Friday, December 12, 2008

The difference...



Just a quick video to show the difference between No End Connector and End to End Christmas light sets. NEC (no end connector) sets are perfect for crafts and smaller scale lighting projects. Stay tuned for more videos!

--
Zach
All American Christmas Co.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

THANKS!

Thanks to everyone who took advantage of our 5% discount coupon. This coupon code is no longer valid.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Christmas LED Lights for everyone!

So we've been making sure that we're going to have the widest selection of LED lights available. We've added our new Rectified sets which are better for using on controllers. There are a lot of new specialty style LED bulbs like stars, snowflakes, and other really cool looking bulbs. We've added more sets on White Wire and light colors. There are new Auto/Boat sets that have a cigarette lighter adapter and they look great when you're driving to see the family...or taking the boat out...in December.

Visit us to see all the LED Christmas lights we offer!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

New products!

Long time no post! School and lot's of warehouse work has kept me from posting as diligently as I should. Exciting news otherwise, we are currently adding new products almost everyday so this Christmas you'll have even more option available.

NEW LEDS! We are currently adding new styles, colors, and new feature LED sets. We have a lot more battery operated LED sets, custom bulb shapes, and Rectified sets. Our new commercial Rectified sets, which should be up by the end of the week, are the newest in LED tech. These sets can fade and work great on controllers, they don't have that slight flicker effect that some sets do.

We have added and updated many of our Christmas Displays, new pieces that you can use to decorate your home, yard, business, church, or anywhere else you can run an extension cord to.

Bookmark the site and check back for new products often.
--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Halloween lights

Halloween is just right around the corner and we have upped our selection of Halloween lights and decorations. We now have multiple styles of halloween novelty light strings, pumpkins, spiders, etc. These styles of light strings are great for parties or decorations your home for trick or treaters. There are quite a few of displays that are great for putting in the yard, tombstones, ghosts, witches, and pumpkins are all available.


We also have orange light and black wire sets of lights available. Mini lights, Icicle Lights, and C7 style bulbs are in stock ready for this October!

Halloween is always a great holiday and while I wouldn't say it's overlooked, it easy to just throw a jack-o-lantern on your porch and say you decorated. Kids love trick or treating and if you live in a area that has a lot of activity on halloween kid's always remember the home that's all...spookified.

Click to check out our selection of Halloween lights.

Zach Broyles

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

DIY Christmas Lights extension cords...

Getting power to your light strings can be somewhat of a pain. If you use cords you buy at a department store chances are you're going to have cords that are to long or to short and your left thinking, "Wouldn't it be awesome if I could make my own cords". We here at All American Christmas Co know first hand the hassle of dealing with using large bulky cords for a couple strands of lights.

Rolls of 18 gauge bare wire are perfect for making your own custom Christmas light extension cords. We have them in 100 and 500 foot cuts in both white and green wire. We have both in SPT-1 and SPT-2 wire and offer some rolls in 16 gauge size. When you combine these rolls of these our Quick Connect plugs you can make almost any length cord for your lighting project. Check out the digram below to see just how easy it is to use our Quick Connect slide on plugs with our Bare Wire rolls.



You can also modify the slide on Female plugs to make a DIY Power Strip. Click here to see how to make them.

Visit our Clips and Electrical Supply page to see all our Rolls of wire and plugs.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Rope Light, "The" Alternative to Neon

Rope Light, Flex Lite, Plastic Neon, It goes by many names but they are almost always the same product. This flexible plastic lighted tubing is a very popular style of lighting and have a very large number of uses. The most common use for ropelight is outlining, you can use it to outline you building or roof, you can outline signs, they are common place on light displays. People like using this style of lighting for some sort of mood/back lighting. You can hide it and use it this way, underneath a shelf or counter to light up a floor for example.

There are a handful of different styles of ropelight available, sizes vary from 3/8", 1/2", 5/8". They come in a few different Wire counts, 2 wire, 3 wire, and 5 wire. 2 Wire rope light can only flash/fade with a controller, 3 wire can chase, twinkle, flash with a controller, and 5 wire has the same capabilities that the 3 wire has. To help picture how they are animated think of 3 Wire as broken down in to sets of 3 bulbs, so when they chase it's ever first bulb in a set of 3. 5 Wire works the same except there is more bulbs to a broken down set.

Each variant of rope light has it's own specialized power adapters, connectors, splice kits, and so on. You cannot use a 2 wire power connector with a 3 wire ropelight and vice versa.

For more information on Rope Light visit our Rope light page.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Using Christmas lights for mood lighting...

More and more weddings nowadays are using Christmas lights to set a mood, but you can't just buy a bunch of lights and just string them up like crazy...there is an art to it. Here is a couple tips that might just help you achieve the look you're going for in your head.
  • Space - Getting bulbs that are spaced further apart (4-8 inches) will really help disperse the light to create more MOOD not just LIGHTING.
  • Pattern - If you intend on using a pattern STICK TO IT! Don't give up halfway, because even if you are just using lights to set a mood...people notice laziness.
  • No Patterns - Not using a pattern or a set layout is a nice way to create a ceiling of stars or something similar. Use wide spaced sets and try to just have fun, this is usually better for areas that are not going to be main focal points.
  • # of Bulbs - People think you really need to flood the area with light...you don't. If being able to see isn't a key you can sometimes use a third less lights to just give everything a soft glow.
  • Twinkle - The only standalone twinkle set we offer is only available on green wire,BUT if you are lighting greenery mixing in a coule random twinkle sets really look great. We also have 150 Multi function sets that can twinkle and comes in white wire.
Remember less is more, though if it's too dark...just hang some more lights!

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Sport Displays


They're here! We've got all our sport signs up and you just have to see for yourself how great they look. Like I said in the last post these signs are great for anyone looking for an alternative to neon, they work great in a bar, your loungs, a sports memorabilia room, and anywhere sports fans get together. They use approx. 100 watts of power, are lit with 1" Bulb spaced 2 Wire Ropelight, and can be wall mounted/hung or ground mounted. Oh, and they ship for free with FedEx!

Click here to view our great selection of Sport Displays
--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Coming soon, Sport Logo Displays!

We have been talking to one of our suppliers and very soon we are going to begin carrying Rope light sport displays, many of the most popular NFL and MLB teams already have signs being made and they look amazing.These Sport signs are great for you home, sports bar, restaurant, anywhere where sports fans congregate. These signs have a high quality metal frame, are lit with top of the line rope light, and come ready to hang right out the box. These signs are lightweight too so that you won't have to worry if they'll rip the hook out of the wall.

