Christmas Lights Advice

I’ve got a wooden fence…. how do I hang Christmas lights on it?

I get this question from time to time and I’m happy to report that there is a clip designed specifically for this application – and it has a zippy name… Surface Mount Clip.

Each clip is set in a little “S” and technically, you’d need to use one for each C7 or C9 bulb that you want to snap into attention along your fence or flat surface. You run the wire on each side of the bulb socket under a side of the S and a little lip catches it and holds it in place. If you have a terribly irregular surface that may affect how snugly the wire is held. The socket is positioned so that the bulb is perpendicular to the flat surface of the clip.

So passers-by will see and neat and orderly row of lights all pointing right at them. (They’ll all be envious – I’m just sayin’.)

I hope you are planning your Christmas light display now – don’t forget how you are going to install your lights.

Merry Christmas,

Shellie Gardner
Owner/Operator
Christmas Light Source, a great place to find all sorts of Christmas Lights all year long.
Surface Mount Clips

Hello! I was just wondering if Battery Operated Mini Lights White Wire Product#: BL-154BATCLRW is the best product to use for wreaths? Look forward to hearing from you. Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,

Those are almost better tailored to short term events but yes, they do work for wreaths. The only issue to consider is the time they stay lit per set of batteries and how often you’d have to switch them out and the associated expense. Rechargeable batteries don’t always have the same brightness as traditional batteries so you’d need to be careful not to assume that they would be effective replacements in battery operated lights.

On the incandescent sets you mention, the batteries will last 4-7 hours per battery pack so you’d need to change the 2 C batteries out almost every day or two.

If you went with a battery operated LED set with 20 bulbs spaced 6 inches apart, then you’d have to change them every 3-5 days. They take 3 AA batteries that last about 18-24 hours per set.

For a smaller wreath, our microdrop lights are rated to last over 125 hours per charge. They have 18 lights that are 3 inches apart. They are really bright. If you didn’t need very many sets, those could be your best wire-less option.

Frankly, if there is any way that you can run a cord, that is the absolute best option you’d have for a wreath.

Hope that helps,

Shellie Gardner
Christmas Lights

As my family and I vacation here in St Augustine, Florida – I see lights everywhere even thought we’re no where near Christmas and it makes me glad that there are solutions for lighting restaurants and patios that are easy and cost effective.

Over at Christmas Light Source, we just rolled out a new product line that normally we save only for our corporate clients but decided that there might be a residential user or two might want the same impact for their parties, and backyard weddings that restaurants use to highlight their dining patios and wine and beer gardens.

These lights have a base that is slightly larger than a standard bulb and the cord you can purchase for these is a hefty 14 AWG wire. These bulbs are not compatible with traditional C7 (candelabra) or C9 (intermediate) cords.

These lights look great hanging around the perimeter of a backyard deck, along a fenceline or criss-crossed between buildings – like your home and a detached garage.

Barns that are used for parties would also look great with these lights strung back and forth and they would definitely be bright enough to light up the night for a good country and western band and some great barbeque – isn’t that why you have a barn?

Like all lighting products these sets are susceptible to UV degradation and wind damage – the bulbs are glass. So be sure to order extra bulbs and pan to replace the wire based on your environment every so often.

Best regards as always,
Shellie Gardner
Christmas Light Source
Medium Base Bulbs

Have you ever asked yourself:

Is there a better way to hang a large, heavy ornament on my tree?

I had a customer call looking for tree clips and she had such a great idea for them that I had to pass along her hot tip!

Tree clips are normally used to secure Christmas lights to tree branches – especially to live trees that you don’t want to damage when you remove the lights. Or when you use LED lights and don’t want to damage the lights when you take them down. You just give them a little twist and you get a secure hold. They keep you from having to use wire ties that are hard to remove – often requiring clippers that dig into the tree and can cut light wires.

Well, back to my customer with the innovative solution. She was finding that her really heavy ornaments were just sliding off her Christmas tree limbs. When she saw the tree clips online, she thought that might be just the thing to solve her problem. And they were! Just a simple twist and her heavier ornaments didn’t fall off the tree – she said it was nice to not have to worry about her cat knocking the ornaments off, as well.

Naturally, not all ornaments will fit over the little ball on the end of the clip but for large or heavy balls and figurines, they work great.

I have some kid-made Christmas tree decorations that are heavier than your garden-variety glass balls and I love them. This solution will be a great alternative this year to twist ties.

