Christmas Lights Advice

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

Are you ready for summer or has the heat already made you tired?? Well, summer is perfect for parties – so have a glass of iced tea and start planning a time to visit with friends and family.

If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I like to mix things up and throw in a recipe here and there. Because where there are lights there’s a party – and where there’s a party…. food is very important!

Here is a recipe for potato salad that I’ve been perfecting to the detriment of my waistline for the last few months. As with all things yummy, it is based on the premise that you shouldn’t need a measuring cup or measuring spoon for everything you cook. So, taste as you go and try different vegetables depending on what you have in the fridge.

Hot and Spicy Potato Salad

1. For each person or serving, wash and peel one medium yukon gold potato plus one for the pot. If you have some heavy eaters in the house, you might add 2-5 more “for the pot”. Start “enough” eggs in a pan of cool water to make hardboiled eggs now. Set a timer for 15 minutes after the eggs come to a boil. (Don’t drop your eggs in boiling water – that will make a mess.)

2. Cut the potatoes in a large cube – a little bigger than the size of a cheese cube on a party tray – definitely not a dice. Add to boiling, lightly salted water and cook just until easily pierced with a fork. (You don’t want them crunchy but this is not one of those mashed potato salad recipes Drain. (Absolutely don’t rinse them – keep them hot!)

3. Put the hot potatoes in a bowl. Add your cooked, shelled, coarsely chopped boiled eggs.

4. Now look in your fridge and find some crunchy vegetables. Chop and add them to the potatoes. If you are really good with time management, you might have considered starting your chopping while the potatoes were cooking. I like red and yellow peppers for this, sometimes celery, and occasionally onion.

(If you use onion, consider putting the diced onions in a colander and pouring the hot water from your potatoes over the onions, thus blanching them and removing most of the bitter sulphur flavor that make onions so sharp.)

4. Throw in some chopped cooked bacon. Or cheat and add a handful (or two) of real bacon bits that you buy in a big bag at Sam’s or Costco. I love this!!!

5. Add a pinch or two of salt – not too much because we have a couple of surprise additions.

6. Now add a couple big spoonfuls of Hellman’s mayonnaise. Toss on that a handful … or two … of feta cheese – I guess that depends on the size of your hand.

Now add a couple squirts of Siracha. Siracha is that hot Thai garlic chili paste that is on all the tables in most Thai and Vietnamese restaurants. (You can find it just about anywhere nowadays but certainly in an Asian market.) A little goes a long way so don’t add too much at first but make sure that you can taste the heat. The fat of the Hellman’s and the cheese will take the edge off the super spicy Siracha and make your potato salad incredible.

7. You can finally stir everything up. (I hope you haven’t been stirring after every step!) Add more mayo if you need it. Taste for salt. Add more Siracha is you don’t get a kick. Everything should still be warm. The cheese should be melting into the salad.

Heaven.

This salad is a great accompaniment to burgers, steak, or stands alone.

It may not be that cold salad that you’ve come to expect but it will be a wonderful surprise at your next party. It’s also fun to make with the friends who come early! Give everyone a job chopping!

Keep your summer menus simple with steaks, burgers, venison or chicken accompanied with easy and filling salads. Ice tea is easy and inexpensive to make for a crowd and I’ll post how to make the perfect tea later!

And don’t forget to string mini lights under the ceiling of your patio or deck and/or along your fence-line! (I just couldn’t resist a small lighting tip!)

Have fun creating your own version of this potato salad this weekend.

Best regards,

Shellie Gardner
Mini Lights for Parties

May is here, Spring is here and a young man’s fancy turns to love. And a girl and her mother’s thoughts turn to a Spring or Summer wedding

Everyone seems to be on a budget nowadays – and with good cause – so I hope you consider how Christmas lights can be one of the cheapest ways to decorate without having to dip into the honeymoon fund.

White mini lights on white wire are the most popular lights for receptions since they blend in with white tents, gazebos, arches and many traditional structures you see at Churches and Halls. Use them to swirl around tent poles, small trees, and swag them wrapped in organza along banisters.

Mini lights look great run back and forth across the ceiling of your reception tent. They light they cast is warm and makes everyone look great!

If you are really lucky, you’ll have the mini lights you need packed away with your Christmas decoration in the attic. If you don’t and you need to go shopping, you may not find many in the stores but you should be able to find lights most times of the year online. Mini lights are now available in a wider variety of colors so you might want to combine white lights with the secondary color you’ve picked. Popular colors for weddings have been pink, purple and teal. Red’s been done for February weddings and we’ve heard of a green wedding or two in March.

To outline tents and hang in trees, consider C7 or C9 cords and bulbs. They give off more light and with a spacing average of 12 inches, installation is easier and the bulbs at 5 watts and 7 watts give off a lot of lights.

Curtain lights are like icicle lights but the strands that hang down are 5 or 6 fee long and make a “square” of lights. Behind shear curtains, they have a magical effect for the trouble of hanging one set of lights.

So considering the cost of the caterer, the flowers, the rentals and the cake, for a measly $200 or so, you can really brighten up your wedding and reception.

