Creative Ideas for 5-Gallon Buckets

A 5-gallon bucket comes in handy for paint or tasks like yard waste cleanup, but what else can you do with them? There are plenty of possibilities for a wide variety of uses around your home, from gardening to recreational to storage and even gift giving. Give yourself a chance to turn a Lowe’s 5-gallon bucket into something more with the ideas below — and any ideas that are sparked along the way. You’ll be surprised at how something as simple as a Lowe’s bucket can transform into almost anything you need it to.

Since these buckets can be useful for a variety of things, why not gift one to a new homeowner — filled with essentials and small, thoughtful gifts of course. Fill the bucket with various cleaning supplies and toss in simple décor items, like pretty patterned kitchen towels, a candle and a small faux house plant. Wrap it up in clear wrapping, add a bow and it’s ready for gifting. In your note, include an idea or two of how they can reuse the bucket once all the goodies have been emptied from it.   

Create a handy tool caddy for toting and storing hammers, screwdrivers, drills and more. Simply insert a bucket bag and fill the pockets with the items you need and easily carry your gear from home project to home project. This idea works for the craft room, too. Stash paint brushes, colored pencils and pens, stamps, glue guns and ribbon within easy reach while you work. Or create a cleaning bucket with sprays, sponges and other cleaning items all easy to access and ready to use. 

For a quick way to set up a beverage station for a backyard gathering, grab your 5-gallon bucket, fill it with ice and add a few drink choices. Not only will this help keep drinks cool and easily accessible, but it adds a fun display for your get-together.  Give it some personality by spray painting and decorating it to coordinate with the party’s colors or theme.

If you’re looking for a fun and delicious weekend activity, try making your own ice cream — with a Lowe’s 5-gallon bucket and some other supplies. While you wait, prepare for your ice cream party by gathering your favorite toppings and setting out cones and bowls to serve your frosty homemade treat in. Once it’s ready, scoop it out of the container, add your toppings and enjoy!

If you love gardening but don’t have a ton of space to dedicate to a large garden or live in an area where conditions for gardening aren’t ideal, hydroponic gardening is a great solution.  And you can create your own DIY hydroponic garden with a Lowe’s bucket. Follow these instructions to build your own hydroponic system and start planting herbs, strawberries, petunias and more. 

With a few materials and some simple DIY skills, you can create a stylish 5-gallon bucket planter for your patio or other outdoor space.  Choose a paint color or fabric to give the bucket a new look, embellish with sisal rope or ribbon and you have a brand new planter to display. All that’s left is to fill it with your favorite florals.

Yard games make any outdoor gathering more fun, and with the help of 5-gallon buckets with lids and a few extra supplies, you can easily create outdoor games like checkers and tic-tac-toe. For checkers, you can build your own board using the instructions in our DIY Outdoor Games article and use the bucket lids as the pieces. Your tic-tac-toe grid can easily be made with PVC pipe and spray paint. Use bucket lids to make the X and O pieces, spray painting half the lids a different color to make it easier to differentiate between the two.  When the games are over, the buckets can be used to store the pieces of the games and other small outdoor items.