Repairing Christmas Displays

When All American Christmas Co. got started we mainly focused at selling lights to cities and businesses for large decorating jobs, and during the season we sold (and still do sell) countless screw in C7 and C9 bulbs for repairing large Christmas Displays. Most displays are put up late november and are burning for many hours and since incandescent bulbs have a bulb life from 2,500 or 3,000 hours their life gets eaten up pretty quick during the season. Inevitably bulbs burn out and break after being moved in and out of storage so it's a good plan to have spare bulbs in the colors you need on hand.

For the most part repairing displays be it Pole Mounted pieces, Ground mount, or building mount is fairly straight forward.

• Give any display a once over before you put power to it, any broken bulbs should be removed (wear gloves when dealing with broken glass) and make sure the cord has no cuts or breaks that could cause a short.
• After you check the bulbs and wire plug the display in, note any burned out bulbs and remove them. Adjust the wire if it's shifted to create a uniform appearance, if sockets have loosened affix them to the frame with new tape or zip ties.
• Once the displays is completely reviewed you can begin to replace the bulbs that were shot, now one caveat new Incandescent bulbs are almost always brighter and whiter (for clear anyway) than bulbs that have been up for a season or two. Some times this can create brighter spots on a display but if you need to get it up and lit it's usually not a huge deal, just be aware of it
• Always test your displays before you get on a job or hang them up because of Murphy's Law, what can go wrong will go wrong. And being able to stay on top of potential problems will help alleviate headaches down the road.

Now incandescent lights will have be repaired and replaced every season, thats the nature of the beast. Most cities are making the switch to LED bulbs. LED C7 and C9 bulbs let you use the displays you love without having to completely strip them and rewire the frame.  Both of our LED screw in bulbs use .96 watts per bulb, whereas Incandescent C7 use 5 watts and C9 use 7 so there's a tremendous savings in power consumption. LED bulbs have a bulb life rated at 50,000 hours, which is pretty long and while no one will guarantee bulbs for that long period of time LEDs will outlast old school bulbs by many many years. Screw in LEDs are also made of durable plastic so they wont shatter and their colors do not fade because the LED inside the bulb itself is making the color not the color of the plastic itself. They may have a higher up front cost but making the switch will save many man hours of repair time and save a lot of money on the power bill.

For more info on our bulbs visit www.aachristmas.com
For more info on our Christmas Displays visit www.allamericanchristmas.com

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Zach

20 count Craft lights back in stock

We have our 20 count Craft lights with short lead wires back in stock! We bought all our supplier had so we would have as many as possible in stock for as long as possible in 2013, but as you can see we don't have a ton! So stock up early so you can have some for all your craft projects next year.

We are also considering buying new wine bottles in various styles, we are talking to many of our largest craft light strings purchasers about carrying wine bottles and have found a great supplier for bottles of all colors, shapes, and styles! Stay tuned to our blog or facebook for more info!

Click here to go to our Craft Lights page to shop.

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

New C7 LED Globe Lights

We are big fans of Globe lights here at All American Christmas Co. and over the past few years they have become more and more popular for year around applications but just in time for the 2012 holiday season we have got in new LED C7 Globe lights in G40 and G50 size.

These LED Globe bulbs are the same basic size as their incandescent counterparts except you get all the great LED benefits of very low wattage, bright vibrant colors, and ability to string a seemingly endless number of bulbs together.

We have both C7 and C9 LED Globes now and they are great for all occasions, they look great for  parties, proms, weddings, events, holidays, anytime and with LED you don't have to worry about the bulbs breaking and can run around 600 max if need be!

Visit our LED Globe lights page to check our all the great new LED Globe bulbs we carry.

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Christmas Light Outlet Flasher, or Winker!

Flashing Christmas lights are a staple in countless households across the country and a classic effect for the holidays. One old school method of getting your lights to flash randomly is using a small in line flasher like the classic Winker flasher. These small black units go in between your lights and the power source, they heat up via a small thermocouple and it basically switches the power on and off.

