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

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.

easy lighted marquee sign supplies

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.

how to make marquee numbers letters

marquee numbers letters tutorial

homemade marquee numbers

Continue this process for each marquee number or letter.

easy lighted marquee number letter tutorial

Spray paint the marquee number.  Use several thin coats building up the paint. This helps to keep the poster board from bending.

DIY Marquee Lights painting

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.

DIY Marquee lights installing bulbs

To make hanging easier we attached the marquee numbers to a thin board then suspended the board from the ceiling.

DIY Marquee Numbers letters


About Cindy Hopper

Learn More

you may also like

Comments

  1. 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!

  2. This is beautiful, and looks professional. what a nice way to decorate a wall for many different occasions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *