Over the past few years, I've tried a few different ways to light up my tombstones in my front yard graveyard, but all were too time consuming every year to put together or needed electricity.
So this year I decided to use the solar garden lights that I already had from the dollar store to see how they would work.
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| Your basic solar light without the stake |
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| Tombstone Base Lighting |
The first and most important thing to do is put fresh batteries into the solar lights. In the fall you can't count on the sun to charge these lights up and they need to rely on the battery more. There are 2 small screws under the cap, where the light is. You should change the batteries on your solar lights every year, I usually take them out in the fall and put new ones in the spring anyway, so now I'll just start the tradition early and have to take the extra step to take the new battery back out.
You will need these simple items to convert your solar light into a tombstone base light.
- A sheet of black craft foam (it's cheap, already black and water resistant)
- Tin Foil (it's cheap, you probably already have it and it's reflective)
- 1/2 Dowels (it fits perfectly into the light base)
- Wire, pipe cleaner, string (something to secure the craft foam to the light)
Cut the craft foam the height of the solar light and wide enough to wrap half way around. Glue tin foil to the other side.
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| Most of the dowel goes into the ground at an angle |
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| It lights up beautifully on only one side |
Secure the foam to the light with whatever you have. I used black pipe cleaner, since it was left over from another project.
Cut the 1/2 dowel roughly 4 inches. Angle it into the ground so that the light shines up onto the tombstone, the black foam facing out.
You may have to collect the lights and recharge them during the day, if your graveyard is in shade.
After Halloween, simply take the craft foam off and save it for next year.
