The Outdoor Lighting Guide

Not Just Outdoor Fairy Lights!

Novelty String Lights – Ideas For Seasonal Fun & Light

September 1st, 2011

I have already briefly mentioned novelty string lights when I talked about outdoor party lights in one of my earlier posts. But I wanted to go into a bit more detail over these great outdoor lights. I find them really fun and fascinating as purely decorative and as fabulous novelty party string lights. So let’s have a brief look at what we are talking about here.

What Are Outdoor Novelty String Lights?

I am not looking for a long term investment with outdoor novelty lights. They are very much a one shot wonder most of the time. They give me a quick splash effect or focal point. This is for fun, enjoyment and also makes great icebreakers and conversation starters for nervous guests. If these novelty garden lights survive until the next time I might use them then that is an added bonus.

Choosing The Type Of Novelty String Lights

Really with novelty string lights it boils down to what I can get for my money. So I want reliability, safety (See my comments later) and costs. With that in mind I want to buy solar novelty lights for my garden. I don’t have to wire them in so they are quick and easy to install. This makes novelty solar garden lights really easy and flexible. Oh and of course cheap to run! I like cheap when it’s not a long term investment.

Extra Reasons To Go For Novelty Solar Lights

The other reason to buy novelty garden solar lights rather than plug in ones is two fold. Safety of course is a major one. A straight DC into a lot of the lights will get them red hot. Most of the direct current novelty string lights use standard incandescent bulbs. So keep an eye on those globe lights and sometimes novelty fairy lights as well. Novelty LED lights always work better, are brighter, safer and suck up less of the solar juice.

Secondly a novelty string lights set is just more flexible. As long as you can get the solar panel in the sun to charge in the day you can put them pretty much anywhere. No power leads are attached to restrict them at night. So again no trailing lead means no disasters with guests tripping over either.

Ideas You Can Use Novelty String Lights For

I am going to go through a few ideas for novelty string lights now and I hope you enjoy. If you have other great ideas, pop them in the comments below. I have arranged these in convenient groups I hope. You can see that the seasonal events are obviously purely once per year. But some of the general party novelty lights can be re-used for more than one party in a year so you are going to get much better value with these sorts of novelty party lights. For the best and most popular party lights novelty string lighting really is top of the pile for me. My kids love novelty string lights as well.

Christmas Novelty Lights

This is a huge area to start with novelty outdoor Christmas lights and in particular novelty Christmas string lights are hugely popular and are the real bread and butter work horses of the festive season we enjoy the most. As with all outdoor string lights, they are flexible and put on a great show.

So Christmas time is a great time to personalize your house and garden with novelty string lights. I generally favor the simple and effective approach where these novelty outdoor lights are concerned. Largely going for ice white as a canvas to work from I like to get variety in their. So besides standard strings of Christmas outdoor lights, your specialist icicle lights outdoor hanging from around overhangs and porches make a lovely show. For a little extra on these outdoor icicle lights I like to get the flashing ones myself.

Now icicle outdoor lights are fine, but they might not be quite novelty enough maybe? Okay so if we are going to push the boat out a bit on novelty Christmas lights lets get a bit more adventurous. How about miniature Santa string lights, or reindeer to keep him company. There really are so many possibilities really. You just need to sort through somewhere like Amazon.com or EBay for a good review and a bargain.

Other Seasonal Celebrations

Of course throughout our year there are a lot of days we may want to celebrate on or have a party to mark the occasion. Whether they are religious, nationally significant or just a notable occasion in the calendar, using a set or two of outdoor novelty lights, or specifically novelty string lights can transform the occasion into something special. These funny string lights are great for amusement and accent points at a party.

So there are several celebrations that spring to mind straight away where you could have a bit of fun and a laugh in your backyard or garden. Most of them are LED novelty lights. This makes them great for low power consumption. That in tern means you can go for novelty solar lights and battery operated novelty lights, cutting costs and making them more flexible and portable.