Besure to visit the site and we'll keep you updated on these signs as we get them posted.
Here's the list of teams we hope to have:
  • Broncos
  • Packers
  • Cowboys
  • Patriots
  • Colts
  • Rams
  • Giants
  • Jets
  • Bills
  • Chiefs
  • Bears
  • Vikings
  • Seahawks
  • Ravens
  • Redskins
  • Steelers
  • Raiders
  • Eagles
  • Cubs
  • White Sox
  • Yankees
  • Red Sox
  • Mets
  • Dodgers
  • Lions
  • Cornhuskers

Monday, July 7, 2008

Icicle and Curtain Lights

Icicle lights, of all the ways to decorated ones home or business they have to be one of the easiest. Run some along the gutter or roof line and you easily outline your building for a quick and great looking decoration that all can enjoy. Icicle lights come in a variety of colors and bulb counts. The most common bulb counts are 100 and 150, we do offer a 300 pack, but it's just two 150's packaged together. They come in both white wire and green and have a small selection of bulb colors available.

Those of course are just the classic, no frills lights. We are beginning to carry some new and interesting icicle strings, we have some strings that morph from one color into another. We have some strings that have a simulated dripping effect. We have some Commercial Icicle lights that are tough, heavy duty rubber coated wire, can connect up to 10 sets together, and so on. The most different light string is of course are our LED Icicle lights. If you have ever read any of our blog entries you surely know that we are crazy about LED, these strings are no exception. They have strange bulb counts (70 lights and 105 lights) but all the great colors and advantages of LED.

In the same family but for different application, Curtain lights are constructed in the same general way as icicles but have different type drops. Curtain lights have drops that are all the same length, hence the name. They are great for using along walls or entrances. These are popular year around, but during the spring/summer they are used a lot for weddings. A good 75% of all curtain lights sold during the off seasons are for wedding uses. Our standard curtain light string is constructed just like icicle lights, simple, easy to use and maintain. If you need something a little bit tougher our commercial curtain lights (or Wall of Light) is a great alternative. Our wall of light is a tough, heavy duty light string. It has a main power cord that runs along the top, and each drop has a special screw in adapter that allows you to choose where you want your drops. You have more control over you string of lights, and that's always a good thing.

I hope you've gotten a little better understanding of icicle and curtain light strings. Both are easy to use strings that look great for more than just Christmas lighting. Visit our Icicle Page to view all the products we carry.

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Nativity Scenes and Displays...

Nativity Scenes are a classic Christmas decoration and simply cannot be missed during the season. These types of Manger scenes come in a variety of shapes and styles, everything from the simple lighted frame displays to the larger than life size fiberglass pieces.

We carry a large selection of Nativity light displays. These Displays range in size from 3 feet to 7 or more! These are great because they require little maintenance and care in the off season, just store them (making sure you protect the bulbs, and keep them out of the weather) and you're good until next year. Churches, businesses, homes, parks, anyone can enjoy these larger than life scenes. You can always find Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus in a set, but we also carry a large line of other displays too. Wise men, Mangers, Angels, Animals, and more. You can create HUGE scenes will all these pieces.



On the opposite end of the spectrum are the Fiberglass Nativity Scenes. These offer customers with a completely different look. Most of these pieces are hand painted and made of high quality fiberglass and look great outdoors. Like the light displays these come in a huge variety of size, styles, and with many different figures. You can get a huge scene going,with some styles you could have up to 19 pieces! These are expensive pieces but really give a dramatic effect, they can be used outdoors in the weather and lit with spot lights for night time scenes.


Visit either of our websites to view our great selection of Nativity scenes, both Fiberglass and lighted Displays

Monday, June 30, 2008

SPT-2 Wire...

SPT-2 Wire is a great alternative to the standard SPT-1 Wire that most companies carry if you are looking to run higher wattage bulbs or do longer runs. As you can see from the picture on the left, both SPT-1 and 2 are 18 gauge wire (determined by the copper inside the wire), but SPT-2 (bottom of picture) has a noticeable amount more of insulation. This extra insulation allows this wire to be rated at 10 amps (as opposed to 7 amp Spt-1).

SPT-2 is usually considered a commercial product, but works equally as well for small residential projects as well. We carry a full line of products for this wire type, bare wire, quick connect plugs, replacement sockets, and C7 & C9 Spools. Using 10 amp C7 spools will allow you use 7 watt bulbs without concern, and with C9 you can use 10 watts bulbs no problem.

Please note, you shouldn't mix and match Spt-1 and 2 products. For example, you shouldn't use SPT-1 barewire with SPT-2 sockets.

Unlike most big Christmas Light retailers we carry a wide varitey of C7 & C9 lightline spools in SPT-2. They are available in both Green and White wire colors, and in all major spacings.

Visit www.AAChristmas.com to view all our SPT-2 products.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Christmas light controllers...

Most of us have seen the videos of Christmas lights on homes that are synced up to music, and while the same number of us normally don't have the time or money to devote to those sort of Christmas light antics there are some simple and affordable ways to animate the lights on your home.

Our Musical Christmas controller is by far the most popular light controller we have ever carried. This easy to use controller features six outlets and 20 different Christmas and Holiday songs! There are 3 modes for your Light Show; Steady, which makes all the lights stay on, Unison, lights simply in time to the music, and Multiplex, this mode makes every outlet effectively a different instrument so that every string of lights is doing its own part of the song. It can handle a total of 12 amps, has a built in speaker, and can be mounted in a variety of ways. No programming, no dip switches or jumpers, just a simple plug in, turn on operation.


If you don't need music and just want to simply animate a display we have our small preset chasing controllers. These controllers have anywhere from 2 to 4 outlets and a dial that you can use to control speed of the chase. These controllers simple rotate through the outlets, lets say you have a 3 circuit chasing controller, all the controller will do will be a simple turning on and off of each outlet as they are ordered. So, outlet 1 is on then turns off, then outlet 2 comes on and then turns off, and so on. There's a small potentiometer that controls the speed, from slow to fast.





On the opposite end of the chasing controller spectrum we have our Programmable Chasing Controllers. These controllers have small DIP switches which allows the user to make their own light show. The more expensive versions of this controller can do build ups, fades, chases, flashes, and can be set to do anywhere from 2 to 8 circuits!


If you just need a gentle fading controller we offer those too, our small fader box simply plugs into a wall outlet and lets the user plug two different strands of lights into the controller. We do offer some commercial quality Faders as well.



I hope this post has given you some insight into the world of Christmas light controllers. We carry a wide variety of controller but no magical controller that makes normal lights chase, fade, twinkle, etc inside the string itself (btw if you know someone who makes one, send us a email!).

Click here to check out all our Light Controllers

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Getting a decorating plan for your Wedding Lights...

