Christmas Lights Trends

Pink Christmas Tree

2010-12-29T11:05:00.000-08:00

As a result of many requests about where to find a pink Christmas tree, I have decided to write a post on the subject. This will be the first post dealing with something other than Christmas lighting and there will probably be others. I am going to add some Christmas tree history just for fun. I am not sure why the issue of finding a pink Christmas seemed to loom so large this year. I can only assume that somewhere in the popular media such a Christmas tree appeared, perhaps in a popular movie or perhaps in a television sitcom. I did not see Sex in the City II. Did Carrie, by chance have a pink Christmas tree?

The Christmas tree is a very important part of most Christmas celebrations. Also known as a Yule tree, traditionally a Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen tree. It can be real or artificial. The tree was generally green but white artificial Christmas trees are also common. And now we see that pink Christmas trees are in demand. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Germany in the 16th century. The Christmas tree is traditionally brought into the home and decorated with Christmas lights, ornaments, garlands, tinsel, and candy canes during the days around Christmas. An angel or star was often placed at the top of the tree, representing the host of angels or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity scene.

In the late 1500s , there are reports about how a small trees were decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers" and erected in the homes, for the benefit of the children, who collected treats on Christmas Day.

It was generally regarded as a Protestant custom and did not spread to the Roman Catholic populations until the early 1800s. The tradition was introduced to Canada in the late 1700s by soldiers stationed in the Quebec to protect the colony against a potential American attack. The leaders of the garrison erected a fir tree decorated the tree with candles and fruits.

Many cities, towns, and department stores put up public Christmas trees outdoors, such as the Rich's Great Tree and the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Almost every municipality of any size erects a Christmas tree. During most of the 1970s and 1980s, the largest decorated Christmas tree in the world was put up every year on the property of infamous tabloid, The National Enquirer . This tradition has since been discontinued.

In many cases the Christmas trees represent special commemorative gifts. Norway often uses Christmas trees as gestures of appreciation. Christmas trees used as token of appreciation include the one in Trafalgar Square in London, where the City of Oslo, Norway presents a tree to the people of London as a token of appreciation for the British support during the Second World War; in Boston, where the Christmas tree is a gift from the province of Nova Scotia in Canada, in thanks for the quick assistance after the terrible ammunition ship explosion in 1917 that destroyed the city of Halifax; and in Newcastle upon Tyne, where an almost 50 foot Christmas tree is a gift from the city of Bergen, Norway, in thanks for help in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation. Norway also annually gifts a Christmas tree to Washington D.C. as a token of friendship and mutual respect between Norway and the US and in gratitude for the help Norway received from the US during World War II. No word on whether these trees are ever pink Christmas trees.

Both setting up and taking down a Christmas tree are associated with specific dates. Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought into the home and decorated until December 24 and then they were removed the day after January 6th, which is the twelfth day of Christmas. It was considered bad luck to have a Christmas tree up before or after these dates. Times have changed. Many households in America will put up a Christmas tree shortly after American Thanksgiving which is at the end of November.

The most commonly used for Christmas trees are fir trees, which have the benefit of not shedding their needles when they dry out, as well as retaining pretty decent color and scent over a number of weeks after being cut. Other different types of trees are also used such as spruce and pine.

Germany seems to be the innovator of Christmas trees as that country is thought to have created the first artificial Christmas tree. These fake Christmas trees were first made using goose feathers that were dyed green. Feather Christmas trees ranged widely in size, from a few inches tall to almost six feet tall. At times, the tree branches were tipped with artificial red berries. It is unknown whether an artificial pink Christmas tree of feathers was ever constructed or erected.

Over the years, many other styles of artificial or fake Christmas trees have been developed and have become popular. In 1930, the first artificial Christmas tree made from brush bristles. Other artificial trees have been made from aluminum. These days most artificial Christmas trees are made from recycled plastics of used packaging materials, such as PVC. There are also Christmas tree shaped objects that are made from materials as wood, cardboard, glass, ceramic. Many of these Christmas tree objects are pink. Artificial trees became increasingly popular because they are more convenient and they turned out to be much cheaper than the real tree. In the last five years artificial Christmas tree sales in North America have more than doubled. Pink Christmas trees have, no doubt, played a wee part in this boom.