Thanksgiving Lights

When it comes to Thanksgiving novelty string lights, I look for lights that symbolize what we stand for. The rise of this democratic nation, standing supreme and noble on the world stage. A shining example of what is possible with hard work and force of will. So the Stars ‘n’ Stripes epitomize all of this. Having a display of these always makes me feel proud as I walk outside and always brings the goose bumps on my arms. Hardly what you may think of as novelty outdoor lighting, they just fall into that as they are not pure bulbs.

Of course you can choose whatever sums up this country for you. It may be the symbolism of the eagle, remembrance of the origins of the occasion, or just red white and blue in whatever shape or form it comes in. there are plenty of fantastic novelty light sets online to be had.

Chinese New Year Novelty Patio Lights

There are a host of novelty lights that you can use for Chinese New Year. The most popular are the globe patio string lights. Now some people might say that these aren’t really outdoor novelty lights at all as many people display them year round. But to be honest they are usually in a minority and here’s why.

These globe string lights are incredibly fragile. I have seen someone stick their finger through half a dozen of the paper shades whilst trying to get the damn covers on. One gust of wind and they are flying high or have ripped themselves fee. So long term outdoor hanging isn’t really practical. The final problem is that many are just plug into the mains through a direct socket. Now that uses a lot of electricity and the bulbs get very hot as a result. I don’t trust them not to catch fire and have seen it happen at a hotel once. If you use them fit a breaker, full stop. Novelty string lights aren’t so funny when they are on fire.

But having said that they are incredibly pretty if used right. They give you something very different in terms of novelty light strings by their very nature.

Great Outdoor Party Lights Ideas For All Occasions

July 16th, 2011

Hi there again, this is Vic with a little more fluff and stuff from the Outdoor Lighting Guide. I want to talk a bit about using your lights for helping create an atmosphere for your parties outside. For me this is really the kingdom of solar outdoor party lights. As they are so easily set up I don’t think anything compares to these outdoor party lights. Off course there will also be your general background lighting which should be set up to create the right mood. If you’re struggling in this respect, then have a look at any of my previous usings at the bottom of this one for some pointers (Click here if you want to look right now)

So what I have decided to do today is go through 4 basic scenarios where you can use outdoor party lights to set things up right. We aren’t going to go into the practical side just yet, this is just to give you some ideas and get you going with some outdoor party lights outdoor ideas. The list is if you want to jump as usual:

Contents For Outdoor Party Lighting Ideas:

Outdoor Party Lights For Independence Day
Christmas Outdoor Party Lights
Outdoor Party Lights For St. Patrick’s Day
Summer Outdoor Party Lighting Ideas

Outdoor Party Lights For Independence Day

Now this is such a special day and a great one to have a patio party one. Get those flags and fireworks and party way into the night. Independence party lights really capture the essence of this celebration of our nations sacrifice and strength in the face of oppression. Standing under strings of Independence Day lights, red, white and blue, makes me feel very proud and I usually get the old goose bumps going up the arms at the same time, when the fireworks go up.

I do search every year for something a little different. I’m looking for an LED lights display of the Stars & Stripes for next year. But, I don’t know whether to go for one big one or USA Flag string light set, a bit like these

At the moment I have a load of mini LED patio string lights similar to these . Up to around 300 so far, and still growing.

Christmas Outdoor Party Lights

Now this is the time of the year to just go mad crazy light insane. You might guess that I do like Christmas a little. Well it gives me a chance to express myself, as well as messing about outside a lot. Okay so there are a few pieces to the Christmas Outdoor lights puzzle and one of them is Christmas outdoor party lights.

It may be a little frosty and the days are shorter, but an evening Christmas party with some warm grog or mead wine does wonders for the soul. Out on the decking, with your family and friends having fun and singing carols is what it is all about.

Personally I deck us out with at least a couple hundred cheap Christmas party lights that I run around the decking rails and down the handrails on the stairs. Then I add a couple of great focal or center pieces to set it off as well. Coming up with great creative deck lighting ideas at Christmas is real family fun.

The main lights around the roof edge are still are low voltage lighting system at the moment, but I an look to gradually change these Christmas string lights over to solar powar gradually.