Outlet flashers can handle 100 watts of power, so thats around 20 C7 Bulbs, 14 C9 bulbs, and around 250 or so Mini christmas lights. Unfortunately LED lights won't work on the Outlet winker by them self  they don't pull enough power to cause the thermocouple to heat up and cause the switching to occur. One trick that we've discovered with a lot of LED products is if you use a incandescent light in between the controller and the light string it will have a buffer effect and cause led christmas strings to be easily controlled. You can use this trick for this flasher and faders.

If you want to check out our Outlet Flashers for Christmas lights, Click here.

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Using Mini Lights to Light Your Christmas Tree

Who doesn't enjoy finding DIY tips and tricks, especially around the holidays? Well, why not try a few new tricks for lighting your Christmas tree. I know around here that is the least fun part of the holidays. We love the finished product, but not the process getting there. Hopefully these little tips will help make lighting your family Christmas tree a lot more fun and much quicker.

For those of you that buy a fresh Christmas tree every year, try using three 100 count mini light strings per one foot section of your tree. The rest of you that have an artificial tree, such as myself, use three 50 count mini light strings per one foot section of the tree. These shorter strings will be easier to work with when wrapping around the branches so that you can pack your tree up after the holidays with your mini lights still attached.

So many people nowadays choose to do a “theme Christmas tree”, fun and festive. If you like to do this, it is nice to pick mini lights in the color that matches your key ornaments. Say you've picked a gold and white theme for your tree. You could try using yellow mini lights. This will enhance the gold theme on your tree.  (In this case you might want to use less mini lights per section. That way your ornaments and decorations stand out and the Christmas lights are just there to enhance.)

We've all gotten our Christmas tree lit and stepped back to admire our work and thought, “Did I miss a spot?” All you have to do to be sure, step back from your tree and cross your eyes as you look at it. Wherever you see black holes, rearrange the mini lights to fill in the voids and have a perfectly lit Christmas tree.

Illuminating your Christmas tree can really make a big impact. All you have to do is, start from the base of the tree trunk with your chosen Christmas mini lights. Wrap your way up the trunk and around each branch all the way out to the tip. It will glow from the inside all the way out.

Untangling your Christmas mini lights, an every year occurrence. The best way to handle this situation; start by wrapping the strands around your arm, being careful not to pull on any bulbs.  While you are in the process of untangling your holiday lights, check which bulbs work and the ones that need to be replaced. Don’t wait until they are on your tree to start replacing bulbs. 

Stop by All American Christmas Company and check out the huge selection of mini lights.

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Hannah

All American Christmas Co.

Lighting Pumpkins with Craft Lights

Instead of making the same old Jack-O-Lantern for your fall decorations this year why not try a celestial pumpkin.  This will add a little twinkle to your fall nights and it is sure to delight all the ghosts and ghouls that will be visiting this Halloween.

This is a super simple project that will require just a few tools. Pumpkins (of varying sizes), white craft light strings (bulb count will depend on the size of pumpkin and the choice of pattern), drill with a 1/4” bit, knife, fleshing tool (or some other tools to scrap out the inside of your pumpkin) and black tape.

First you will need to cut the bottom out of your pumpkin. Use your knife to carve out a circular opening, make sure it is large enough so your hand can fit comfortably inside. Use your fleshing tool or spoon to clean out all the flesh and seeds. Be sure to scrap down the inside of the pumpkin until it is only about 1/4” thick. Turn your pumpkin back up right.

Use your black tape to make a uniform pattern of your choice on the pumpkin. Some might like to make a random design; in this case you will not need to use the black tape. Now, drill holes along the tape line or randomly until you get your desired pattern.

Finally, insert that craft light string into the bottom of the pumpkin. Place one bulb in each hole that you drilled; be sure to push the bulb through so that it will protrude slightly. Tuck all the remaining lights on your craft light string up inside your pumpkin. Turn your pumpkin right side up with the plug running out of the bottom.

All you have left is to plug up your lighted pumpkin and enjoy. This is a fun new way to decorate for Halloween and fall. Plus, it’s an all new way to use your craft lights. 

