full set to happen over the next 2-3 days.
If you’re looking to dress up the bucket, like us, you could wrap tulle, fabric, or a type of wrapping paper! It masked the buckets wonderfully for the occasion!
There were many compliments on the effect the light stands had on the ceremony and celebration. We actually have friends lining up to use them in their own upcoming weddings which is so fun! I was even able to use them in my recent baby shower at my parents house for a bit of flare.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you loved this project you’d also love these other projects of mine!
More ways to use string lights (no party required!)
