50 Outdoor Lantern & Light Ideas to Laser Cut for Garden & Patio

Three slatted tabletop lanterns share one solar top cap, so you can build a matching set for a deck rail or an outdoor dining table and never run a cable to it. Each version changes the side profile, which gives you tall, wide and squat options from the same panel kit.

A tapered plywood lantern with a solar panel set into the lid and a small brass loop on top. The maze-like side cutouts throw a scattered pattern once the light comes on, which makes this a good pick for hanging from a pergola beam or a shepherd's hook in a border.

Six panels of interlocking cutwork wrap a hexagon that charges by day and glows after dark. Photographed lit on a flat surface, it casts a wide net of light shapes across the ground around it, which is an effect that reads best on a dark patio or along a path edge.

Three dark-framed lanterns are packed with coiled fairy lights instead of one bulb, so each box reads as a soft mass of light rather than a point source. Built in three heights, they line up neatly along a deck edge or a step, and the solar caps mean no extension leads.

A compact square windlight with rose cutouts on each face and a rope handle, shot sitting on a deck rail in front of hydrangeas. The solar cap sits flush under the handle, so the whole thing lifts off the rail and can be carried down to a garden table for the evening.

Two slim towers, one blue and one pink, use a scattered flower and butterfly pattern that changes character completely depending on the colour you finish it in. Three designs and two sizes are offered, so a single build session can produce a graduated set for an outdoor table.

A grinning painted frog on a stake, with two colour-changing solar bulbs dropped in as eyes. It is the rare garden stake that actually does something after sunset, and the body is broad enough to sit convincingly in mulch or tucked between low border plants.

A cluster of little bees on skewers, each carrying a glow-in-the-dark body that charges in daylight and holds a green glow well into the night. They are sized for potted plants rather than open beds, which makes them an easy, no-wiring way to light up a porch planter.

Three ornate lanterns hang at staggered heights, each fitted with coloured crystal accents that pick up daylight and candlelight alike. The fretwork roof and arched openings give them a market-stall look, and the same body doubles as an incense holder once the candle is out.

A slim teardrop frame with star and moon cutouts, hung from a hook on a porch beam with a single pillar candle inside. Because the frame is open rather than boxed in, it stays light on the hook and reads as a clean silhouette against a bright sky.

Tall, pinched at the waist and topped with a hanging ring, this one is designed to work either way: hook it from a bracket or set it down on a step. The tracery panels are dense enough that the lit version reads as a glowing pattern rather than as a visible bulb.

A small lantern hung from a scrolled wall bracket with a greeting topper, which is the layout you want beside a front door rather than on a table. Swap the topper panel for a plain one and the same bracket carries the lantern through the rest of the year.

A hexagonal lantern with a proper ring handle on top and a fox standing among cut trees across the main panel. The handle is the detail that matters here: it lets you carry the lantern out to a garden bench and then hook it over a low branch when you get there.

The same hexagonal shell in a darker mood: a howling wolf against layered pines, finished in a deep stain that almost disappears at night so only the cutouts stay visible. Shot unlit on a plain background, it also shows clearly how the panel joints and top vent go together.

Two lidded boxes covered in a repeating geometric cut, photographed with the lids tipped open so you can see the tealight sitting inside. The lid is the useful part outdoors: it shields the flame from a light breeze while still letting the pattern glow through every face.

Painted a dusty blue and topped with a ring handle, this one leans decorative rather than rustic. Stars and diamonds are punched through every panel and through the roof as well, so light escapes upward as much as sideways and it stays visible on a crowded patio table.

A ribbed dome of thin vertical slats that sits over a candle like a shade, throwing narrow bars of light instead of a cut pattern. There is no glazing and no lid, so it suits a sheltered table on a still evening, and it packs down flat until you need it again.

A short cylinder wrapped in a diagonal lattice, shot at dusk on a weathered table with string lights strung behind it. The low, wide proportion is deliberate: the lantern sits below eye level, so the light stays out of your face while you are eating outside.

Flower-cut panels slot together around a candle and can be rearranged or added to, so one cut file scales from a single screen up to a long centrepiece. Left open at the top, it is simple to relight, which matters when you are moving between courses outdoors.

Bees hover over cut grasses on a dark hexagonal lantern, photographed among pots with the candle already burning. The dark finish is what sells this one outdoors, because the body drops away in low light and only the meadow scene stays readable from across the garden.

Shot up close, this lantern layers a hive, a fat bee and a tangle of leaves across its panels, and it runs on an LED rather than a flame. That makes it the safer option for a wooden deck or a table with children around, and it can be left glowing all evening.

Birds, branches and a little nest box are cut into the front panel, with denser foliage filling the sides. It is a garden scene lighting a garden, which is a satisfying bit of symmetry: set it near a real feeder and the theme does most of the work for you.

A tall lantern with a peacock and trailing feathers cut into an interchangeable side panel, shown alongside the spare panel so you can see how it slides out. Fitted with a flameless tealight, it is a low-risk choice for a shaded porch shelf or a covered side table.

A wide, low lantern with a single Celtic knot medallion on the front and a matching band running around the base, photographed on an outdoor table among fallen leaves. The knotwork is cut cleanly enough that the glow traces the whole loop without breaking up anywhere.

Layered trees sit in front of two deer, so the scene has real depth once it is lit from behind. Built as a squat open-topped box, it takes a battery light easily and is shallow enough to tuck onto a window ledge or a covered porch step without getting in the way.