90% of the time when a customer calls us to purchase lights to be used in decorating a wedding they have not fully laid out a plan on how to hang their lights, get power to them, and how to hide the wires. These steps are quite possibly the most important part of your light decorating agenda and should never...ever be a afterthought.

The first and the most important step is planning how to hang your lights. If you're purchasing lights to be hung along a wall or a ceiling figure out how you can attach them to the wall or ceiling before you commit money to a product. If a room has block walls or something you cannot drill or hammer nails into you may have to improvise with tape or something like a sticky pad hanger (the 3m Command Series largest hook holds up to 7.5 lbs per hook) that wont damage your walls. Tapes and sticky hangers might not have the strength to hold up a whole string of heavy duty Curtain lights so you may be out of luck. If the ceiling has a drop panel ceiling you may be able to hang your lights from the frame in the ceiling. You can use fishing line, thin wire, even paper clips can be transformed into a quick and easy hanging device for drop ceilings. Remember to try not to damage the panels if you want your deposit back!

The second step may be more important than the first to some but finding a good power source for your lights is second on our list. Hanging lights from a wall or ceiling can put a decorator in between a rock and hard place, they can really give a great atmosphere by hanging lights but it's usually hard to get power where you need it. You usually want to draw a layout of your room, note where your power outlets are and then using a pencil, draw your extensions cords to where your lights will be. Using your extension cord map you can start to power you lights. We recommend using our bulk bare wire rolls and quick connect plugs to make your own power cords, this way you can hide them (more on that later) and cut them to EXACT length that you need. If you have to run up a wall, find a corner and run it up the corner taping it as you go up. Another option if you are hanging lights from a drop ceiling is to run the power up the wall far away from the wedding action and simply run it over the ceiling panels and drop it out where you need to power lights. Powering lights on tables or in places where the power is closer to the ground is easier, again make a map and see how you need to layout your wires. You usually want to keep wires out of high traffic areas but you can always use our bare wire and quick connect plugs to make your own perfectly cut cords and them tape them to the floor.

The last and final step is hiding the wires. No one wants a extension cord to ruin a good wedding photo. Hiding extension cords isn't as hard as it may seem, on carpet you want to stick your wires along the wall or next to furniture and you can usually push the wire into the seam and make it almost disappear if the carpet is thick enough. Tile or hard floors can be a bit trickier, usually running wires along the wall and only coming out when necessary is about the best one can do, you can use tape to secure the cordage and or rugs laid over the wires will really help if you have to take pictures in a are with a lot of wires about. Another tip is to use anything around to hide your outlets and wires, foliage, cloth, anything available that matches the weddings theme will work.

I hope this has given you some insight into the world of wedding light decorating. Remember to plan ahead, map out your area before you commit money into products.

Click the link on the right to visit AAChristmas.com and see all of our wedding lights and Christmas light accessories.

--
Zach

Monday, June 9, 2008

Mini Lights

Christmas Mini Lights have been and will continue to be one of the most popular Christmas lights strings available. They are a simple, relatively hassle free light string that comes in the same variety of colors that makes large bulbs so popular. Our Miniature Christmas lights come in a variety of spacings; 2.5 Inch Spacing, 4 Inch Spacing, 6 Inch Spacing, and 8 Inch Spacing are standard. There is also a large selection of bulb counts for different strings. All spacings come in 50 bulbs and 100 bulb per string sets, but the 4 inch spacing sets come in 15 light, 20 light, and 35 light.

The smaller mini light strings have been gaining a huge following in the craft market. The trend of lighting glass blocks and emptied wine bottles is becoming more and more popular, using 20 or 35 light count, a glass drill bit, and a little ingenuity can lead some nice looking results. These smaller bulb count strings generally do not have any sort of end plug, we call them NEC sets ( No End Connector sets) and they are probably our most popular light string.

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum our Commercial 6 Inch spaced lights are the toughest and longest mini light sets we carry. Unlike most other mini lights these sets allow you to connect 6 sets end to end, these sets allow for LONG decorating runs without having to worry about extension cords. Generally standard mini light sets only allow for 3 sets to be plugged end to end.

Many of the past problems that plague mini light users have been remedied. In the not so distant past when a bulb would burn out it would usually kill half the string. Current production strings have a simple fix, a shunt. If a bulb is shunted then it has a small piece of wire wrapped around the filament leads, if the filament burns out the shunt continues the flow of electricity through the bulb. This simple little strand of wire keeps burnt out bulbs from killing half of your light strings. Now, if a bulb is loose or twisted then generally it will also kill the string. Usually this can be fixed by a light push on the top of the bulb if it's just loose, for twisted bulbs you have really inspect each bulb.

I hope this blog has given you a little insight into the world of Mini Lights, please visit our mini light page to view our selection.

Christmas Mini Lights Product Page

Friday, June 6, 2008

Fourth of July...


In less than a month we will celebrate our 232rd year as a country. July 4th is a time where we should celebrate our birth and remember what our great country was founded upon. As a way of celebrating this historic day any online order will receive a 10% discount! This is the perfect time to stock up on Red, White, and Blue C7 or C9 lights! Get Sphere lights for your July 4th or Election Parties. Get Red, White, and Blue Mini lights, perfect for around your patio when you are grilling out! We also have great LED lights that will look great and save money on energy!

Enter the Coupon Code 232USA when you are checking out to get 10% Off the products cost.
Offer valid on online orders ONLY! Discount will not be applied to an order after the order is placed.

Visit AAChristmas.com today to take advantage of the savings! God Bless America.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Long time, no blog.

So spring is in full swing and we are still getting items back in stock. We are happy to get our shipments in because some of our fellow competitors and suppliers are already running out of stock of LED. Some people call the new LED lights a "Trend", we call it a industry shift. As the country tries to save money on energy and save the planet we have started to see the real benefit of LED. We are beginning to see all the classic/traditional products being produced. C7 and C9 retro fit screw in LED bulbs are beginning to come in a flash and twinkle style.

More and more of the smaller LED light sets are coming with removable bulbs, so in the unlikely event of bulb failure you can easily replace them. We are guessing by next year we will see 75% of all LED products with removable bulbs! If you can't tell, we love our LEDs.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Patriotic Lights

2008 is a big year for America, we have a huge presidential election coming up! Though everyone has something different to say and everyone has a different view on what direction our country needs to head one this is the same for everyone. We are all Americans first and foremost and that should really take precedence over anything else.

Show your true colors with lights during this election year. All American Christmas Co. offers a wide selection of Red, White, & Blue lights that are perfect for your USA decorating. We have a selection of Patriotic colored light products such as; umbrella lights, American flags, Signs, Red, White, & Blue Spheres, and more. We sell packs of USA LED Bulbs, which have 25 Red, 25, Blue, and 25 Clear (or white) bulbs. These are a great pack for decorating around your home or office.