And be sure to make it fun!

Best regards on a wonderful Wedding and Reception,

Shellie
Wedding Lights

Remember those projects with dozens of plastic cups and a strand of mini lights? While I love a good hot glue project as much as the next person, I love these new mini lights spheres that have just been rolled out at Christmas Light Source.

Here’s a photo:

This is a photo of one of the spheres hanging from my back deck – I have to say they look really pretty. I like the fact that all I had to do was install a tea cup hook and run the cord to make them work. That’s about all I can do this time of year – with the Christmas season and all

Here is what the mini light ball looks like moved to the front porch during the daytime so you can see the construction:

You can see in the top photo that they globe has that traditional warm yellow-y glow you see in all incandescent mini lights – very nice. I look forward to hanging several of these from my deck this Spring.

For the person who is always looking for the next big thing in Christmas and party lighting, I think these mini light spheres are a nice addition to all of your old favorites.

Best regards,

Shellie Gardner

Mini Light Spheres

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

Hello All,

I just finished this video about magnetic Christmas lights, loaded it to youtube and thought I’d share.

One item that the video mentions that is really important is that you test the surface you want to use these clips on to make sure that a magnet will stick to it There are so many materials nowadays that look like they would be but aren’t.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Decorating,
Shellie Gardner
Magnetic Light Clips

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

Have you ever wanted to install Christmas lights on a roof, shed, a strip of flashing or a fence – but didn’t want to drill a hole or mess with silicone?

This season, there is a new clip manufactured in Lubbock, TX that is the answer to this question.

All it does is slip onto the base of traditional C7 and C9 sockets and it has a super strong magnet that sticks to any ferrous metal surface (the kind that magnets stick to LOL).

They do come in two sizes so make sure before you order any kind of clip that you know what size socket you are working with. C7 sockets are for bulbs with intermediate bases – the same size as night lights. C9’s are larger – the bulbs are about 2 inches long.

I hear from folks all year asking about magnetic clips and I’m glad that a solution finally exists These will be great for the edges of flat metal roofs and may see more commercial than residential application.

Shellie Gardner
Magnetic Christmas Light Clips

I just finished a quick article that covers the two most common reasons that mini lights fail.

Don’t send last season’s lights to the junk heap without trying a couple of quick tips to get them working. It’s a great way to use a resource a little longer and stretch you decorating dollars.

Here is a taste of the article:

Everyone has had problems from time to time with their mini lights – and since more folks are using them for decorating all year for parties, weddings, and Holidays – like Valentines and Halloween – it’s handy to have a few tips for getting every last hour that you can out of your light sets. (And who could stand to stretch a dollar.)

Mini lights have a really varied lifespan depending on how thick their wiring is, where you bought them and a general level of quality. Don’t expect 1000’s or maybe not even 100’s of hours out of the 2 for a dollar sets that are available at loss leaders during the Christmas season. Commercial grade incandescent mini lights can last up to 3000 hours of continuous use.

Let’s say that it hasn’t been that long since you’ve purchased your sets. You rescued them from moth-ball holiday storage. I hope you wrapped them around a wrapping paper tube or on one of the cool light storage reels that you can pick up at Target so that you don’t have a tangled knotted mess. If you did use the “chuck them” method of storage then you may have to work a bit to untangle them. As you are doing so, make sure that there are not frayed or worn wiring or insulation. If you do see any exposed wiring, discard the set and start fresh.

Here is the complete article on Mini Light Repair Tips

Shellie Gardner
Christmas Lights

Easter is just a couple of days away – I love this time of year and do the best I can not to let Spring Fever get to me.

I just realized today that I hadn’t changed out the bulbs in the 25 foot C7 light strands that we keep installed around our front flower beds. (Note, Christmas light cords are rated for 90 day outside seasonal use – so I know that they can be susceptible to UV degradation.)

So changing out the light bulbs was this evening’s project – along with a little bit of Springtime raking to unearth the light strands.

We ran 25 feet of lights on each side of the walkway that goes from the sidewalk to our concrete stairs. By doubling the 25 foot light strands it gives a more concentrated effective 6 inch light spacing which looks more impressive from the street.

I love to change out lights that we use to accent our yard all year long. (Fortunately, we live in a funky craftsman neighborhood where the folks around us look at our Christmas lights as art!)

I’ve installed opaque white, pink and purple c7 bulbs. They are sooo pretty (but apparently hard to photograph – photos coming soon!). During the day, they look like Easter Eggs – and look electric pink, purple (hotter pink) and white at night.

Christmas bulbs and cords are cheap compared to home renovation – and you can change them anytime. If you don’t have little cottage flower beds in your front yard, C7 and C9 bulbs in the colors of the season or for your party are easy to install above a deck or along a fence-line.

So go check up in your attic or out in the shed – you might not have pink or purple on hand but some clear Christmas lights are great for brightening up your Spring just as well!

Happy Easter from the Christmas light lady,

Shellie
Christmas Light Source

C7 bulbs