I’ve been working with these clips for 5 years and now, in addition to the best available way to attach light sets to trees, now they have a second great function as ornament hangers!

Hope this tip helps as you think forward to the upcoming Christmas Season. I love my customers and I really enjoy it when they find innovative uses for products!

Best regards,

Shellie Gardner
Christmas Light Source
Tree Clips

Why is this bride is crying? It’s because she waited until the day before her wedding to shop for lights to decorate her wedding tent and battery lights for the tables. She can’t find them at the local craft store and overnighting them is going to cost a small fortune.

She’s the victim of a Christmas Light Emergency.

Hand her a hankie.

All year long I help folks out with their lighting emergencies. Two days before prom, 4 days before a large corporate event….. December 10th….. if you haven’t made a plan for lighting you could find yourself in a bind.

Here are 6 easy ways to avoid a Christmas Light Emergency.

1. Christmas is on the 25th of December. Every year. (Really.) Start planning your Christmas display in September or beginning of October. Some specialty lights like red net lights and multi color chasing lights, for instance based on last years experience, can run out of stores all over the country by the end of October. (Who knew?!?)

Don’t wait until the bottleneck of the week before Thanksgiving – one of the busiest times in Christmas light sales of the year. Make sure to find your lights locally or order a couple of weeks early so that ground shipping will be sure to have them at your door in time to start installing them the weekend after Thanksgiving like all your neighbors. Otherwise, you may have to explain to your spouse why you are so free to watch games all weekend. Note… if you really mean to watch games all weekend and would like a quiet 4-day weekend off the ladder and in your favorite chair, order your lights at the beginning of Thanksgiving week and then blame everything on UPS.

2. Don’t wait until you are ready to put up decorations for parties and Holidays the actual day of the installation or event. The stress of spending summer in your hot attic, the fact that your lights are bundled in a ball in a storage tote and the fact there may be children in the house can all contribute to light failure at the most inopportune time.

Take the lights out a couple of weeks in advance and test them to make sure they are all working. If you have a few missing or blown bulbs, use the replacements that came with your sets that you’ve stored safely in a properly marked storage bag … or use the worst string of lights to give it’s life to provide bulbs to the rest of your sets in order to get them all working again.

If you fail to get them all in working order, you should still have time to order lights. Emergency averted.

3. Give yourself plenty of time to plan for your party. Back out 6 weeks. Put pen to paper. Choose the colors of lights that you’d like to use for the shower, Bar Mitzvah, homecoming dance or Superbowl party that you are planning. Think about the types of lights that would best accent your big day. Line the walks with big old fashioned bulbs (these are generally never available locally), plan to hang lights under your porch or deck roof. Think about accenting trees by wrapping their trunks with mini lights or trunk wrap nets. Done in advance, you can make a plan and then find great deals and save on shipping.

4. Store your lights well so that they are ready for your next event. Purchase specially designed mini lights wrap and reel storage devices – these are readily available during the Christmas season at places like Target, Home Depot and Loews. Use them to nicely store your mini lights. You can also use the cardboard centers of wrapping paper to wind your lights around to store in flat storage containers meant to store Christmas wrapping paper. By storing your lights properly, they’ll be ready to install and will be less likely to have experienced damage while in hibernation. Thus you will have avoided an emergency.

5. Touch base with a Master Electrician in your area before ordering and installing lights. You know, the guy two doors down or your brother-in-law. Everyone knows an electrician. There is nothing worse than finding out after you’ve ordered 3000 feet of C9 bulbs and cords that 3 outlets on a 15 Amp breaker will not supply sufficient power for lighting your 60 foot tree. You’ll have to return all those lights (and pay all that shipping) and then order an alternative like LED lights that can run dozens of sets on one plug. Save yourself the headache and consult with a professional who really can save you time.

6. When you order Christmas lights, open them the day you receive them and count them to insure that you received everything you ordered – mistakes are rare but they can happen to anyone. Also, take a little extra time to plug them in to make sure everything is A-OK. Lights can be damaged in shipping so a quick check in advance is always handy so you have time to request replacements if the problem isn’t easily solved by re-seating a dislodged bulb or replacing a fuse.

Buy the same batteries that you’ll be using at your event and test them in the battery lights that you will be using. Do this to first make sure there are no problem with the lights and second, consider timing how long your lights will last with the batteries you’ve purchased. Be sure to use new fresh batteries and purchase them at a retailer who will have good turnover. How long your lights will last depends on the batteries.

