Thursday, May 28, 2015

How To Make a Firefly Lamp for Your Backporch or Patio

lit jar

One of my favorite memories from childhood is catching lightening bugs in a jar at dusk. I'll bet you remember that too. As an adult it's one of those things that you remember your own children doing. It's pretty much the most charming thing ever to see kids on a lawn in front of their homes or in the backyard with their friends catching those magical little insects. It's a beautiful reminder of the innocence of childhood.



Recently on a clearance rack at the grocery I picked up a couple of strings of battery operated wire lights similar to the ones pictured available here. Where were these during my holiday decorating? I couldn't find them anywhere! I didn't have a plan for them but just walked around with them when I got home and wondered what to do with them for summer. Then I saw this jar which I had been using to feed bees and it clicked.

firefly lamp

I unspun the lights from the packaging and placed them in the jar. It is really easy to hide the battery back behind anything as you can see from the photo.

firefly lamp

firefly lampfirefly lamp

You can either carefully wrap the wire over the mouth of the jar and set the lid on top to look closed, or you can do what I did and open it a bit and string the lights out to make it look as though your fireflies are being released. Which you know, kids, is how this activity always ends.

firefly lamp

These lights have a timer feature if you want them to come on at the same time every night.
What's your favorite memory of a childhood activity?