Click here to check out our Patriotic Lights Section.
--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Battery Powered Christmas Lights...


Battery powered light sets have come a long way in recent years. The first battery light strings used large "C" or "D" cell batteries, so you get a rather large battery pack and not very long battery life with standard Mini light style bulbs. Now www.aachristmas.com only carries Battery LED sets that run on "AA" light sets. LED lights really take advantage of the battery power supply, in our own in house test we ran a set for about 25 hours before we noticed any sort of brightness difference. Even after the 25 hour burn time the sets were still completely bright enough to be used.

Our Battery powered LED light sets have the following specs :
  • 20 Warm White Concave Style LED bulbs
  • Approx. 7' Strand Length with 4" bulb spacing
  • 12" Lead from battery pack to first bulb
  • Use 3 "AA" batteries
The only disadvantage to these LED sets are the upfront price, but when you start to think about how much you'll save in hassle and shelling out the cash for batteries they really pay for themselves in the long run. Their construction and power savings are really want make these sets special.

Click here to view all our Battery powered light sets.

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Monday, April 14, 2008

News...

So this middle of April and nothing major is going on. We're still playing the waiting game on products to come in, trying our hardest to prepare for the coming busy season. We have been slowly trying to revamp AllAmericanChristmas.com

AllAmericanChristmas.com is our BIG displays and commercial decoration site. We have Pole mounted Displays, Ground Displays, Building Displays, Banners, Garland, Commerical Christmas Trees, and much more. AllAmericanChristmas.com is a little different because many of the pieces we stock are built to order, and we work off a quote system. You choose what items you want to buy, we take your quote and get in touch with the pieces manufacturer and get a quote on the price and when the piece can be delivered. We also get the best possible price on shipping. All you have to do is sit back and wait for it to show up...and pay us of course.

There are very few if any websites doing this on the scale at which we do it. We represent the largest Commercial Christmas companies in the country and have largest selection products available. We can also help you CUSTOM Design Displays and Banners, yes we'll design your very own customs displays and have them built for you if you need that. This service doesn't come cheap, but is just one of the many services we try to provide to the customer. Getting custom pieces designed and built is expensive with anyone, but we walk you through the steps and even will design artwork for you!

Please visit www.allameriacanchristmas.com today and browse our wide selection of products.
--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Light Clips...

There are a plethora of ways to affix your lights to your home these days. Generally in a residential situation you want to use a clip that is not permanent and will not leave evidence that you had Christmas lights up.

This is a ALL IN ONE clip in use, you can see how it slides under shingles on your roof. It can also be used on gutters, or wherever else you can securely clip it. It can hold C7, C9, Mini lights, and even some LED lights. The brother to the ALL IN ONE is the ALL IN ONE PLUS, it's similar in appearance but has a couple more features that gives it the PLUS status. The clip that goes around a gutter or on top of a shingle has an extra hook for hanging wire. For example, if you were using the ALL IN ONE PLUS on your gutters to hold C7 bulbs and wanted to hang icicle lights as well you could with this one clip.

There are other multi use clips, such as the omni clip, and are very popular because of the large number of uses. Clips that have a single use, like Shingle Tabs, are great if you don't need all the bells and whistles.

Single Tab Clips, Bi-Axle Clips, Icicle Clips, and the like are all single use clips. They generally can only hold one (sometimes two) type(s) of bulb. Most of these clips don't require any sort of permanent installation, some clips do. The C-Clip, the Parapet Clip (which works with the Shingle Tab clip), the Mini Light Adhesive Clip, the Quick Clip, and so on do require some sort of installation that can be permanent. Some clips use a sticky double sided adhesive pad and/or require nailing or screwing down. This can pose a problem for those not wanting to put holes in their siding or roof line, but in most cases these clips are uses for more commercial or year around lighting.

I hope you've learned a little something about Christmas Lights clips, head over to our Clips page to see our entire selection of clips.
--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Friday, April 4, 2008

News...

Our minimum phone order has gone down from $150 to $75. We are trying this to see how business changes with this $75 drop in minimum phone order price.

We always would prefer it if you would place your order online, just makes everything run smoother...but at least now there are more options with less of a price tag.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Spring time, in Sparta, for All American Christmas Company...


Spring is here! In our little town it's a time for mowing yards, cooking out, and getting ready for summer. In the warehouse, it's a time for Spring Cleaning! We have to get our shelves in order, ready for the stock we'll be receiving. Head over to our sales section to see what items we have marked down, don't forget you can take an additional 25% Off items in the section with the coupon code sale07

All these items are closeouts and clearance, once they are gone...they are gone FOREVER.

Click here to check the sale section

Monday, March 31, 2008

Calculating the power...

It's a pain planning your lighting project and not knowing how much juice you're going to need. Well, bust out the calculators, here are some tips.

Standard C7 Bulbs are 5 watts
25 Bulbs = 1.14 approx Amps
50 Bulbs = 2.3 approx Amps
100 Bulbs = 4.5 approx Amps

Standard C9 Bulbs are 7 watts
25 Bulbs = 1.6 approx Amps
50 Bulbs = 3.2 approx Amps
100 Bulbs = 6.4 approx Amps

Mini lights vary in voltages but many we carry are 2.5 volt
300 Mini lights = 1 Amp

Total Number of Bulbs X Bulb Wattage ÷ 110 = Amps Needed

These are the rules we run with, we hope they help you when planning your lighting project.
--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Minimum phone order?!

No one likes minimum orders, but for some businesses it's crucial to keep the operation running smoothly. Our minimum phone order is 150 dollars, now for some people this may seem outlandish but it really does help our office run better which in turn makes everyone happier.

During our busy seasons we get calls constantly, A third of them are just obvious questions that are answered on the site, another third is questions that can't be answered on the site, and the last third is orders. We have the minimum because if we take many small orders for 1 or 2 items it's very easy to screw those kind of orders up by miscommunication. Any sort of miscommunication over the phone means a wrong product is shipped and the little mistakes like that usually cost the most to fix. We implemented the minimum phone order after dealing with many people saying they received an order with an item they didn't want but told us they wanted. This is frustrating for everyone.

This is just a little view into the minds here at aachristmas.com, we want to make the best shopping experience available for the customers and be able to provide the best services available.

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Oh, the holidays....

We hope everyone had a great Easter, full of way to much running around hunting eggs with quarters and candy in them and one to many chocolate bunnies. I know that when any holiday that traditionally involves candy is going to end up with me being sick for the following week because I overload my system with sugar and lack of real food.