Check out our selection of craft lights for this cool pumpkin project.

Light Clips

There is a plethora of ways to affix your Christmas 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.

To the left, you can see an All in One clip in use; it slides right under the shingle 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 that 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 for C7 bulbs and wanted to hang icicle lights as well, you could do that with this one clip.

There are several multi-use clips, such as an omni clip, and are very popular because of the large number of uses. Although clips with just a single use are great if you don’t need all the extra bells and whistles. Shingle tabs, bi-axle clips, icicle clips and s few others are all single use clips. They generally only hold one or maybe two type(s) of bulb.

Most clips don’t require any sort of permanent installation. The c-clip, the parapet clip (which works with the shingle tab clip), the mini light adhesive clip, the quick clip and some others do require some sort of installation that can be permanent. Some clips use a double sided adhesive pad and/or nailing down. This might pose a problem for those of you not wanting to put holes in your siding or roof line. In most cases the clips that require a permanent installation are more for commercial uses or year round lighting.

Check out our selection of lights clips.

Hannah
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

All American Christmas Co. on Facebook

We have been on facebook for a while now and this year we hope to really expand it and use it as an outlet for news and to help showcase items. Not only that but we hope to do facebook only sales! Currently we are trying to bump our likes to 200 by thanksgiving 2012. If we get 200 likes by then we will have a very special sale coupon for only our facebook fans!

So please visit the facebook, like it, share it, and help up reach our goal! www.facebook.com/AllAmericanChristmasCo

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Globe Lights

Globe lights come in such a large variety of sizes and the names they use, G30, G40 and G50, do not give you any idea of what size the bulbs actually are.A rule of thumb for remembering the sizes is, the larger the number the larger the bulb diameter. G50 is the size bulb that most people think of when they hear, traditional globe lights. All globe lights come in either C7 (candelabra) base or C9 (intermediate) base. This way they will fit in any socket that you have around the house from old light strings.

The sizes are as follows: G50 - 2 Inch Diameter

                                           G40 - 1 1/2 Inch Diameter

                                     G30 - 1 Inch Diameter

Globe bulbs are also available in LED's! These bulbs come in G50 size with a C9 base. LED globe lights are gaining popularity due to the low power usage and long life. LED globe bulbs are rated for around 50,000 hours and use around one watt of power.

Globe lights are used for a variety of projects. One of the most popular uses is for outdoor lighting around decks and patios. G50 bulbs as wedding and party lighting is a inexpensive way to get a very dramatic lighting effect. These globe bulbs used along with a Christmas light controller is a great way to achieve a chasing window display lighting. These bulbs are even a great prom or theater productions.

More than just the varying size of globe bulbs, the wattage varies also. G30 and G40 with a C7 base bulbs are 5 watts, whereas G50 with a C7 base bulbs are 7 watts. You will have to take wattage into consideration when doing your lighting projects so that you do not overload your wire.

Hopefully this has given you a little insight on globe lights sizes and various applications. Check out our selection of globe lights.

New Wide Angle LED Battery Sets Price

We've dropped the prices on our 5mm Wide Angle battery light sets! Now they are $6.39 a string! Our Battery Christmas lights are a major upgrade over the old style of battery powered mini lights, LED battery sets last over 25 hours with fresh Alkaline "AA" batteries!

LED sets are great for weddings, center pieces, parties, and other places where you need light without a easy to reach power source. I use them to light my jack o lanterns during the halloween season, using these keeps your pumpkin from drying out from using a candle!

We offer our battery powered LED light strings in a variety of colors in the wide angle bulb style, we are going to be updating our M5 and Short M5 Battery powered LED sets. On the right you can see the bulb next to a US Dime and a ballpoint pen. They are very small and last a long time on a few batteries they are great for small projects and even work in halloween costumes! They come in a variety of colors just like other battery sets.

Visit our Battery Powered LED Christmas Lights Page to see all of our battery sets

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Halloween Lights and Decorations

Halloween will be here before we know it. It is time to start decorating for this fun and spooky holiday! Nowadays you can usually find a huge selection of decorations for Halloween, but why not light up your house for all the trick or treaters?

