7 Resourceful DIY Birdbath Ideas to Bring Life to Any Yard

A birdbath can make a nice addition to your garden or yard, especially if you enjoy welcoming and watching the birds from your property. Large stone birdbaths you can find in garden supply stores can easily cost you a few hundred dollars if you want a good one, and not everyone has the budget range for it. If you aren’t afraid of getting a little creative, you can make your very own DIY birdbath out of some things you already have or can pick up inexpensively at any store that sells craft, outdoor, and home improvement supplies. Here are eight great ideas to get you started.

Decorative Basin or Bowl Birdbath

One of the easiest things you can turn into a birdbath is a pretty basin or decorative bowl that has enough depth to hold some water. This project from Birds & Blooms uses a blue flower basin with three rods to hold it up. You could use broomstick handles as well.

birdbath basin 2 — Blue flower basin held up by three rods

birdbath basin 1 — Make sure the rods are at your preferred height for the birdbath

Old Lamp Birdbath

An old lamp can add a really neat look to the base or stand of your birdbath. All you need is a bowl that matches it, so you can attach it securely to the top. You won’t need the lamp shade, socket, or any of the cords, so you can remove all of those before you glue the bowl onto the base. [Photo from Birds & Blooms]

Large bowl glued to the top of an old lamp

Leaf Birdbath Made from Sand & Cement

If you’re willing to get your hands a bit dirty to make a really unique birdbath, you can take inspiration from this gorgeous DIY leaf birdbath project, again from Birds & Blooms. A large leaf is used to create the shape of the birdbath using play sand, contractor’s sand, and cement.

birdbath leaf 1 — DIY leaf birdbath made from sand and cement, painted green

birdbath leaf 2 — Large leaf to create the shape of the birdbath

birdbath leaf 3 — Sand formed to the shape of the leaf

birdbath leaf 4 — After a week of thorough drying, you can paint your birdbath

Hummingbird Mister

Interested in attracting more hummingbirds to your yard? Because of their tiny size, hummingbirds have a harder time bathing in traditional birdbaths, so instead, you can make your own hummingbird mister from a container and some PVC piping. You can find the full DIY set of instructions at Birds & Blooms.

Misters gently spray water for hummingbirds to bathe in

Birdbath Water Park

For something a bit different than the average basin held up by a stand, you can use several bowls or basins of different sizes, placed in different areas along large branches that lean against each other to hold themselves up. All you have to do is screw in a few iron plant holders along the sides of the branches for the bowls to sit in. [Photo from Birds & Blooms]

birdbath water park 2 — Use iron plant holders to hold the bowls

Mosaic Birdbath

If you want a birdbath that really sparkles in the sunlight, you have to check out this DIY birdbath tutorial from Me and My DIY, which uses pieces of old DVDs and CDs to be cut up and glued onto a bowl or basin for a very unique and pretty mosaic effect. Everyone has old DVDs and CDs lying around, so why not do something interesting with them?!

mosaic birdbath 2 — Glue the DVD and DC pieces onto a bowl to create a mosaic effect

Old Sink Birdbath

Here’s a good excuse to redo your bathroom. Tear out the old sink and put it in your yard for the birds to bathe in! This DIY tutorial from HGTV shows you how to use PVC piping to hold up the heavy sink and mount it to a nearby tree.

birdbath sink 1 — Old sink reused as a birdbath

birdbath sink 2 — Use PVC piping to hold up the sink

What’s your favorite DIY idea for a birdbath? With so many options, you shouldn’t have any trouble at all finding something that matches your yard and keeps you within budget.