If you are wondering when some of our Mini lights are going to be back in stock the answer is...not soon. We are still waiting on the our major orders and our 20s and 35s should be in around June. It takes a while to get everything during this time of the year.

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

LED light burnout

A common concern with LED lights is if they have a lot of issues with burning out. LEDs generally last longer than any other bulbs on the market, on average our standard bulb sets last 200,000 hours! So if theres 365 days in a year, and each day lasts 24 hours, then a year is only 8,760 hours. So, in theory LED bulbs should last 22.83 years...That's a long time. If a LED does happen to burn out on a string the rest of the lights stay lit.

We often tell customers about the LED lights we have in our warehouse that light up the building in the dark. We're not a high tech operation, but that doesn't mean we aren't crafty. In the rear half of our building we strung up 4 or 5 sets of blue C6 led light strings along the ceiling to give a little light when its dark. These lights were put up whenever we first starting getting LED lights (maybe around 4 years ago), they only turn off when the power goes out, and they are still burning. These early LED Christmas strings are not half as good as these new sets, the technology is better and the bulbs just plain look better.

If you are thinking of making the switch to LED the benefits definitely trump the up front cost. Less electricity costs, longer bulbs life, more vibrant bulb colors.

Click here to check our LED lights


--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Lighting Glass blocks


It seems like every day we get calls about people looking for lights to go inside Glass blocks, like the one shown above (image from www.homedepot.com). These glass blocks are usually used to make a wall or some sort of divider in a bathroom and can be found at places like The Home Depot. The way people put lights in these is really simple.
  1. Get a pack of Glass Blocks
  2. Get a Drill bit for drilling glass (1/2 inch is a good size)
  3. Get some mini lights that DO NOT have a end plug. 35 light count is what we recommend.
  4. Drill a hole into the block where you would like to insert the lights.
  5. Carefully push the lights into the block through the hole.
  6. Plug them up to make sure you didn't loosen any bulbs during the install
  7. If the lights work, you're done. Unless you want to wrap the block in ribbon , which is also popular.
These have been a very popular craft lately, we get a lot of calls and email asking about it. People use them for center pieces, gifts, and whatever else strikes their fancy.

Click here to see our selection of mini lights

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Wedding Lights...

One of the most popular uses for Christmas mini lights during the off seasons is using a white wire set to decorate for a wedding. Using mini lights for a wedding is a great way to accent windows and tables, but the uses don't stop there. Anywhere you want to set the mood or give some soft lighting will look great strung up with lights for your wedding. My sister just recent got married and she wanted arches lit with rice lights, Dad got some PVC pipe, painted it, made some brackets to go around (and protect) the pew, and we strung it up with lights. Here's a picture of what it looked like, we also used LED Net lights on the stage underneath some nice fabric. This picture was, obviously, taken during the day and the effect isn't as breathtaking as it was during the ceremony.


Many people use curtain lights during a wedding for the reception, this is a great way to make a simple doorway more interesting. The number of ways you can add a little bit of mood lighting to any ceremony is limited only to your imagination. Check out all our wedding and christmas products at our website

Wedding Section
Mini Light Section
LED Section

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Spring Cleaning...

It's that time of year again, time to buckle down, reorganize, and clean up our warehouse. We try to keep a well organized warehouse for two reasons; To make less mistakes and allow orders to get pulled and shipped faster. Though we've been online for many years and have one of the web's premier Christmas Light stores we are a very small operation. Having a small number of employees and a big warehouse that needs all the shelves reorganized can be a little intimidating, but it's one of those jobs you have to do whether you like it or not (like cleaning the gutters).

By the time our shipments of products arrive we hope to have a clean, well put together warehouse that's just waiting to get messed up again by a truck load of products.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Can you get some Brown Wire light sets made?

On occasion we get asked if we can get brown wire light sets made custom. We offer only 2 sets in brown wire, our ML-4-50-BRW-C and ML-4-100-BRW-C, and for some people these just don't fit the bill. So if you need brown wire sets custom made we can do it, BUT you are going to have to order upwards of 2,000 sets and wait quite a while. I know you're thinking, "What?! aren't they just lying in a warehouse somewhere?" Well the answer is no, if they were we would try our best to have them up online for purchase and then we'd drop ship them. Since this usually is not the case we have to get these sets made for us, overseas.

We wish that we could get these light sets made for us here in the states, but there is just no one making them.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Whew...that's a lot of Cacti!

So every once in a while I get a phone call that inspires me to write a blog, well...yesterday I got a call from a lady needing about 500-600 Cactus displays. This got me thinking, I should share how one might go about getting pieces like that built.

If your city, business is wanting a custom made Christmas (or any other holiday for that matter) display built then you've found the right guys to help you get your project off the ground. We represent all the major display manufacturers in the country and can find someone that can build your pieces without being way to expensive.

The first thing you have to do with designing pieces is getting a simple idea on paper. Make some sketches, even if you aren't a great artist. A terrible idea is better than no idea at all, and will give you something to work around.

Once you get that idea to us we can revise it, draw it again with lights in mind. Then we can get designs back to you. You have to play tag when working on designing a piece, because once you bend and weld the steel there is no going back!

Once the design is finalized we get in touch with our manufacturers, we get product price quotes and shipping quotes. After we get that info, we get it back to you and from there we get your pieces built.

Not such a chore when you consider you're getting a custom designed piece that no one else in the country will have.

Head over to AllAmericanChristmas.com to check our wide selection of Christmas Displays!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Musical Christmas Controllers

Since we began carrying the Outdoor Musical Christmas Controller it has slowly become the most popular Christmas light controller we have ever carried. It makes sense that this controller would become so popular; it's easy to use, plays classic Christmas music, and will last many seasons with proper care.

Our musical controller has 6 outlets, each outlet will let you plug approximately 12 sets of standard mini lights (not all end to end, but off a extension cord). The controller has 20 songs.

Siberian Style Christmas Carols
  • God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
  • Good Christian Men Rejoice
  • Angels We Have Heard On High
  • We Three Kings of Orient Are
  • Here We Come A-Caroling
  • Joy To The World
  • Deck The Halls
  • O Come All Ye Faithful
  • Carol of The Bells
  • Twelve Days of Christmas


Rock and Roll Christmas Carols
  • Jingle Bells
  • Winter Wonderland
  • We Wish You A Merry Christmas
  • Let It Snow
  • Frosty The Snowman
  • Sleigh Ride
  • Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
  • I Saw Three Ships
  • Here Comes Santa Claus
  • Santa Claus is Coming To Town
The operation of this controller is simple, on the top there the main control panel. On this main panel you can turn on/off the unit, switch the different light show modes, control the song volume, choose what type of songs you want, and have a button to skip songs. The light show modes are interesting, these 3 different settings give you different lighting effects. The first is a steady on, pretty simple, no flashing, no music sync, just a steady on. The second mode is a flashing mode, this makes all the flash to the beat of the music, usually focusing on the main melody of a song the lights will flash along to that main melody. The third mode is by far the best show you can get out of this box, the different outlets all represent a different instrument or section of the song that's playing. So lets say a song has a simple drum beat, some lights will flash to just that beat, a main rhythm sound will have its own light, and the melody will have its own, and so on and so on.