C7 and C9 opaque orange bulbs on black wire are perfect for Halloween decor. You can string them inside your house, outside your house or even in the trees and bushes. It will give  your house a little different look then the rest of the houses in your neighborhood.

Something else to think about is novelty lights. There are so many cute options to fit any fall and Halloween decor you choose. Mini lights with pumpkins, ghosts and black cats or mini lights that look like candy corn. What about Halloween icicle lights? These come with spiders on them or in orange and black mini lights. They are cute and festive!

If you want to go very different you can pick the Halloween light displays. LED bats, jack-o-lanterns and wagons full of pumpkins. Light displays are great for homes or businesses to help get people in the Halloween spirit!

Halloween is all about having fun, so let's have fun with decorations!

Click here to check out the selection of Halloween lights and decorations we have to offer!

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Hannah
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Website changes

We have been working on website and have updated some pages, some pages like our LED Christmas lights page has a slightly different address. www.aachristmas.com/vpasp/LED-christmas-lights.html if you have trouble viewing the page please email me!

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

New LED Mini lights, the perfect alternative!

The lights on the left are not traditional incandescent mini lights but some of the newest LED light strings to hit the market! Their technical designation is a T5 set, these sets feature a super bright 3mm wide angle LED inside a clear plastic bulb that looks like a classic mini light. From first glance even someone like me who sees christmas lights every day has to do a double take because they are so similar!

As you may know LED sets are a decorators best friend, they use very little power, give you a very long bulb life, the colors don't fade or change, and you can plug many sets end to end. For example, Mini Christmas lights typically have a fused plugs with a 3 amp fuse but are UL rated for a max of 500 bulbs on a continuous run (that's approximately 1.5 amps worth of lights). LED Christmas lights have the same fused plugs BUT since they use such little power you can plug up to 30 sets end to end without worry!

So lets do some comparisons, if a 6" space 50 count light string is approximately 25' long and you can only plug 5 sets of mini lights together you get a max run 150 feet. With 30 sets of LED Mini lights (which are the same measurements as incandescent in this case) you would have a total run of 780 feet! With these new T5 Mini LED lights you can really save your self time and headache putting up lights. Imagine lighting your christmas tree and just plugging in one plug? Oh and the bulbs won't break and have a burn time 30 times longer than mini lights? The numbers speak for the LED sets, they are the way to go for lighting jobs, christmas or not.

Click here to view these T5 LED Christmas Lights
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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Kringle Garland, a neat alternative to traditional Garlands

Kringle Garland is a cool type of lighted Garland that you can easily integrate in your current decor. Kringle lights are a 9 foot light string with a combination of normal mini lights and mini lights inside iridescent globes for a really unique look. There are great for putting in Wreaths, or wrapped in more traditional Garland. It's also great for outdoor lighting, you get the combined look of globe lights and mini lights, so they are great for hanging out doors for parties, weddings, or just for general lighting. As with all lights we sell your only limited by your own creativity so they could be used for anything you come up with!

Check out some more pictures of this cool light string.

 

Click here to check out our Kringle Garland

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Repairing/Replacing bulbs in Christmas Displays.

Christmas displays for homes, businesses, and cities aren't going to last forever and let's face it these pieces get a lot of punishment in the elements during the holiday season! This blog is going to be a crash course in sprucing up Christmas displays and commercial decorations.

The most important thing you need to establish is what type of lights you need, typically displays use C7 or C9 bulbs, Mini lights, Rope Light, or LED Christmas lights.

C7 and C9 type bulbs are the easiest to fix or revamp. These glass bulbs need to be replaced every few seasons, mixing and matching old and new bulbs isn't what we recommend because the colors/brightness of the bulbs won't be consistent. Hours of burning the lamps, plus being exposed to UV will change colors and the brightness does tend to fade after a seasons worth of hours. So before you decorate with your piece, plug it up and establish what needs to be replaced, if you need many lights we sell incandescent bulbs in bulk for this type of job!

