I don't know why, but I appear to be obsessed with decorative lighting. It's my favorite go-to craft!
I’ve been working on these polka dot ping pong lights after discovering that it’s nearly impossible to find festoon-style lighting here in the UK within my budget (I'm talking well over (£/$)50) .
They cost an absolute fortune, so of course, I had to make my own! My lights ended up being blue-white instead of warm white; luckily this was a really simple DIY project so when I get some warm white battery-operated lights it will be easy to move the ping pong balls over.
You will need:
- Fairy lights (I used battery-operated lights)
- Enough ping pong balls (depending on your string of fairy lights -- mine required 20)
- A sharp knife (ask an adult to help you or if you’re an adult -– BE CAREFUL!)
- Colored paint pens (I used Sharpie paint pens)
- Several pencils (or sticks to attach to your ping pong balls as the paint dries)
- A cup full of salt or sugar to stick your pencils in to help your paint dry.
How to make your fabulous polka dot lights:
I took each ping pong ball and used a sharp craft knife to mark an "X" on the ping pong ball. Please be careful! I almost lost a finger.
I make the mistakes so you don't have to lose a finger. If you look on the ping pong ball, you might see a little join where the two halves of the ball were fused together in production. Just beside the join seems to be the weakest part of the ball and the easiest to poke your knife through.
You can stick your pencil (nib first) into a little hole made from your X. Start painting your polka dots!
You can use ring binder reinforcing stickers as a stencil, but those circles were huge and I wanted little polka dots so I went freehand.
Allow the paint to dry. When it's dry, you can just pop the polka dot ping pong balls onto your lights and hang them wherever you like. Enjoy your gorgeous festoon-style party lights!
Claire