Here is a video of this controller in action



Check out this controller here

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Colors of Mini Lights...

We have been selling mini lights for many years and it never ceases to amaze me how often people get surprised we have colors all year around. We pride ourselves in trying to keep a stocked warehouse all year long, this is something that most companies can't compete with.

We have a huge selection of mini lights, with varying bulb spacings and bulb counts. Our spacings are 2.5, 4, 6, 8 inches and our bulb counts are 15, 20, 35, 50, 100, and 150. We have every color in the rainbow, Clear, Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Pink, Purple, Teal, Teal Blue, Multi, Frosted White, and others!

Head to our Mini Christmas Light Page to view our huge selection of products.

Friday, February 29, 2008

Why don't you print a catalog?!?

Some of the reasons that we have chosen not to print a catalog are as follows:
  1. We have, online, approximately 1,800 different products. That's a lot of things to list in a small catalog.
  2. We have constantly changing stock, sometimes without a moments notice a product will go out of stock or simply be discontinued.
  3. We have constantly changing prices, since prices fluctuate year to year that means every year our catalog would have to be reprinted and old copies would be obsolete.
  4. Catalogs don't have enough room for all our info, on our website we try to give as much detailed information we can with every product.
  5. Catalogs are expensive, we try our best to give our customers the best price possible and since we don't print one it saves us a ton. Saving us money, saves our customers money by being able to offer lower prices.
These are just a few of the biggest reasons we have for not printing a catalog. We try to keep our website printer friendly, allowing customers to print sections that they might need.

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Monday, February 25, 2008

What? Spools of wire don't have lights on them?!

When you are wanting to do a large scale lighting project or need customs length strings you probably going to have to get a large spool of lightline. These bulk rolls of wire come in a variety of colors and spacings for both C7 and C9 spools. All of our spools are 18 gauge wire, but we do have some spools that have a thicker insulation (Spt-2) which can handle more power. And no none of our spools have bulbs on them.

Now you may be wondering why we don't offer bulbs already on this wire, well...the bulbs would break. These spools are tightly wound to get them in the smallest boxes possible, which can greatly reduce shipping costs (Many 3 Day, 2nd Day, and Next Day shipment costs are calculated by the size of the box, not the weight). Most of the time when you are decorating a building, you want to securely attach the wire and sockets first, then go back and put the bulbs in or put them in as soon as you secure the socket.

It may seem crazy that you cant get a pre-lit spool, but that's the way it is.

Click here to see our C7 and C9 Spools
Click here to see our C7 and C9 bulbs

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Stock...

We are placing one of our orders for new bulbs and a lot of LED products. We are trying to get everything ready for the coming season, it's hard work and can easily stress you out. The reward is that putting in the hard work early is going to mean better prices and a wider selection of products.
We get calls quite often checking stock of our items, we tend to stay on top of what we have in our warehouse and what we have available from our other suppliers. So if an item does not say, out of stock, then 9 times out of 10 it is in stock.

Occasionally there is some miscommunication and we might have some old product that we run out of and we never make the update, but this year we are going to do our very best on keeping every single item up to date.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

St. Patrick's Day

According to legend Patron Saint Patrick helped banish the country of Ireland of snakes, we here at All American Christmas Co. are honoring his memory and wanting to ask you to help us run the snakes out of Washington, DC!

Use this coupon code stpat08 when checking out to get 10% off your next order!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Meetings and LEDs...

Wednesday we, Steve and myself, had some meetings with a couple companies discussing new products that are coming out this year. People want to know what products are coming, well...LED, LED, LED!

New LED retrofit bulbs and light sets that are of better quality and lower price are on the way. We probably won't see the price drop until they start showing up on our shelves, but new Christmas LED lights are on their way we can assure you. The new pre-made sets are going to start having removable bulbs! This is a big deal, in the unfortunate event that a bulb does burn out (which is rare in and of itself) you can fix it as easy as fixing a burnt out screw in bulb. We know that customers where just waiting for the day when they could fix the string instead of tossing them or returning them, well that day is soon upon us.

The newest C7 and C9 Screw in LED Bulbs are looking better than ever, more consistent colors and brighter bulbs are one thing to look forward to in 2008. We also saw some of the new Twinkle LED bulbs and we think they are going to look great. The LEDs inside the Retro fit bulbs actually sit higher up, this lets the bulbs look even brighter and less directional.

If you are still interested in learning more about our LED Christmas lights, head to our LED page and check out the more info pages.

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Where's the BIG STUFF?

When people get to the site and start looking at our Christmas Displays they often wonder where the big stuff is. People want to know where we are hiding the EXTRA LARGE Outdoor Christmas Displays. Well, we aren't really hiding them, they are just on our other website. If you go to www.AllAmericanChristmas.com you can browse our huge selection of Commercial Outdoor Christmas products.

We have Pole Mounted Decorations, Ground Displays, Building Displays, Wreaths, Trees, Garland, Banners, and much more. We can even help you when it comes to planning your downtown or businesses holiday decorating needs. We can help with getting a year around banner program going, and can even help you with customizing artwork for your banners. We can even help you work on a drive-thru park! The possibilities are endless, and we have the products to do it on AllAmericanChristmas.com

Head to AllAmericanChristmas.com today to check out all the products we have if you are needing something on a larger scale!

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

No end connector...means what again?

Our number 1 question of all time is, " Do you carry mini lights that don't have a end to end connector on them?" Yes, yes we do. We have 4 inch (actually varies from 3.5 inch to 4 inch) spacing Miniature Christmas lights in 15, 20, and 35 bulb counts. These sets come in a variety of bulb colors and wire colors, and work great on all different type of projects.

Many of our customers use these NEC (no end connector) sets in craft projects. One very popular project is by filling some sort of glass container with lights, you can use anything from glass block to wine bottles. These NEC sets also work well for decorating such as, center pieces, windows, weddings, parties.

Head over to our mini light page and look for our NEC logo!

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Do you sell lights with out a end connector

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

"Can you fix my mini lights?" Nope, but you can!