And on an unrelated note, if you are a blushing bride planning the lighting on your wedding day, consider asking your Dad to help with that project. Especially if he is the kind of guy who used to have a radio in the basement and likes to tinker with stuff. He’ll love to work on an electrical project for you while you and your mother worry about cake and flowers. Just make sure to ask him a couple months in advance.

It doesn’t take much… just a little planning and preparation to avoid most light emergencies. Sometimes, they just can’t be helped. That’s when I start to think out of the box and just make it happen.

Best regards,

Shellie Gardner
Christmas Light Source
Shop Early for Christmas Lights

Mini lights come in just about every variation under the sun nowadays – different color bulbs and wires, different spacing and light set lengths – you can even find them with novelty covers everything from Winnebagos to sea shells to Disney characters.

One type of light set that I’m experimenting with this season is a set that has 20 percent of it’s bulbs randomly twinkling. These are fairly new and are a nice alternative to flashing sets of lights. The twinkling lights twinkle as a function of temperature so after you turn them on they take a few seconds to warm up them they start to turn on and off.

These lights are especially nice when you are decorating down South where there is rarely snow for the holidays because they remind me of light on snow. Just shimmering flashes of light among the bulbs that stay on all the time.

Here is a video that I just shot of this set to give you a better idea of how the twinkle rate looks.

I think this set of lights would be great for just decorating for a party or an event – not too distracting but a little more interesting.

Be sure to be gentle with your mini lights as you are installing and don’t forget to keep the little bags of bulbs and fuses that come with the lights for that inevitable moment when a bulb pops out or you blow a fuse. Mini lights are wired in series so if one bulbs burn out they all stay lit but if one pops out of it’s socket, it will interrupt the connection and cause your strand to go out.

Work with your strands of mini lights gently – if you are working with a longer set (more than 20 feet long) then consider rolling the set like a ball of yarn then untwist it as you wind it around the tree, column, shrub, railing or whatever you are wrapping with lights.

Have fun and have a Merry Christmas,

Shellie Gardner
Twinkle Lights

It just so happens that this past summer I started a new hobby – glass mosaic. I love to cut glass in just the perfect shape and match it artfully with glass gems and glass figures.

(As a note, my favorite source for those little glass gems are marylandmosaics.com.) They have the coolest sun faces.

I spent all summer working on this hurricane. I have been lighting it up with a candle. But yesterday I popped a set of the white micro drop led lights in to see what they’d look like – and I think they look great. Since they don’t have insulation on the wire, they “float” in the container instead of filling it with wire that you can see through the lighter pieces of glass. And since they last 150 hours I won’t have to change the batteries out too often. (Most battery operated sets are tailored for use in events and last 6-24 hours depending on the style.)

I decided to try the yellow LED set. It’s a nice look.

The blue is nice – and since this project is very blue, it seems to emphasize this color. The only downside to using a colored battery light set is that you start to lose the color of some of the glass work. It adds ambiance

My favorite for ambiance is the red lights. I’m looking forward to Valentines Day.

So, if you are into mosaic or have glass work that you want to highlight – try a set of micro drop led lights – they look like little drops of clear epoxy on a bare wire. When you flip the battery switch they really light up for such little globs on a wire.

Happy Hobbies,
Shellie
Lights for Mosaic Projects

Mini lights have so many uses beyond the Christmas tree. Holidays are the time everyone decorates with lights, but why not break out of tradition a little and use mini lights throughout the year?