Outdoor Party Lights For St. Patrick’s Day

Are green lights good? No I don’t have any Irish links in my family whatsoever, but I do like a good party and plenty of good beer and food! So any excuse eh? But seriously, my jury is out on green outdoor party lights for St. Patrick’s Day. Do they look just a bit cheap and nasty?

Well I have had a quick peek on Amazon.com to see what there is. Well for under $10 I could buy this set of shamrock lights . They are LED party lights and UL listed. But you only get 10 on an 8 foot light string and not sure how good they wood be outdoors really. This does not seem like money worth investing to me. I like my outdoor string party lights to be a bit more numerous

So let’s have a look at what we can see if we up the bucks a bit? Well just under $20 gets me these St. Patrick’s Day ‘Shamrock Sparkle’ string lights . They look okay and at the time I am looking you can get 10% off if you scroll down to find the code. But only 10 lights again 7″ apart, which means the portion of the string with the LED lights on is only 56″ or just under 5′. Again I am not really convinced, especially as they cost more than the previous ones.

I think the solution is to just find some green LED patio string lights, maybe with some white mixed in for variety and use those instead. UL LED’s of course and get solar string lights. This is a once a year thing so there is no point getting anything permanent. At least with the solar patio string lights you can easily pack them away when it has finished.

Of course there are plenty of accent lights you could try. Some of these are just for the inside, so check out the specs. First of all, how about an 11″Lighted Shamrock to stick in your window. It has 10 mini lights which do the business and is listed for outdoor use as well, although it is 120v powered.

Just for you reference St. Patrick’s Day is March 17 if you have never celebrated it before. Good fun.

Summer Outdoor Party Lighting Ideas

Weber 60020 The Ranch Charcoal Kettle Grill

My wish list grill

Summer is a great time with the evening heat, cold drinks and warm friends to socialize with. Time to get that grill fired up and pop a few steaks and ribs on a slow cook as the sun goes down. As the ball of fire starts to drop below the horizon, as if by magic there comes a homely glow of your summer outdoor garden party lights.

Summer really does make the most social parties. Just last week I invited over my sister and here 2 kids to stay. It was great to watch hers and our children play safely and enjoy the pool in the sun. We all then ate together on our wooden patio furniture on the decking main area. What we have done there as well is invested in a couple of sun umbrellas to give us the shade in the day.

About 4pm I think, more or less, the brother in law and me got the grill fired up to reach temperature and cracked open some Buds. It was one of those man things (Sorry to all you ladies, but it’s just what we do, well). As we stood against the railings and chatted the sun gradually went down. That’s when the outdoor wall lights kicked in as they get the shade first.

As soon as that happened Doug and myself went to fetch the outdoor party light strings that had been charging all day in the sun. So 100 feet of bright white led outdoor hanging party lights which would give us the main additional light around the grill and pool for safety. Then I have installed some small hook under the deck railing and I can use these to quickly slot in the colored outdoor party lights, pre-charged up. These are a set of solar outdoor party lights that come out as outdoor party lighting when I need them. Finally I have got a couple of solar LED outdoor lanterns which went on the tables under the umbrellas, each of which has one of the small clip-on solar umbrella lights.

So overall we have created some brightly lit areas for play as well as more subdued lighting in the seating area which is more subtle and intimate for good chats and general reminiscing and chit chat. Simple and easy deck lighting for parties.

Of course you can do things completely different with your outdoor party lighting, especially for the more lively parties. You can hook up your outdoor party lights to the music and get them flickering and changing to the beat. Setting up these decorative party lights isn’t too much trouble. I have a neighbor who has done this so I will try and tap his brain and get back to you on that one.

There are so many different outdoor party lights out there, that I couldn’t possibly list them all here. You could go for some novelty patio string lights such as cans of Bud, or flip flops and so many other themes. A good example is the Independence Day lights I showed above. It is worth just cruising around the likes of Amazon until you find what you like. You can get cheap outdoor party lights from there so easily. I find they really are the cheapest for outdoor patio party lights. I have got so many outdoor party lights ideas from there.