We get a ton of questions asking if we can or know how to fix lights. Well, we can't fix your light strings, but we can give you some tools and tips on how to fix your own sets.
  1. 9 times out of 10 if a new light string is not working it's a loose or twisted bulb. Quickly look over the lights to see if a bulb has came out of the socket or somehow twisted and broke the connection. We get strings back all the time that people say are 100% broken and a bulb has just popped out.
  2. Another common problem is overloading the wire and blowing a fuse. Most Mini light strings only allow 3 sets to be plugged together end to end. If a string has a fused plug then the fuse will blow, or it could potentially burn out the bulbs themselves. Don't think you can light your how house with one continuous run of lights.
  3. New light strings have shunted bulbs, so that if a bulb burns out the rest stay lit. Old sets don't have this technology (if you call an extra piece of wire inside the bulbs technology). These older sets require the use of mini lights testers / repair boxes.
  4. Using mini light testers, the small handheld mini light tester devices find where the flow of electricity is. You want to take the tester end and put it near the socket, if the flow of electricity isn't found near a socket then you're closing in on the culprit bulbs.
  5. Mini Light repair boxes, they will actually repair the light string and any burnt out or problem bulbs will not light. Now, if you have a loose bulb these repair and testers won't solve your problems.
Our Commercial Mini Light Repair box is our best seller and the number one repair box we have ever found.
The Magic Box Isolates Twisted bulbs, empty sockets and bad fuses by forcing electrical current through a non-working set. You can start repairing your defective lights instead of of trashing them. It makes "dollars and sense" to easily repair a set as opposed to to throwing it away. Essential for lighting professionals and crews, this little box will pay for itself in no time.
--
Miniature Light Tester Instructions
This special machine is designed to electronically isolate malfunctioning bulbs and/or bad fuses in miniature light sets by sending a controlled current through the string. There is no one particular way that problems are Indicated and it will take a while to become adept at using this testing machine. By following the detailed instructions below you will find that repairing bad sets is easier and faster than any other method available. Please read the following carefully before using the machine.
--
Testing Procedure:
  1. Plug machine into any standard 110-120-volt circuit.
  2. Turn machine to "on" position by flipping toggle switch on bottom left upward.
  3. Plug brown 6-ft. extension cord Into the outlet in the middle of machine. Then, plug only ONE miniature light set into the brown cord. (Remember the machine will test only one miniature light set at a time. Do not use on C-7 or C-9 light sets ...or any miniature light set that is operated by a computer chip, for example, chaser or fader sets).
  4. The machine is designed to test single circuits. An example would be 35 or 50 light sets, both of which feature only one circuit. Additionally, a typical 100 light set is constructed with 2-circuits (i.e. they have two (2) 50-light sets wired back-to-back). To test 2-circuit sets, you'll need to remove one bulb from the circuit that is working in order to test the non-functioning circuit. When you test a 100-light set that features 5 circuits, pull out 4 bulbs (one from each circuit, which is every 20th bulb and usually color-coded) to test the 5th circuit.
  5. If the circuit doesn't light up, push and release the large red button and the set will usually light up Immediately (with all bad bulbs that need to be replaced remaining unlit of course) or one or more of the sockets will make a loud "buzzing sound" which indicates a bad bulb or one which is simply "missing" from its socket. By listening for this buzz and watching for any sign of a socket "lighting up" with the arcing electrical spark inside, you can usually Isolate the problem area right away. You may have to spread the string out to discern just where the buzzing sound is coming from but it should be fairly easy to Identify the problem area. It may require two or more short buzzes for you to realize just where the buzz is occurring. Replace the bulb(s) and the set will light up unless there are other bad bulbs. Sometimes one of the wires is off to one side on the bottom of the bulb (straighten them up and reinsert).. .sometimes the bulb is a "one-legged" bulb (wire broken off) and other times one of the brass contact points Inside the socket is too far down inside the socket for the bulb to make proper contact. If the latter is the case, be sure to unplug the set first, then, pull brass contact "up" to correct position with sharp nose pliers, then re-Insert the bulb.
  6. If all the circuits have been repaired and a "buzzing sound" comes from within the male plug, it usually Indicates a bad fuse. Replace fuse and the set should work.
  7. If you have tried all of the above procedures and still can not get the set to function, you probably have a improperly wired set or a set with a direct short. Discard the set or return to manufacturer.
--
NOTE: The protective plexiglass cover on top of the machine is designed to insulate and protect the user` from any potential shock which may occur when testing a light set with faulty wiring or 'a direct short. To reduce possibility of. electrical shock when using this machine, avoid touching the side of machine when testing. Position fingers on top of plexiglass when pressing the red testing button. Always use caution and work in a dry environment. SOME models have an external plastic enclosure.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Update those old displays...

So Dad and I were talking about re doing some companies large 10 foot displays and it got me thinking, I can share about how one might go about doing such a project.

Step 1: Cleaning off the old lights and wire and cleaning off the frame. You want to get all the old wire, sockets, light bulbs, tape, zip ties, etc... off your display. After removing all the hardware, give the frame a light cleaning, this helps new products adhere better to the frame.

Step 2: (Optional) Fresh coat of Paint. If you have a older piece chances are that the metal is going to have some old paint on it or if it isn't painted then it might have a nice coat of RUST! You want to clean wire, then use a brush to get off the flaking paint or rust, give it a quick cleaning again to get off the dust you just stirred up, then prepare for painting. We recommend either painting your frame white or black, We use your standard run of the mill spray paint (low gloss or satin is recommended) . Give your frame 2 or 3 light coats, being sure to get in all the nooks and crannies. This will really help your frame last season after season.

Step 3: Lay out your materials, with most displays you want to use a 6" bulb spacing, make sure you have all your bulbs, socketed wire, quick connect plugs, electrical tape (white, black, green to match your frame/wire color) ready BEFORE you start taping the wire to the frame.

Step 4: Re-attach your wire, you want to the wire on the outside of the frame. As you are going around your display you want to tape the socket and wire tightly to the frame ( Don't pull electrical tape to tear it, cut it with a knife so it doesn't draw up after sitting outside). After you get your wire back up you can add sockets, REMEMBER you can only run about 100 C7 or C9 bulbs so don't over load your wire, you can use bare wire and sockets to make power strips you can run with the wire to move power around your piece.

Step 5: Screw in the lights, simple enough. Take your time, don't drop them.

Step 6: Try it out! Now you have a completely restored Christmas Light Display for your yard, business, etc...

I hope these simple steps will get you motivated enough to restore those old Christmas displays gathering dust in the basement.

C7 & C9 Bulk wire
C7 & C9 Bulbs
Clips, Tape, Sockets, Bare wire

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Well....what color should I get?