Now lets get to the point. Where can you find a pink Christmas tree? The answer depends entirely upon timing it would appear. In researching this question earlier in December, I did quick Amazon internet search and found dozens of pink Christmas tree results. These trees ranged in size and price and there was an excellent selection. My most recent search, done a few days after Christmas give me zero results. It was my intention to contrast and compare the different pink Christmas trees but I guess that will have to wait until next year. I hope everyone had a happy Christmas and a few were able to enjoy a pink Christmas tree.

String Lights for Christmas

2010-11-26T09:06:00.000-08:00

The 2010 festive season has just begun! Perhaps you could celebrate with some new festive string lights. Though it might be hard to believe it is time to start thinking about putting up your Christmas lights. At the very least it is time to start thinking about your Christmas lights. Are you going to use your old lights? Will you splurge on some new lights or perhaps just augment your current Christmas lights. Often people get in a routine of using the same lighting scheme every holiday season. There is a fear of experimentation. While I generally believe in the old adage of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" with decorations that adage does not apply. Styles change and what was once fashionable might now look a little stale.

Thanksgiving has just past and if the polls are correct a good number of you are shopping today. While you are out at the malls and shops you might be wise to take a peak at the new Christmas lights on the market. There are some fabulous string lights available. String lights are also often referred to as rope lights. Using string lights in your Christmas lighting scheme is a great idea for a number of different reasons. They are versatile, durable, reasonably priced and use energy efficient technology.

I'm sure many of us are old enough to remember when Christmas lights were incredibly fragile and each bulb was individually screwed into the string. The process of putting them up and taking them down and storing them was a delicate operation. Even the smallest bump or knock might damage one of the bulbs and would result in the entire string failing to illuminate. The process of figuring out which bulb was a dud was onerous and frustrating. You will be happy to know that string lights are characteristically opposite. You can throw string lights on the ground and step on them and they will continue to faithfully work.

String lights are also very easy to handle. They are light weight and flexible. They can be attached to your house with small nails or ties. String lights can be attached to your eaves trough in a straight line or they can be wound around tree trunks or railings. String lights can also be formed into a shape like a candle or bell. Another effective use of string lighting is up lighting. You can puddle the string lights around the base of a garden feature to create a subtle up lighting effect.

Of course this type of lights can also be used inside your home at Christmas. Think about incorporating a string light into a garland and running it up the banister. Likewise these lights can create a great effect on your fireplace mantle. Given the flexible nature of these lights it is very easy to be creative. Some people use string lights in their homes year round. Coil some lights on the top of your cupboards to create a soft lighting effect in your kitchen when you don't want the glare of the overhead lights on.

String lights come in all sorts of different colors. The most common for Christmas time are green, red and white. However, you can also find yellow and blue. The color white can be icy white or warm white. They also come in all sorts of different lengths. They generally start at 9 to 12 feet. Adapters are also available to join two strands together to make a single longer strand.

Rope lights are very economical to operate. They use 80-90 per cent less energy than conventional Christmas lights. Some brands boast a 200,000 hour bulb life. Most brands also come with a limited warranty.

It is easy to find a 12 foot long string lights for less than $15.00. At the price you could add a variety of different string lights to your Christmas lighting scheme.

Christmas Lights Trends

2009-11-30T11:40:00.000-08:00

I am an avid follower of Christmas lights trends. I have loved all types of Christmas lighting since I was a little child. I can still remember, as a child, glancing up at that paste board box placed on a high shelf in our cold storage room, knowing that it held our precious strings of shimmering Christmas lights. In those days Christmas lights were highly fragile so I knew not to try to pull the box down for a quick glimpse however tempting it might be.