Luminara Candles at All American Christmas Co.

We are happy to be carrying Luminara LED Candles, we currently have 5" and 7" Ivory candles that are scented Vanilla, and we have 5" Pearl and Red Wine candles that are unscented. Luminara candles have a small animated flame that is lit with a LED, the faux flame moves and until you get close to it it's honestly hard to distinguish from a real or fake candle. These are a safe alternative to actual candles and look great at weddings, for table center pieces, as household decor, parties, proms, and much more. You can safely decorate around these LED candles without fear of starting a fire.

Click here to view our Luminara Candles for sale.




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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Patriotic Displays

We just added two great and light displays that will be great for the summer months and holidays. Our Rope light flag and USA sign are incredibly well made and will great on any deck or porch.

We enjoy Patriotic displays because they don't necessarily have a time frame for being up or down, they look great all year. For those of you that want to hang a rope light piece and leave it up you need to try to keep it out of direct sunlight. UV really does a number on the colors and the plastic and we don't want the Red, White, and Blue, looking like Pink, White, and Teal do we? By hanging it out of direct sunlight you can triple the life span of the plastics and enjoy your pieces for years to come. This is a good rule to follow for all rope light.

So if you are interested in checking out our rope displays visit our Patriotic lights page here. 

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Floralytes at All American Christmas Co.

All American Christmas Co. are proud to begin carrying Floralyte products. Floralytes are small battery powered LED lights, they come in a variety of styles and are a cool way to add accent lighting just about anywhere and will look great for parties, proms and especially weddings. You can use them in bottles, under glass beads, in greenery, in tulle, inside flower arrangements or vases, pretty much anywhere a little accent lighting could spice up your decorations there is a place to set these cool battery powered lights.

We currently have two types of these products.

• Floralyte II - A Small battery powered LED bulb with On/Off switch. Small 3/4" wide product great for using in smaller spaces. Non replaceable battery.
• Floralyte Submersible I - A waterproof LED bulb, has On/Off switch. 1.25" wide and 3/4" tall which is perfect for vases, small fountains, and much more. Replaceable battery.

Both of these Battery LED light products are perfect for crafts and decorating alike and the coolest thing about products that run off batteries you aren't tied to an outlet so you can really let those creative juices flow. I've seen these used heavily in wedding decorations, flower arrangement, centerpieces, even hidden in the ceremony for great ambience. 

We will be getting these posted online asap so check back when we get them online and don't forget you can use our 10% coupon on orders over $40.

UPDATE!
These are on the website, Click Here to view our Battery LED Light page.

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Mini Lights Description Video

Click here to view our Mini lights page

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Christmas Pole Decorations

Christmas Light Pole Decorations adorn many downtown streets across the country and All American Christmas Co. has one of the largest selection Pole Mounted Christmas Displays online. We can customize any display you see on our website or get a piece custom designed and made for you.

Pole mount displays have been a main stay for most cities and business for many years because how quickly they can change a a street or a parking lot into  a festive place. We carry Snowflakes, Bells, Wreaths, Santas, Reindeer, Elves, Trees, Candy Canes, and Much More. Street Pole Christmas Decorations are fairly simple to install; each Pole Displays will require a power source on the pole itself, the display uses a bracket that allows the installer to use banding straps to secure the banding strap to a pole. Since the majority of poles are tapered if the pole decoration slides down it won't slide far because the taper.

All of the displays we offer can be lit with either Incandescent or LED Christmas lights, we recommend using LEDs because they use such little power and since so many cities and businesses are cracking down on power usage it really will allow you to save money during the holiday season. C7 incandescent bulbs use 5 watts and LED use .97 or less depending on manufacturer, so lets say the average snowflake has around 100 bulbs using incandescent will pull 500 watts and LED christmas lights will use 97 watts. So saving on average 400 watts for a standard size snowflake, that type of reduced power consumption will save hundreds of dollars.

For large orders please shoot us a email and we can work up a quote and can help you save. We are working all year helping customers meet their holiday decorating needs and will be happy to make your displays ideas come to light!