No of course there are a lot more reason than this to throw a party and get those outdoor LED party lights up, but it is late now so I do need my beauty sleep. What I will do is come back here to this post soon to update it for you, because I want to talk about some ideas for wedding decoration ideas with string lights and outdoor lanterns. But this is not my home turf so I think I am going to have to get my good lady involved for some help.

Take Me back To The Top

Previous Outdoor Lighting Posts To Check For Inspiration:

Landscape Lighting Design
Best Deck Lighting Ideas
Benefits Of Outdoor Solar Lighting
LED Deck Lights

Go Solar With Your Patio String Lights

June 7th, 2011

Why Choose Solar Patio String Lights

Outdoor string lights are extremely popular and are fantastically varied and flexible. The amount of choice around at the moment is amazing. Of course you can get the standard large bulb string lights, but you can also buy virtually any shape or color as well. The problem is the costs of the juice to light them. Solar patio string lights may be the perfect solution to cutting down on this expense, seeing how it is free.

Problems With Low Voltage Patio String Lights Installation

Normally patio string lights are connected to you main circuit in your house via wiring, a low voltage transformer, more wiring or a plug. It takes time to set up and a bit of skill as an electrician. I don’t have that skill or patience, and I certainly don’t like paying for the electricity. So I like to kill two birds with one stone where outdoor patio string lights are concerned. I seek out and buy the best solar string lights for patio decoration that suit my needs and my working budget.

The Advantages Of Solar Patio String Lights

As outdoor string lights go, patio string lights are perfect for this solar lighting alternative. They are inexpensive when compared to their heftier and mains powered cousins and also much cheaper. In fact they are free to power. The sun costs nothing which makes outdoor solar string lights a good and economical solution if money is tight. I like the fact that I can now use a renewable energy source for my patio and solar deck string lights. It gives me a sense of satisfaction to know that I can do my bit for the environment as well.

Solar powered patio string lights are so easy to charge up as well. It actually doesn’t have to be the brightest day for those photovoltaic cells to do their stuff. The general rule is that the lights will work about twice as long as the cells are charged for. So getting about 4 hours of sun will keep you going through most of the night and early hours with 8 hours of use from you patio string lights.

The Costs Of Buying Solar Patio String Lights

The actual cost to buy solar patio string lights is not too much either. Cheap outdoor solar light strings can be picked up easily from $10 all the way up to $50 or more. Look and search online as it will give you the best bargains. So for jut a few bucks you can get a load of cheap outdoor solar string lights for a party, decoration or any other reason or occasion.

The second cost saving, besides the power whichI have already commented on, is the installation costs. Potentially,if you are rubbish about electrics or just plain hesitant and nervous then you will have to hire a decent electrician. I know how often my hands get the shakes, my wife dreads me carrying cups of coffee around the house. Solar patio string lights are just so easy. No cabling or drilling through walls to feed them through and importantly no expense of a transformer to run them.

The fact remains though that you will almost have too much choice when you come to install these solar outdoor patio string lights first of all. To start with, don’t be tempted with any of the solar outdoor novelty string lights around just yet. These can be kept for special occasions or used as party lights as they arise. So start with something plain and simple such as a solar LED string lights that are one color and can are a simple and straightforward design. this might mean bare hanging bulbs or with a simple shroud. These are similar to the solar powered outdoor fairy light you can get. These will serve you well and last a long time if you look after them.

What you buy is entirely up to you. But i will say, that you shouldn’t get a huge amount at once. Start small and then slowly expand as you can judge your requirements properly. I suppose what I am saying here is to know what to look for in solar patio string lights and plan properly. It will pay off big time in the long game strategy.

=> Click here to find cheap solar patio string lights on Amazon.com <=

Solar patio string lights are the best investment for the future, especially in the global energy market with all its uncertainties. Get your outdoor string lights fuelled by the sun for free. Nothing to pay, with no down payments is the best sort of deal and one that I like and enjoy every evening with my solar patio string lights. This is why outdoor solar string lights patio displays are just so easy and simple.