Forget Traditional Birdbaths: This Pumpkin DIY Is Perfect For Fall

Plastic pumpkins abound at this time of year. Some are sold as decorations, while others are used to hold trick-or-treating goodies. But there's another use for these plastic pumpkin-shaped buckets beyond candy containers. They can also have a spot in your fall garden with a little ingenuity and a few craft supplies.

Instagram user @robbieandgarygardeningeasy ran with this idea, transforming a plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket into a bird bath that's just as functional as it is festive. As the video demonstrates, the gently cascading fountain is a great way to attract hummingbirds to your yard, as well as a variety of other small songbirds. Even better, equipping a bird bath with a moving water source prevents mosquitoes from breeding, so it's a win-win for you and your feathered friends.

All you need to recreate the project is a plastic pumpkin bucket, a funnel that fits inside it, two wide straws, a small pop-it fidget toy or similar item for a landing platform, and a small solar fountain pump.

To create her DIY pumpkin bird bath, Robbie of robbieandgarygardeningeasy removes the handle from the pumpkin bucket and places a funnel that's slightly smaller than the opening inside. To build the fountain assembly, she takes two wide plastic straws (a perfect excuse to go get some boba milk tea) and connects them in a cross shape, with one standing vertically and the shorter straw forming the arms. She cuts the horizontal straw to approximately the width of the funnel so that it reaches both sides and helps hold the upright straw securely in place.

Next, Robbie positions the bottom of the upright straw over the solar fountain pump's small water outlet, allowing water to travel up the straw and gently bubble out of the top. Finally, Robbie creates a landing platform with a soft pop-it fidget toy cut through the center. Once the fountain is assembled and running, water bubbles from the center and gently cascades over the pop-it before returning to the pumpkin reservoir.

You can put your own spin on Robbie's design depending on the season. Instead of a pop-it, look around for another shallow, water-resistant platform that gives small birds somewhere to perch around the fountain, or swap the pumpkin for a different decorative container once Halloween is over. A large ceramic planter would make a great basin in the spring, for example. And if one pumpkin isn't enough, why not add a DIY pumpkin bird feeder nearby to create coordinating food and water stations for your birds? You can ditch the traditional bird bath and go for many creative ways to welcome your feathered friends to the garden.