Check out all our Christmas Pole Decorations here

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Commercial Christmas Displays

All American Christmas Co. has been providing the country with Christmas lights since the mid 90's (yeah we were online way back then) but what got us into this business was installing Large Christmas Displays, Large Christmas Trees and other commercial holiday decorations. Steve started out installing Christmas lights and what not helping out a college friend and when he heard about the internet his mind went to e-commerce and here we are now. One thing we pride ourselves with at All American Christmas Co. is our hands on experience with our products and that's what brings me to the purpose of this blog post, we have years of experience designing, repairing, and installing Christmas displays. Since Steve installed them for so long we have personal relationships with the largest Christmas display builders in the country and can help our customers design a perfect display or set of displays.

All of our Commercial Christmas Decorations are built to order, we offer Pole Mounted Displays, Standard Ground Mounted Christmas Displays, Building Mounted Displays, Custom Street Banners, Cross Street Displays and Signs, Christmas Arches, Christmas Signs, Large Christmas Trees, Large Christmas Wreaths, and more. We also carry Life Size Nativity Scenes, and Large Fiberglass Holiday Characters that are made in the USA and are hand painted. All of our Commercial Christmas products are made in the USA and can be lit with Incandescent or LED lights.

Check out www.allamericanchristmas.com for all of our great Commercial Christmas Products. This site is mainly set up as a online catalog, all of these pieces have to be quoted so if you're interested in a product(s) email us and we will begin the quoting process. Email us all your contact info, your shipping info, and the specific product(s) as well as any custom option and we will get back to you asap.
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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Differences in White LED Christmas Lights

Even though LED Christmas Lights have been on the market for a number of years now the colors of "White" are still confusing. Above are the 3 main colors of White LED Christmas Lights, on the Left we have Pure White, in the Middle we have the old White, and on the Right is Warm White.

Pure White LED Christmas lights are typically the bulb style with the least amount of color to them, they are paper white, and normally fairly colorless. Of course manufacturers can vary and some sets are little blue, but compared to the old style of white they are the most colorless LED Christmas light string available.

Old Style White LED Christmas lights, now this color is slightly phased out but some people call this color Ice White or Cool White, but those terms sometimes refer to Pure white so really you have to have a in hand description if people don't explicitly state what hue the set has. We (All American Christmas Co) only have a few Christmas LED light strings in this color. These sets have a strong Blue tint.

Warm White LED Christmas Lights are the most similar to a filament style Christmas light bulb. These sets have a yellow tint to them and are much "Warmer" than the pure white led light strings. If you want to replicate the appearance of traditional style light strings it's hard to beat Warm White LED light sets.

A little history, The first "White" LED strands were the blue-ish style seen in the middle above, and during these initial runs most retailers got complaints about the color of those sets and because of that the color has tended to fall by the way side. Recently many people want this color (my guess is to replace strings they bought previously) and most companies don't have it made anymore. I tend to prefer the Pure White LED sets, the look of LED Christmas bulbs is so different when compared to incandescent that I think it's nice to go ahead and take advantage of that different look. The main thing to remember with anything you see online is that colors are represented differently on different monitors and operating systems and we can all perceive colors slightly differently so remember that caveat when buying light strings, you can always call us to get our opinion or we'll grab a set out of a case for you if we have them on hand and check what color the sets are.

Click here to check out all our LED Christmas Lights.

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Globe Lights for Proms and Formals

While we've talked about how great Globe Lights are for weddings and other functions we've not spoken much about how they are also great for Proms and Formals. Globe bulbs are so easy to string up and are such a cool look they are perfect and remain classy for any function.  These also come in a variety of colors to match a theme or motif. 