Over the years, all types of Christmas lights have been transformed. The days of strings of screw-in incandescent light bulbs have gone. Although with the demise of those strings of Christmas bulbs go some of my fond Christmas memories. On a random day in early December my dad would arrive home from the office and announce it was time to put up the Christmas lights. He would put on what he referred to as his grubby clothes and make the pilgrimage to the cold storage room to collect the paste board box full of Christmas lights. He would then begin the process of testing each bulb in the string. If one bulb had burnt out often the entire string of Christmas lights would fail to light up. Some years putting up the outdoor Christmas lights went quickly but some years we were sent to bed without seeing the final glorious display of Christmas lighting. I have never lost any of my enthusiasm for these wonderful sparkly rites of late December.

These days there is an enormous array of different types of Christmas lighting. Of course, there are still many strings of white and red and green bulbs but now there are many other options as well. There are spectacular focus pieces such as hanging light balls, and hanging lighted Christmas stars, each made from over 100 tiny led bulbs. Some of these focus pieces are very large and taken up a visually large space (ie. 3 feet by 3 feet) while others are much smaller and can easily fit into most home Christmas lighting schemes.

There are Christmas string lights. These are simply the popular white outdoor string lights constructed with red and green led lights. Of course, white string lights are also a perfectly suitable addition to many Christmas lighting decor schemes.

The annual lighting of Christmas lights can be wonderful small family times or they can result in a splashy party. For example, Stella McCartney has a few friends over when she lit her Christmas lights last week. The event was held at Stella McCartney store on Bruton Street in London. It was hosted by Stella and Mary McCartney, Twiggy and daughter Carly, Jamie and Louise Redknapp and the Mighty Boosh gang, who re-created their famous Nanageddon episode dressed as grey-haired "nanas". Stella and her friends served mini mince pies, chocolate Christmas puddings, Champagne, apple juice with cucumber and pints of Guinness. I will try to post a pictures of her Christmas lights scheme in a latter post.

Whatever your Christmas lights scheme might be do it with joy. It doesn't matter if you have a huge budget (like SMc.mentioned above)or a modest budget. It doesn't matter if you host a blow out party or just put up the lights yourself. Holiday lighting is a special thing and, whatever the next Christmas lights trends might be, they are sure to be beautiful.

LED Lights

2008-12-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

Sticking with the theme of the cost saving and long lasting LED lights, we have discovered another exciting Christmas lights trend that will capture your imagination with absolutely unlimited potential. While these Christmas lights may not look remotely beautiful or compelling all wrapped up in one enormous 330-foot bundle – yup, I really mean three hundred and thirty feet – these clip lights are the ones responsible for creating this outstanding and awe-inspiring vista captured in this picture, and are sure to become a popular Christmas lights trend.

Now, before you dismiss this idea as being too big for your home, try to take a few minutes to imagine what you could do with these Christmas lights. Of course, a single tree bedecked, from the base of the trunk to the tip of it’s branches, with magical sparkles is hard to beat, but there are also many other possibilities. You could wrap your entire roof with these lights to make a sparkling landing pad for Santa! You could even use these for double purpose as LED garden lighting once the snow leaves. If after giving these lights some serious imagination, you still feel that the lights in this picture are a little long for your needs there are other lengths are available.

Admittedly these Christmas lights are a bit pricey, at $957.00 per 330 feet. You would need to think of these lights as a Christmas tradition investment that your family could enjoy for years to come. These lights can be purchased at CSN stores.

IKEA Kallt LED Christmas Lights

2008-12-03T20:17:00.000-08:00

Kallt Indoor-Outdoor Christmas String Lights from IKEA
IKEA always provides you with a modestly priced and innovative seasonal offering you just can’t resist. These Christmas lights are very original and resemble little snowballs with their soft and charming defused glow. They come in several colours including clear and warm white which can be seen in the picture. There are 48 LED bulbs per string and are available for a modest price of $19.99 per string. One of the best features of these adorable little snowballs is that they can be hung indoors to adorn a tree, staircase or fireplace or they can be hung outdoors. The versatility of these Christmas lights allows you to change your design scheme year after year.

