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Give Your Shepherd's Hook a Winter Makeover
When winter approaches and you’ve retired your hanging planters, you can still make use of your shepherd hook. Don't move your shepherd hooks into storage—repurpose them for winter decorating.
Evergreen Column
Many of us use hooks year round for holding birdfeeders. A little craftiness can easily transform the feeder into a traditional holiday evergreen column. Fill the inside of the feeder with a column or block of floral foam. Wire weatherproof ornaments onto the outer mesh, then insert snippets of fresh evergreen, pinecones and berries through the mesh and into the foam. Tie a decorative ribbon to the top chain and display on your hook.
Lighted Birdhouse
Another charming bird-themed idea reuses your existing birdhouse. Insert a string of battery-operated mini-lights into your birdhouse (a house with a clean-out door makes the task much easier). Using hot glue, attach a decorative cardinal or chickadee to the roof, or perch it outside the entry hole. Hang the lighted house near your front door to welcome friends.
Candy Cane Pole
Turn your single hook into an adorable candy cane pole. Using a red or white foam pool noodle (or spray paint the desired color), cut the foam from the center down one side, the entire length of the noodle. Longer hooks may require more than one piece of noodle. Attach the noodle to the hook, bending it around the arch (scoring with a knife if necessary to help it bend), using red or white tape to secure it to each end of the pole. Wrap the colored tape the entire length of hook in a spiral motion to simulate the look of a peppermint stick. Hang a large red and white weatherproof ornament from the hook. If pool noodles are not available, try using pipe insulation, spray-painted white. It's readily available and already slit for you.
Lighted Outdoor Tree
Create a festive, lighted outdoor tree, complete with gifts. Place an inverted wire tomato cage over your hook, so that the widest edge is at the base. Securely wire the legs together at the top to form a cone shape. Wrap and zip-tie lighted garland around the exterior of the cage to form a tree shape. For a taller tree shape, secure the cage higher up on the pole and pull garland from base of cage to ground, attaching with landscape staples, taking care not to pierce the wires of the garland. At the base of your hook, add lighted gifts.
Festive Hanging Basket
Convert your hanging fiber-lined planter into a decorative outdoor arrangement. First, glue a piece of floral form or half of a large Styrofoam ball to the middle of the planter base. Next, insert various size sprigs of live evergreen into the foam, covering the surface. Attach weatherproof ornaments and pinecones to floral picks with wire, then place the ornaments into your arrangement at various intervals. To make decorating even easier, use these metallic balls with the picks already attached. Add a festive ribbon to the top of your planter and hang it from your shepherd's hook.
Display
Shepherd's hooks are also a great way to display signboards carrying your holiday wishes for the neighborhood. Use eyehooks and chain to connect several signs together. Use inexpensive decorated signs or create your own from wooden blank sign stock.
See the full selection of Holiday Outdoor Decorations.