Easy Top 10 Ways to Use Mini Lights

1. Decorate Christmas Trees – yes, we know this is a favorite and there’s good reason for that. Mini lights are ideal for mixing and matching the colors on your Christmas tree. New themes to consider: purple mini lights with silver ornaments, blue mini lights with blue/white ornaments, or any other color scheme that appeals to you this year.
2. Wreaths – decorate wreaths not only for Christmas, but also for year round decorating appeal. Use red or pink mini lights for Valentine’s Day, green mini lights for St. Patrick’s Day, etc. Our clear mini lights or frost mini lights are perfect for year round decorating in the home or business.
3. Outdoors – take the mini lights outside! String lights around your patio, deck, and patio umbrella during the summer months for family get-togethers. By all means, decorate with lights during the holidays, but then leave some up following the holiday celebrations. Mini frost lights or any other color that cheers you will look great on your porch, trees, bushes, or outlining your gazebo in the back yard.
4. Birthday Celebrations – what better way to bring sparkle and fun to a birthday party? For younger children, opt for mini lights that compliment their favorite character – blue or red for super-heroes, pink for princesses, etc. Spruce up the party with pink, purple, or teal mini lights for your teenage daughter’s party.
5. Holiday Displays – light up the night in every color by decorating your holiday displays with mini lights. Reindeer come to life outlined with white mini lights. Santa will be jolly outfitted in his traditional red and white colors. The sleigh will simply sparkle with white mini lights. The Nativity crèche outlined with gold or yellow mini lights will have a “heavenly” appearance. The oversized wreath on the side of the garage will be stunning at night when outfitted with mini lights.
6. Gardens/Walkways/Water Features – gardens are a magical place in the evening hours when subtly lit with mini lights. Create the magic by adorning your trellises, arbors, and topiaries with mini lights. Outline walkways or paths through the garden. Water features are especially beautiful when the lights reflect off the water.
7. Halloween – bring together all the creepy, eerie effects of this October holiday with our green, purple, orange, and red mini lights.
8. Dances – transform the inside of your gymnasium, ballroom, or barn with strings and strings of mini lights along the ceiling, outlining doorways, and more.
9. Home – mini lights on the fireplace, in the bathroom, a bedroom, artificial trees, above kitchen cabinets, in dining room hutches, bookshelves, or as garland strung above a large window.
10. Weddings – mini lights everywhere! White mini lights along the ceiling, wrapped around tulle, and anywhere that you want sparkle.

Don’t forget – mini lights just aren’t for Christmas any more!!

Happy Holidays,

Shellie Gardner
Mini Lights

It’s that time of year again! Doesn’t it feel as though you’ve blinked and it’s once again time to haul out the strings of lights, the pretty Christmas bulbs and ornaments, and the holiday displays?

Perhaps you are tired of your traditional Christmas décor or would simply like to try your hand at decorating a few more rooms of the house.

Here are 23 suggestions for sprucing up your holiday décor this year – I hope it gets your Holiday creativity going!!

1. Wreaths are a traditional decoration for Christmas, but the style of wreaths available today for the holidays are anything but traditional. Pinecones, pine boughs, and grapevines are all excellent foundations for Christmas wreaths. Decorate your wreath with birds, poinsettia blooms, berries, mini Christmas ornaments or bulbs and lights. Battery-operated Christmas lights are ideal for hanging wreaths in any area of the home and avoiding unsightly electrical cords trailing down the wall. Are you really creative? Create a Christmas wreath from past holiday-themed neckties, linen napkins, or even mismatched Christmas ornaments and ribbon for a look that is uniquely yours.

2. What is Christmas decorating without a Christmas tree? Most homes feature at the very least a large tree in a central location of the home, such as the living room, dining room, or den. In addition, consider adding smaller Christmas trees in different areas of the house to bring cheer to every room. Older children would love to have a small tree in their room to enjoy throughout the holiday months. Christmas lights come in every size, shape, and color imaginable today, so get creative and have fun when choosing the lights for your tree this year.

3. Outdoor Christmas displays are fun to create and they’re enjoyed by not only your neighbors, but by the people who purposely go searching for holiday displays on a cold winter evening. Simple displays such as a Nativity scene and a few angels are always a lovely addition to your holiday decorating plan. Want to go all out? Create a winter wonderland in your front yard complete with Santa’s sleigh, reindeer, snowmen, and snowflakes. Decorate your home, trees, and shrubs too using net lights, rope lights, icicle lights, C7 and C9 lights to add holiday cheer to the outside of your home.

Here are some other great ideas for decorating your home for Christmas.

4. Pine cones – fantastic nestled in pine boughs on windowsills, in bay windows, or lining the fireplace mantel

5. Holly berries/bittersweet – windowsills, nestled in the grapevine tree or wreath, on the mantel or around the base of a large pillar candle in the middle of the holiday table

6. Mistletoe – every doorway, of course!

7. Christmas quilts – pull out your beautiful Christmas quilts and place them in a basket beside the fireplace, over the back of your rocking chair, on table tops, and other prominent places in the house

8. Christmas table runners, tablecloths, napkins – wonderful for decorating the holiday table, small foyer tables, bedside tables, buffets, hutches, and sideboards

9. Christmas centerpieces – dining room, buffet, entertainment center, den

10. Lights of every kind, shape, size, and color – wreaths, centerpieces, doorways, holiday trees, windows, child’s bedroom, fireplace mantel, Nativity scene, and anywhere else that seems to strike your fancy (don’t forget the garage and garden shed!)