Globe Lights are great for hanging around walkways heading up to an event, you can use the lights as a way to direct people and "rope" off other areas people don't need to go. My personal favorite look for these lights is hanging them back and forth across a ceiling. This creates a really cool effect, you can mix and match the sizes of globe lights and put a fabric below to have a starry night effect. You're only limited to your imagination when it comes to decorating, one thing I tell all of our customers that ask for tips for decorating is take a step back for a sec and look at your location. Brainstorm ideas, put it on paper, doodle a picture, and get a plan of a attack before you commit to X number of bulbs. ALWAYS measure your location, measure it again after you measured it the first time to double check, nothing is worse than running out of materials at the last minute.

Now I don't claim to be a expert on proms or formals. When I was in high school I was more concerned with playing guitar in my punk band and didn't wan't to do anything what I considered "all too normal" like Prom. And when I was in college the most exciting part of my day was walking to my car which had been baking in the sun for hours and begin my drive home. I always envisioned Proms and what not to be something like the "Enchantment Under the Sea Dance" like in Back to the Future complete with raucous versions of Johnny B. Goode.

Head to our Globe Christmas Lights page to see what Globe lights we have to offer

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Using Christmas Lights for Weddings

     We have done many blogs over the years about using Christmas Lights in Weddings. Curtain lights, Net lights, Icicle lights, Globe bulbs and more all look great to add just the right amount of light on your special day. By and large our most popular strings for weddings are our Commercial Curtain lights, or Wall of Light sets, these 9.5' tall drops have a great look and the drops are removable/replaceable so they allow you to easily repair drops after years of use or remove drops to customize your string.


Globe lights are another very popular light string for weddings and are perfect for outdoor weddings. We sell Globe screw in bulbs in both a C7 base and C9 base variety, which means you can use our Christmas light strings with most Globe lights we carry. The most popular way to use Globe Christmas lights is to swag a light string (preferably White or Black wire) and use them as a type of ambient lighting. They are also very popular around the edge of tents or to light paths. If you are needing a lot of lights we recommend buying a Spool of Christmas Light wire, this allows you (or your decorators) to custom cut every string to fit perfectly. The remainder can be stored or used for other holiday lighting needs. 


Mini lights are a classic light string that will NEVER go out of style. They easy to decorate with and inexpensive so you can get a ton of lights without spending a ton of cash.We have White Wire Christmas Lights  with clear bulbs in many spacing and styles so you can find just the right set for decorating everywhere during your ceremony and/or reception. We also offer many of these sets with colors on white wire to match the brides chosen color palette, a simple way to ad some accent lighting without blowing your budget. 


We also carry a wide selection of LED Christmas lights, these are a great alternative to incandescent lights and look great. They come in a wide array of colors and styles and can fit exactly your needs. We love the 5mm Wide Angle LED Light strings, they are small bright and have vibrant colors. 


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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Flicker Flame Bulbs

All American Christmas Co. carries a selection of flicker flame lamps which are great for any occasion or just as a accent lighting. Flicker flames typically go into a candelabra base, which is what a C7 light bulb goes into. These types of simulated flame bulbs are most commonly found in electric candles, these plastic (sometimes wax) candles can be plugged into the wall and are a much safer alternative to actual candles when you are only seeking the look of a flame. We recommend these to anyone needing candles for windows or table arrangements.

We carry a variety of different styles of Flicker flame lamps, and the image above gives an idea of what the bulb looks like once lit.

Check our Special Lights page for Flicker flames and other candle lights!
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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Warm White LED vs Incandescent Christmas Lights

Warm White LED Christmas lights are a great alternative to traditional Incandescent Christmas lights because the color is about as close as one can get to that warm filament lit glow that classic Christmas lights offer. The images to the left is a comparison of Warm White LED Christmas Lights and Incandescent Mini Christmas Lights.

I grabbed the one of each our of craft light cases, these LED set in the picture is our Warm White 25 count Wide Angle 5mm String, the Mini lights are our 20 count Craft Light sets. The LED Light set is on the left and the Incandescent Mini lights is on the right. Now for a caveat, Colors are subjective everyones eyes are a little different and furthermore monitors are a little different, colors on a Mac may not look like a PC, your computers color settings could be different so don't take what your eyes see on a monitor as a 100% accurate representation of what ANY color of something is.

