Party and Prom lighting!

Spring is on it's way and now isn't really the time were most people think to themselves, "I should put up some Christmas lights!" But if you look around this time of year "Christmas" lights are all around us, we see them at restaurants, bars, at parties, in shops, and for specials events an occasions. High School Proms are a great place for hanging lights, you can light table center pieces, lighting around windows, light trees, hang (or make) swag lights for the ceiling.

Creating a ceiling full of light strings is very popular for Proms, Weddings, and other Special Events. To get an idea of how many light strings you'll need you need to know the Length of the room, the Width of the room, approximately how high the ceilings are, and how far apart you want to space your lights. Typically you want to space your swags 3' to 5' apart, it sounds nice to really keep your strings close but that increases your number of strings and sometimes be too much visually. You'll want to use a bulb spacing of 4"-6", using longer spacings help you get more feet per string and less power sources. Mini lights can typically only do 3 sets end to end, so keep that in mind. We always recommend using our bare 18 gauge wire and quick-connect plugs to create your own custom power strips that you can run along a side wall to provide power for your strings. And remember, going Green with LED lights can let you easily decorate a large space with less power. LED lights use less than 20% of the power of your typical Mini lights, so you can connect more sets together and run less power cords for a cleaner look.

The sky is the limit with decorating for any occasion, never limit yourself to just mini lights. Sphere lights add an extra bit of dimension to your lighting. Twiggy or Rice lights are small lights that are great to hide in greenery. Flicker flames are a great way to simulate a candle, without the fire hazard! The options are endless.

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Zach
American Christmas Co.

Commerical Christmas Trees

2010 is going to be a big year for All American Christmas Co., we are expanding our selection of commercial products starting with Commercial Christmas Trees. Here are some facts about our Large Commercial Christmas Trees:

• Sizes range from 12' to 100'
• Mini Lights, C7 bulbs, or LED bulbs lighting options

Different construction styles:

• Branch
• Panel
  
• Ice Light
• Chain Trees

Click here to view what trees we currently have listed. These high quality trees are perfect for both indoor and outdoor applications. Commercial Trees are used in Shopping Malls, Downtowns of Cities, Churches, Driveway Entrances, Rooftop Displays, Drive-Thru Parks, Business Lobbies, the uses are endless. If you don't see exactly what you're looking for email us, we have access to some of the best tree manufacturers in the country and we can get the tree you need built to your specs. You can pick the style of build, the color of the foliage, the size, and the type of lights. Despite their higher up front cost, we recommend lighting all trees (commercial or otherwise) with LED lights. For Example, a 14' tall tree lit with C7 Bulbs has a total wattage of 3,120 (26.04 total amps) and the same tree only lit with LED bulbs has a total wattage of 599.04 (4.992 total amps). With LED you'll use just 20% of what you would with C7 bulbs, you don't have to use as much power which also helps when getting electricity to these large trees.

If you have any questions please check out the website or send us a email. We hope to add even more trees in early 2010. Thanks for reading.

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Zach

Lighting Glass Blocks (Repost)

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 or LED lights that DO NOT have a end plug.
   
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. We have expanded our craft light sets to include both short and long lead wires and craft style LED lights that don't have end to end connectors. These LED sets are a perfect alternative to Mini light craft sets, they generate no heat, the bulb life is extraordinary, and bulbs won't come loose inside the blocks!

Click here to see our selection of mini lights and Click here to see our Craft LED Lights

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Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.