11. Garland – strung around the banister, doorways, and tops of large windows
Bows – on the Christmas tree, along the fence, on the front door, or the garage door to name a few options

12. Candles – on the fireplace mantel, the dining room sideboard, master bedroom, den, in each window, and in the foyer

13. Homemade ornaments

14. Christmas cards

15. Popcorn strings/cranberry strings

16. Ribbons with sleigh bells attached and adorning the banister

17. Christmas wrapping paper – cover your every day artwork with Christmas wrap for instant holiday cheer in any room

18. Nativity scene – support a worthy cause and consider purchasing your nativity set from Poland from the Elim Christian Center – this cottage industry is changing the lives of impoverished women – we have our own full set in our home.

19. Advent wreath and calendar

20. Grapevine trees with twinkle lights – on the porch, in a sunroom, in the 4-season porch, large bathrooms, or in a bedroom

21. Holiday villages – if you haven’t started to collect a holiday village set, consider purchasing a few pieces in a set each year and watch it grow.

22. Trains and train tracks – surround the Christmas tree or put it around the perimeter of a room for visual interest.

23. Decorate your front porch, patio, balcony or deck with lights, garland, and red bows
Lighted Christmas signs

Christmas is a wonderful time of year, filled with family, friends, and delicious goodies. Holiday decorating can be a fun activity for the entire family when you think outside the traditional ways you’ve decorated in years past.

Merry Christmas,
Shellie Gardner
Christmas Lights

I was visiting with a friend today and I made a passing reference to net lights (what a shocker!). She made a little face and complained that net lights were just a little too “uniform” for her. See, in her neighborhood all the hedges are nice and striaght and every Christmas everyone installs their net lights and there are rows after rows of perfect hedges.

Seems my friend is a bit of a rebel. As part of the same conversation, I mentioned pink mini lights and pink C9 lights and the idea that she could have a completely pink house this Christmas made her eyes light up with anticipation. (We were conspiring that she and her daughter could surprise her husband and son with their all pink decor!!)

Well, I had a small solution to her net light concern. Net lights are just the best way to decorate a hedge, hands down. Especially in clear mini lights. Each bulb is laid out in a precise grid and the set takes approximately 30 seconds to install.

If you find all that order disconcerting then try the following: Instead of just one set of net lights, buy two. Throw the first set over the hedge then throw the second set offset by a couple of inches over top of it. The gridlike pattern will be minimized and you’ll have 300 mini lights in a some odd 24 square foot area.

I could see her eyes light up at the prospect of having all the convenience of net lights with the massive over the top look that she always spends hours and hours on ever November. Her words: “I like to wrap and wrap and wrap each branch of the hedge”.

I’m starting to wonder how the hedge manages to withstand all that Christmas lights affection.

If you decide that net lights are not the way to go because you want to do your entire house in purple, pink, teal or yellow (net lights are commonly only manufactured in traditional Christmas colors – red, blue, green, and clear) then here are a couple of tips to help you adorn your shrubs:

1. Since Christmas lights can only be run 3 sets to a single run before you have to use another extension cord, consider choosing the longest strands that you can get your hands on without going overboard. Consider 4 inch spacing since that is the most common and easily accessible distance between mini lights available on a set. For large tree trunks, you might look at 6 inch spacing. I like the sets that have 100 mini lights per string with 4 inch spacing because they give you 33 feet to work with.

2. Make sure your hedges are all trimmed up so that you don’t have pokey branches messing up all your hard work. This advice is strictly for folks in the deep South who don’t experience much winter. Or for our South American readers

3. Roll the lights up like balls of yarn before you begin installation. The principles here are the same as they are for yarn. The sets will stay better organized and you will be less likely to knock a bulb out – which will begin your search for the open socket when half the set refuses to light.

4. Consider installing the lights at night so you can see all your empty spaces and correct as you go.
(Be safe – don’t do this if you live in the hood like my neighborhood used to be 10 years ago. Use your good judgement.)

5. Use a modified figure 8 to install the lights on your greenery. The figure 8 pattern will help disguise irregularities and make holes less likely. Just bob and weave…

Most of all, have fun. Some folks like neat and tidy nets, other like the cacophony of chaos. Pick an all one color theme or go crazy with multi or mix it up – it’s all good and fun at Christmas time.

Best Regards,
Shellie Gardner
Christmas Lights