A ready-made black metal lantern turned personal with a rose and stem etched straight onto the copper-toned insert panel. Metal handles weather far better than thin plywood, so this is the approach to take when the lantern is going to live outside all year round.

Two cylindrical aluminium lamps sit low in the planting and wash the leaves above them with warm light. The cut pattern is a loose thicket of stems, which breaks the beam up so that you get glow rather than glare along a border or the edge of a path.

A brass-framed hexagonal tower with a pitched roof and one glazed face left bright, so the light points in a chosen direction instead of spilling everywhere at once. Useful at the top of a flight of steps or beside a gate, where you want the path lit and nothing else.

A two-tier pagoda roof over open side panels, shown bare so all the joinery is visible. The upturned eaves shed rain better than a flat lid does, and the silhouette suits a gravel garden, the edge of a water feature, or a shady corner that needs a focal point.

A domed Moroccan-style lantern with a finial on top and dense geometric fretwork all round, photographed on a patio table beside a strand of bulbs. The tight cutwork is what makes it work at night, because a lot of small holes reads as texture rather than as a lamp.

A palm, a slung hammock and a low sun are cut into the front of this lantern, lit warm and photographed on a poolside table at dusk. It is holiday shorthand, and it does a lot of work setting the mood on a summer evening without any other decoration nearby.

The same holiday theme in a taller, narrower body, with a sunburst filling the top half of the front panel. Photographed unlit on a garden bench beside a succulent, it shows how much of the effect comes from the cut alone before you even add a candle.

Sun hat, pineapple and flip-flops scattered across the panels give this one an unapologetically summer-holiday feel. It is a good candidate for a poolside table or a barbecue spread, and the motifs are simple enough in outline that they stay legible even at small panel sizes.

Big monstera leaves and scattered fronds wrap a hexagonal body, so the lit version drops leaf shadows onto whatever it stands on. Pair it with real potted plants on a covered patio and the cut leaves and the live ones end up playing off each other nicely.

Curved ribs form a pumpkin cage around an inner panel showing a witch on a broom, so light escapes in slices as well as through the scene itself. Sitting it on a porch step lets those ribs throw long stripes across the boards and the wall behind it.

A rounder take, built from stacked rings with a stubby green stem on top and photographed among fallen leaves and mini pumpkins. Because it is stacked rather than boxed, the glow leaks from every seam at once and it reads as a genuine pumpkin from a distance.

Two square boxes with classic carved faces, one left natural and one painted orange, shot against black so only the faces show. Squaring off a jack-o'-lantern makes it far quicker to build in batches for a doorway or for a whole run of front steps.

HALLOWEEN is cut straight across the front panel with a pumpkin filling out the letters, and a hanging ring sits on the peaked roof above. Lettering carries much further than fine detail after dark, which makes this the better choice for hanging by a gate or a path.

A lantern body wrapped in a spider, with legs bent out to grip whatever it stands on and a hanging loop above the head. Slightly unhinged, and much more interesting than another pumpkin if your porch is already carrying plenty of those by mid-October.

Pumpkins and layered leaves cover all four faces in an autumn palette, lit from the inside on a plain base. It reads as harvest rather than Halloween, so it can go out on the porch table in September and stay there comfortably well past the end of October.

Six panels of snowflakes and reindeer with a snowflake finial on the lid, photographed pale and unstained. Six sides mean there is always a decorated face pointing towards the door, which is worth the extra cuts when the lantern is going to live on an entry step.

A tree fills the front panel while snowflakes cover the rest, and a small medallion sits on a post above the roof. Shot against a snowy window, it is a reminder that these lanterns look their best where cold light outside contrasts with the warm one inside.

A framed lantern with a spiral tree inside and Santa's sleigh crossing the top rail, styled here with frosted branches and baubles. The outer frame does double duty as a carry handle and as a guard, so nothing knocks the tree out of place on the way outside.

A gabled house front with a fireplace scene glowing behind it, cut so the roof overhangs and the light spills forward onto the surface below. Line up two or three at different widths and you have a small village running along a windowsill or a covered step.

Snowmen and swirling flakes run around a tall box topped with a small chimney vent. The vent is a practical touch if you are burning a real candle, and the tall proportion means the lantern still shows above a bowl of pine cones or a length of garland.

An open-sided lantern with a peaked, fretted roof, photographed with a string of fairy lights fed in through the base instead of a candle. That trick solves the wind problem outright and lets the lantern sit out on a doorstep for weeks at a time.

A white lantern with calligraphy on the front face, geometric bands down the corners and a small domed cap on top. Painted light rather than stained, it stands out against a dark courtyard wall and photographs well on an entry table through the Ramadan evenings.

A crescent moon wrapped around a mosque silhouette, standing on a round base with room for a tealight underneath. Shown as a pair in stained and natural finishes, it works as a doorway marker on either side of an entrance rather than as a single centrepiece.

A square luminary painted in red, white and blue, with stripes cut into one face and a field of stars on the next. Simple enough to batch for a whole path or a driveway edge on the Fourth, and the flat panels take paint far more easily than curved ones do.

Rabbits, eggs and a star topper are cut into a pale hexagonal lantern, shot on a sill with the garden visible behind it. Spring is when outdoor lighting starts getting used again, and a light seasonal lantern like this is an easy way to mark that shift.