It seems like every day I get asked one question that I cannot answer, "What color lights should I buy for my house?" I want to give you some tips about how to decide yourself.
  1. Take a look at your house at night, picture your house with different colored bulbs.
  2. Compliment your environment, depending on what kind of surroundings your house has the matching or complimentary colors can make a big impact and really draw the viewers eye in.
  3. Can't go wrong with Clear/White bulbs. A nice sets of clear lights is simple, classy, and just plain looks great.
These are three simple tips on how you can decide what colors work best for your needs. If you buy Christmas lights you want to get something that you'll be happy with season after season.

Visit our C7 and C9 Bulb Page

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Friday, January 25, 2008

A picture is worth a thousand clips...

We are currently planning some major overhauls for our site, we are going to be updating as many pictures as possible. Our main goal for this next week is taking all new photos of our Christmas Light Clips. We have images of most all our clips, but not enough images! We want (and our customers want) more pictures of light clips in use, we want examples, we want hi-res detailed images, which results in bandwidth eating mass hysteria.

This also means more movie clips, we have videos of our Musical Christmas Controller and our Panoramic Motion Projector (Click here to visit my youtube page, I do have some guitar and puppy related videos too, but don't worry about those). We want to give you as much information as anyone could possibly want, and in the next couple months we hope to do that.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Making Custom Inline Female Plugs

We get a ton of questions asking, "How in the world do you make your own custom power strips for your lights?" Well, we have a tutorial on www.aachristmas.com (Click Here) but to help out the rest of the internet community we've decided to share our handy tip.

Making Custom Female Plugs:

Get your tools, we use pruning shears, a shop knife, and a multi tool




Using the shears cut 2 times on the inside of the plug. You cut on the side that doesn't have the opening for the wire.




Try to replicate the opposite sides spacing and length (these cuts are a little long but will work)




Grab the area in between your cuts and lift up, you can then cut this out or just twist and break the plastic.




You can go ahead and us the plug like this if you want, we usually will take the knife and clean up the edges.




CAREFULLY cut away the excess plastic to get a smooth edge. This step is optional if you have enough room for the wire.




You can now place the plug were you need it on the wire.




Slide on the back




Enjoy your custom Quick Connect Plug.



Please be careful when doing this, these tools are sharp and we assume NO RESPONSIBILITY if you lop a finger off or cut yourself. I hope these images and steps helps everyone trying to make custom inline plugs for their Christmas lighting projects.

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Mini light spacings are...WRONG!

We get lots of responses to our miniature Christmas light strings stating that they spacings are, "Wrong, all these light spacings are wrong!". Well, I have your answer! Mini Light bulbs are not exactly spaced at the intervals at which say, they wire however is cut to the spacings.

So let's say we have a 4-inch spaced set, now some of our manufacturers cut the wire to make the bulbs and socket be around 4 inches, but some companies cut the wire at 4 inches...then insert the wire into the socket which shortens the space between the bulbs.

We are in process of phasing out our spacing category names because the confusion, but will all miniature Christmas lights, be it 2.5 Inch spaced, 4 inch, 6 inch, or 8 inch you have to realize the spacings may not be exactly what the manufacturers say it is.


Check out our Mini Light page.
--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Fitter, Happier, More Productive...

We are currently in the process of making the website a simplier, better looking, and most importantly faster online shopping experience. The online Christmas Light competition has grown by leaps and bounds and since we began as one of the very first online Christmas Lighting suppliers. We believe we owe it to the online shopping community to keep our service and our web site head and shoulders above the others. AAChristmas.com is one of the easiest to use online stores around. We pride ourselves in how simple it is to find whatever it is you are looking for. Mini lights, LED lights, Spools of wire, or bulbs are usually less than 4 clicks away. So within seconds (if you have high speed internet that is) you can be buying exactly what you need.


We are also in the process of adding even more information to our vast selection of Christmas lighting products! Hopefully this means less questions, which in turn means happier customers. Please visit us, bookmark us, and check back for all the great updates we are doing to our site.

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Why do LED Christmas lights matter?

Seems like every day we get a phone call with questions about why LED Christmas are so expensive and what all the hype is about. Light Emitting Diodes (LED) are expensive, if you go to radio shack to pickup the same type of LED's that are used inside our lights you're going to spend anywhere from 75 cents to 2 dollars on a single bulb. Granted, when manufacturers use them they aren't paying that much a bulb, but it just shows how much the technology costs inside these sophisticated lights. LEDs have different costs depending on the color of the bulb itself, unlike traditional filament style Christmas bulbs that all light up a white/yellow color, LED bulbs light up a specific color. So when you see a LED light string that is blue, the LEDs inside the plastic bulb casing is actually lighting up blue. The result is a pure color, whites are white, blues are blue, and so on. Also unlike a traditional Christmas light string, LEDs generally require some sort of device to change the power so that it will work with the lights. This means there is either a small circuit board wired to, or separate from, the string which also makes them more expensive up front.


Now, even though the costs of these lights can be anywhere from 2 to 10 times the costs of traditional lights the benefits definitely outweigh the initial expense. Part of the hype surrounding LEDs in general is their amazing life span, some commercial mini lights can have a life up to 3,000 hours. Compare that to the amazing 200,000 hours life span that LED lights have! I've already mentioned the amazing pure colors that LEDs have, but another great reason to step up to Christmas LED Lights is the fact that their hard plastic shells wont break from regular use. We all know that traditional Christmas light bulbs, even the classic mini light bulbs are subject to breaking, but with LED light strings you won't have to worry about that anymore. The last and best reason to make the move to LED lights, is the fact that they don't use nearly as much precious electricity as traditional Christmas light bulbs. Your standard C7 bulbs uses 5 watts of energy, compare that to a screw in replacement LED C7 bulb which uses and amazing .96 watts! That's .96...less than 1 whole watt. Other LED strings can be just as a amazing, take for example our Commercial 25 Light LED sets only draw 1.8 watts, 25 bulbs....1.8 watts! This allows for more connectability and less of a headache when that electric bill comes in the first of January.

Please visit our LED page and check out our wide selection of LED lights we have for sale. I hope that you can see the great benefits of making the switch.

Monday, January 14, 2008

2008!

All American Christmas Co. had a great 2007! We hope that everyone that got our Christmas lights, led lights, bulbs, and what not had an amazing Christmas season as well. I am currently working on the site to make it even easier to use and faster than ever. One of the hardest things a company can do is keep up with current technology and trends while still keeping their website as user friendly as possible, but I am doing my best to keep www.aachristmas.com and www.allamericanchristmas.com the easiest online shop to use.

We are going to be introducing some of the newer LED products later this year, so be sure to bookmark the site for that. Thanks!

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Coming Soon

The new All American Christmas Co. Blog!
Bookmark now!