DIY Light-Up Melting Snowman by TheNavagePatch.com

DIY Light-up Melting Snowman

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This DIY light-up melting snowman is the perfect holiday decoration for those of us not “blessed” with snowstorms and blizzards!

I guess he took a wrong turn at Albuquerque!

Seriously, what kind snowman travels south for the winter? I mean, I get it and all. Once you’ve tasted summer sun in the depths of December, who the hell wants to stick around in the cold and dreary climes up north!

But c’mon, he’s made of snow fer cryin’ out loud!

Well, whatever the reason, poor Frosty came for a pre-Christmas visit, but due to his profound lack of foresight and judgment, it doesn’t look like he’ll be leaving anytime soon. In fact, this may very well be his final watery resting place.

But hey, one look at his face, and you know it’s not all bad. Just look at that smile!

DIY Light-Up Melting Snowman by TheNavagePatch.com

He’d rather melt away in Florida than spend another miserable winter up north freezing his buttons off while snot-encrusted kids hurl snowballs at him and cram carrots into his face.

Yeesh, what a world, what a world!

Okay, back to reality. This melting snowman was probably the most fun Christmas project we’ve made so far this year, and he’s certainly one of our favorites to look at each and every day.

But all this awesomeness comes at a cost.

Literally.

Let’s just get the truth out before we dive in. This is not the cheapest DIY on the planet. In fact, if you make him exactly as we did, it’s north of $100, but by using a little less foam, you can do it for well under $100. And if you want to skip the lights and make a smaller indoor version, he’s actually quite affordable. Consider this a craft that can be tailored to suit your financial needs and space requirements.

DIY Light-up Melting Snowman SUPPLIES LIST

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DIY Light-Up Melting Snowman by TheNavagePatch.com

We love to see our craft projects out in the wild! If you try this seasonal craft project, take a picture and post it on Instagram, be sure to tag us @TheNavagePatch!

DIY Light-up Melting Snowman VIDEO Tutorial

Watch our short and fun video below for an overview of our DIY light-up melting snowman before you read the detailed step-by-step tutorial.

Watch Our Tutorial On YouTube

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@thenavagepatch

This light-up melting snowman is a fun and whimsical holiday decoration that can be scaled up or down to suit your needs. Inside or out, melting Frosty is sure to be a hit! Be sure to follow @michaelscraftstore for more craft fun and inspiration! #sponsored #MakeitwithMichaels #Christmas #Christmas2022 #Christmasiscoming #Christmasishere #Christmas #christmascrafts #christmasdiy #diychristmas #learnontiktok #christmasiscoming #holidaycrafts #christmasdecor #christmasdecorating #christmasdecorations #christmasdiyideas #diychristmasdecor #snowman

♬ original sound – TheNavagePatch – DIY & Crafts

DIY Light-up Melting Snowman Tutorial

Step 1 – Wrap the lights

The reason for the laundry basket is to save time, money and weight. Rather than using lord-knows-how-many more cans of foam to make the snowman’s body, the basket takes up that space nicely and is a perfect place to wrap the lights.

We used two strings of white wire 100 LED lights we got from Michaels. You can go that route, but you can save a lot of money by buying them from Amazon or Walmart and going for green wire. It won’t make a difference to your final product. I’d also recommend buying a 200 or 300 light strand to save even more.

I wrapped the lights around the basket and kept enough to spread out in front. To save on foam costs, we have the snowman melting more towards the front instead of an equal pool of snow all around.

man squatting with a laundry basket and christmas lights

Step 2 – Foam

I sprayed the foam around the base first, and then I worked outward to form the puddle. Handan adjusted the lights as I foamed to keep an even distribution of them as I created his puddle area.

man spraying foam on a laundry basket
man making a melting snowman

We felt this was big enough for Frosty’s puddle. As I mentioned before, you can certainly make this smaller and cheaper.

man making a melting snowman

From this point, I built upward with the foam until I got it to this point.

man making a melting snowman

Step 3 – Paint

The unfortunate reality with craft foam – even the bright white kind – is that it will yellow in sunlight.

There’s no escaping it and no getting around it. But, it’s easy to keep that brilliant white by painting it white! Now, it’s possible that a clear UV-protection sealant may work, too. I haven’t tried it though, so I can’t say for sure. Once I do try it, I will update this post.

Step 4 – Install the head

I sprayed more foam on top of the basket and then nestled one half of Frosty’s head into the foam.

man spraying foam
man making a foam snowman head

I sprayed more foam into the neck area, and when it had hardened, I painted all the newly-sprayed foam to protect it from the sun.

man spraying foam

If you’re using a regular top hat or one that comes with a snowman kit, you can glue the other half of Frosty’s head using foamboard adhesive. But since the hat we got was actually a decorative basket, it had a hole on top, but not where a head would normally fit.

man holding a tophat for snowman

This looked a little ridiculous. I mean, even more ridiculous than this project already was!

man holding a top hat on a snowman

Since my babes wouldn’t allow me to destroy the basket by cutting a hole in it, I decided to lop off the top of Frosty’s head instead. Hey, it’s not like he was using it in the first place!

man cutting a foam ball

I then put foamboard adhesive around the bottom half of his head and glued the two halves together.

foam with adhesive on it
man making a foam snowman head

Step 5 – Add body parts

We bought a snowman kit from Amazon for the eyes, nose, mouth, pipe and buttons. It also had a hat and arms, but we wanted to use our basket hat, and I wanted to give him real stick arms from a brush pile out back.

