This easy lighted marquee sign was a show stopping decoration at my son’s graduation party. I was surprised how quickly these lighted marquee numbers went together and how amazing they looked using inexpensive materials.
Easy Lighted Marquee Sign Supplies
poster board cut into 3 inch strips
1 sheet of 3/16 inch foam board for each marquee number or letter (found at local craft store)
drill
drill bit
scroll or band saw
hot glue gun and glue
string lights (we used two sets for our four marquee numbers
How to make a lighted marquee sign
Using a scroll saw cut the number out of 3/16 inch foam board. Our numbers were about 28 inches tall. I used jiggler font blown up to the size we needed as a template. A local copy shop can do this for you on 24 x 36 inch paper.
Using a drill, drill holes around the number. We placed the holes about every three inches. Our lights had a candelabra base so a 5/8 inch drill bit worked perfectly. Check the base of the string lights to get the right size hole. The base of the light needs to fit securely.
Place hot glue around the edge of the foam board number a little at a time. Stick the 3 inch strip of posterboard in the hot glue as you go around the number. Lightly scoring or folding the poster board will make corners nice and sharp, plan this out before starting to glue. Slightly overlap strips of poster board to add a new strip.
Continue this process for each marquee number or letter.
Spray paint the marquee number. Use several thin coats building up the paint. This helps to keep the poster board from bending.
Place the sockets of the lights into the back of the marquee number. Then from the front screw in the light bulb. If you need to back track to go around the entire number, place sockets every other hole so you can come back to get the the next number. We strung all four numbers together, taking out the bulb and leaving a blank socket in between each number.
To make hanging easier we attached the marquee numbers to a thin board then suspended the board from the ceiling.
I would love to purchase the five and zero from you!
Thank you sooo much for posting your instructions for this project! Cannot wait to make this for my brothers graduation party in a couple weeks!
This is beautiful, and looks professional. what a nice way to decorate a wall for many different occasions