It goes without saying that Ikea has other Christmas lighting products to compliment the snow ball string lights. Why don’t you had a splash of grandeur to your outdoor light décor by adding an outdoor garland chandelier. These chandeliers are nothing short of fabulous. They are clear in colour and are a substantial 28 inches wide by 33 inches high. This chandelier adds the perfect for a dash of glamour to your Christmas lighting scheme but can also be used all year long as a decoration feature for outdoor summer barbeques, for example. Each chandelier is $69.99.

Both the snowball string lights and the chandelier are totally LED lights and therefore save you money while looking fabulous. LED Christmas lights consume 70% less energy and have at least 4 times longer life than incandescent bulbs in similar decorative lighting. At this price and with these really great designs you can’t go wrong.

Light Globes

2008-12-03T15:45:00.000-08:00

Ooooh nice - these little things are sure to add a bit of holiday color to any decor or color scheme. Christmas Lights spheres from Dekra-Lite are a total treat but also a total splurge. These beautiful light globes come in a multitude of colours such as clear, red, amber, green, blue as well as in multi-colour and are in 6, 7.5 or 10 inches in diameter.

The price starts at an eye popping $35 Cdn per sphere for a string of six. However, even the smallest sphere is comprised of 50 lights per globe or sphere, and the larger ones have proportionately even more lights.

These lights are so compelling and elegant that just a few of these strings decorating a porch, or outdoor gazebo, will be all you need for your entire outdoor decoration scheme. Trust me, all of your neighbors will be impressed. The price of these sparkling beauties might be steep, but these Christmas lights are an investment – you will feel pride of ownership year after year! These Christmas lights will undoubtedly become a treasured part of your family’s Christmas traditions.

These lights can be complimented by other stand-alone light design produced by the same company. Perhaps you could add a beautiful starburst light. These starburst Christmas lights include 120 lights and are 20 inches high by 15 inches wide. These dazzling lights come in clear, blue and red. Another option would be to add a simple snowflake rope light sculpture. These beauties are clear in colour and range in size from 12 to 24 inches. There are four different snowflake designs to choose from.

Make your house sparkle this Christmas season with a beautiful and unique light design.

Dekra-Lite is an innovative Canadian lighting design company.

Solar Lights

2008-11-30T20:27:00.000-08:00

Solar Christmas lights might not actually save you enough money to be equal the cost of paying for the lights in the first place. However, if you cotton to the idea of decorating your house without having to run messy and ugly extension cords all over the place and more importantly are keen to protect the environment, then these Solar powered Christmas lights may just be the answer for you.

These days there are a number of styles to choose from. You can find almost as much variety with solar-powered Christmas lights as with the traditional Christmas lights or the more recent LED Christmas lights. You can choose from the coloured or white strands of bulbs, or maybe go with the fun icicle-style lights.

A 144" long strand of solar Christmas lights features 24 white long-lasting LED bulbs with rechargeable battery lights. Small and non-obvious photo sensors will turn the lights on at dusk and off at dawn. Although you must be certain that the sensors are not covered in snow during the day light hours.

Whatever Christmas lighting options you might choose this season, whether it's solar lights, led lights or just old fashioned Christmas lights, please have a happy and safe holiday.

Christmas Lights Trends

2008-11-28T22:58:00.000-08:00

So many Christmas Lights options, where do you start? The worst part of all is that trends seem to change every few years, so of course we all want to go out and buy the cutest Christmas tree lights possible, even if our old ones have plenty of life.

And what about color scheme changes? Decoration trends? Are snowmen in or out this year? So much to think about when you want to co-ordinate your holiday decorating theme with the twinkle twinkles on your tree.

I decided that it would be a nice experiment to start keeping track of Christmas lighting trends. Here is where you will be able to check in on what's hot in lighting this year, as well as what used to be in, and what is so old that it's become fashionably retro.

Browse our articles, or check out the reviews of the newest products, enjoy a little Christmas light nostalgia as we round up the years trends for this Christmas season.

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2008-11-05T16:53:00.000-08:00

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