Some people on social media took issue with the seam going around his face. Honestly, you don’t notice it from a distance (remember this is a yard decoration), and you certainly don’t notice it at night. But if it bothers you, then by all means, cover it up!

making a melting snowman

I ended up re-positioning the arms, so they’re actually higher up than seen in the picture below.

making a light-up melting snowman from foam

About that smile. Handan and I debated that. I wanted to give him a frown, but my babes insisted he remain smiling. Now that he’s done, I see her point. This is a fun holiday DIY made as much for the neighborhood kids as for us. A frowning Frosty would have been a bit of a downer, I think, lol!

Here’s our melting snowman on a cloudy day with temps in the 70s!

DIY Light-Up Melting Snowman by TheNavagePatch.com

And here he is at night, all lit up!

DIY Light-Up Melting Snowman by TheNavagePatch.com
DIY Light-Up Melting Snowman by TheNavagePatch.com
DIY Light-Up Melting Snowman by TheNavagePatch.com
DIY Light-Up Melting Snowman by TheNavagePatch.com
DIY Light-Up Melting Snowman by TheNavagePatch.com




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49 Comments

  1. What a fabulous snowman! Your DIY projects are always fantastic. But when the holiday decor has to be packed away at the end of the season, how will this one fit into storage? Perhaps in a future edition it could be engineered to separate into manageable segments?

    1. It’s not small, that’s for sure, Deb. But that’s also why I mentioned that this project can be scaled up or down depending on finances and available space. Ours will go into a storage unit next month.

  2. I do believe this is my very favorite Christmas decoration you’ve made yet! He is awesome!!! I think we need one in warm Tennessee right now!

  3. How clever!! It looks great! After admiring Frosty in all his frosted glory, my mind immediately jumped to the dreaded STORAGE. Are you going to dismantle it in any way? I think that would be very difficult, just sayin’. It seems that one would have to store it fully assembled; I am assuming that the foam goes with it, right? Just curious. So just keep doing what you two do best and continue to impress and amaze and save all mere mortals from wracking our brains to come up with inspirations – they are all on this website!!

    1. Thank you, Carla! We’ll be storing him in a storage unit we rent for our seasonal decorations. With no basement here in FL, we’d be sunk without a storage unit!

  4. Cute! How much would you estimate he weighs? I’m guessing not much which would mean he’d be an airborne Frosty in our Iowa winds! ☃️

    1. Not too much – he’s easy to carry around. The way he’s shaped let’s him stand up to some windstorms we’ve had here, but you could always put a stake through the foam to hold him down.

  5. Hello, Mr and Mrs N. I have followed the two of you for a long time now and don’t let much time pass between checking up on you. I see your creative natures are intact as is your joie de vivre ( had to kick Otto Kureckt in the pants to make him leave that one alone). I love the snowman and have no issue with the equator line in the face. It just looks like an evenly distributed snow melt to me. I am very happy to see another successful collaboration between the two of you and look forward to many more. Thanks for posting. Pam from Kansas

  6. I loved your Frosty! I have made dollhouse sized ones with a puddle of clear glass stain, flatback black “beads”, air dry orange clay “carrot”, a wisp of fringed fleece for his scarf, a white pom pom for a head(with pink blush cheeks), and a black plastic top hat (maybe a bridal shower supply?). They translate to ornaments with the addition of a hanging gold cord. Once I accidentally used a glitter glass stain in the centers of the puddle; I told people it was Frosty’s magic! Hey, I wouldn’t hurry about taking him down–he’s winter, not Christmas!

  7. Hey yall. I love love love this idea. My sister sent me your video and I couldn’t wait to make him. perfect for this 100 degree weather hear in FL. Thank God I have a Christmas shed, ware I store my things I just have to make room for him it was so fun to make a little pricey. But worthwhile thank you for sharing this. I can’t wait to see what you have in store next. Now people are asking if I’ll make them one what would you price it for if you were to sell them? And is it ok to sell being its your creation? I can’t wait for Christmas I think I’ll put him out sooner for kicks.

    1. Hi Victoria, it’s perfectly fine for you to make and sell our creations! As for pricing, well that’s up to you! Take what you spent and add on a fee for your time plus a little more for profit!

  8. Do the lights do okay with the foam? And do you keep it on a plastic sheet out in the yard. Texas girl here, so I’m wondering about rain too.

    1. The lights are LED, so they’re fine with the foam. We put it right onto the grass – no issues with the rain, as the foam doesn’t mind the water at all!

    1. Hi Pam, ours survived the Florida Winter Apocalypse of 2022 where temps plummeted down to the high teens for several days. Millions of plants and trees perished, but Frosty held up just fine. That said, Michigan is an entirely different frozen hellscape in the winter, so I can’t say with 100% certainty! 😁😁😁

  9. I LOVE, LOVE this snowman!! Definitely doing this for my yard this year 🙂 What size hollow half-foams did you use for this project?

  10. This is the cutest project. I made Frosty. SO many cans of foam! Since we live in Missouri, we placed him on a small piece of plywood to provide some stability. I plan on using predrilled mounting holes and securing with yard stakes. He will be the centerpiece of our yard this Christmas. Thanks so much for the project idea.