DIY Painted $1 Plastic Pumpkins
Learn how to decorate your front porch on a budget with these painted $1 plastic pumpkins! They are the perfect cheap fall porch decor idea, and you can use them for both Halloween and Thanksgiving!
Materials
- Plastic Pumpkins
- Spray Paint Primer
- Spray Paint
- Filler of some kind (flowers, sticks, ferns, plant clippings etc.)
Instructions
- Prepare the plastic pumpkins for painting. Make sure all of the price stickers are removed; use a product like Goo Gone if you need to remove any leftover adhesive residue. Wipe the pumpkins with a paper towel or baby wipe to remove any remaining dirt or dust.
- Spray paint the pumpkins with a spray primer designed for plastic, starting with the bottom of the bucket first.Once the bottoms are dry enough to turn over, flip the buckets right side up and paint the sides, top edge, and handle. Let them dry.
- PRO TIP: In the days since finishing my pumpkins, I realized that even with primer, the paint did not stick to the handles of my pumpkin buckets at all. I'm guessing it's because the handle is flexible, so it puts pressure on the paint and it chips and flakes right off. Next time, I would cut the handles off so they're completely gone before beginning painting. If you need a handle later, you could use twine and make a handle using the existing holes in the pumpkin.
- Spray paint the pumpkins with your chosen colors.Just like with the spray primer, start with the bottoms first, and once they're dry, flip the buckets right side up to do the sides and top. Let them dry completely.
- Fill the plastic pumpkins! You can fill them with just about anything; sticks, weeds, plants, branches, ferns, flowers, straw... the sky is the limit.I used some clippings from my house's landscaping to fill the buckets to use on my front porch.
Notes
- Make sure you use spray paint designed to stick to plastic, and use primer to increase your chances of the paint sticking to the plastic buckets.
- Spray paint the bottom of the bucket first, let it dry completely, and then flip it right side up so you can focus on painting the sides and the top. This way, you shouldn't have to move the bucket again so you decrease chances for smudging.
- Have fun with your spray paint colors! Go traditional Halloween or more fall-inspired. Or try something totally out of the box like bright neon colors just for fun!