Here are some differences in LED vs Incandescent

• LED Craft Lights use 2.4 watts a set
• Mini Craft Lights use 9.6 watts a set
• LED Craft sets generate no heat
• LED Christmas lights bulbs are molded in and won't become loose or twisted when inserting into a bottle or block.
• LED Craft sets have 24" lead wire (the plug to the first bulb)
• Incandescent Craft sets have either 24" or 36" lead wire

Click here to check out all the Craft Lights we offer!

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Brown Wire Christmas Lights

"Our Brown Wire Craft Mini Lights"

All American Christmas Co. is proud to carry a selection of Brown Wire Mini Christmas Lights!

Brown wire mini lights are a fairly popular light string for those that know about them, they are easy to integrate in to many designs and they don't look too "Christmasy" so they are great for using other times of the year. You can incorporate brown wire christmas lights into indoor and outdoor decorations, they hide easily against trees for lighting parties or weddings, and look great lighting for other holidays like thanksgiving.

Our newest member of the family is our Brown Wire Craft Lights sets, these sets feature Brown wire, 20 clear mini lights 6 volt lamps, Approx. 3.5 inch bulb spacing, 24" lead wire, and only one plug. These sets are just like many of the other 20 light sets we carry and since they only have the one plug they are perfect for crafts such as lighting glass blocks or wine bottles.

In addition to our brown wire craft lights in 20 count we also carry the same type of set in a 50 and 100 light count option. These sets are spaced closer to 4 inches apart and can be strung end to end. These are the sets you'd want to go with if you are needing to do long runs of lights and again they are great indoors and out.  We also offer these larger sets in case lots so you can buy multiples and save in the long run!

If you are interested in our brown wire light strings please Click Here to check out what we offer on the site. Be warned that we only have around 100 of the 20 count sets in Brown wire. Our 20 light sets are some of the most popular light strings we carry and these are bound to sell out before we get our new stock for 2012 so order early to insure you'll have them when no one else will!

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

Spt-1 Wire Vs. Spt-2 Wire.

Spt-1 on Top, Spt-2 on bottom

18 gauge wire is found pretty much everywhere, almost every house and office in the country has some that is used for power cords on products and for those of us in the lighting industry it's the standard for C7 and C9 light line. The wire come in generally two varieties Spt-1 and Spt-2. These are both 18 gauge wire, that means that the copper wiring on the inside of the wire itself is the same. The main difference is the insulation!

On the left the photo shows both Spt1 (top) and Spt2(bottom), as you can see Spt-2 wire has almost double the amount of insulation. This added protection lets you run more power through the wire itself.

Spt-1 wire can handle up to 7 amps, or 770 watts.

Spt-2 wire can handle up to 10 amps, or 1100 watts. 

Using that information will let you evaluate your power needs, be sure to never exceed the recommended amperage this WILL cause the wire to fail and be a potential hazard.
Click here to check out our rolls of 18 gauge wire!

Click below to read more.

Lighting your house like Clark Griswold

"250 Strands of light.... 100 individual bulbs per strand.... for a grand total of 25,000 imported Italian twinkle lights!" That's the supposed number of lights Clark used on his house for the 1989 classic Christmas movie. If memory serves me, most of the lights that Clark was using were in the C9 variety, although in the scene where he gives Rusty the knot of Christmas lights to untangle there where mostly C9 bulbs but some C7 bulbs were mixed into the bunch. He's not using Mini Christmas lights even though he said "Italian lights" which are commonly associated with the small mini lights found on Christmas trees. 

If there were indeed 25,000 lights consisting of mainly C9 bulbs then the lights on the Griswold house would be using 175,000 watts! Using that type of power would drive up anyones electricity bill to a astronomical price, it would make you probably save a Christmas bonus and not blow it on a swimming pool.

For the modern Griswold family, or Griswold wannabes, you'll probably want to go with a LED type bulbs or set. But still using the incredibly large number of LED Christmas lights you'll be pulling major power! The most important thing is don't overload your outlets or your wire, you need to know many amps a circuit can handle. Large scale lighting projects require a ton of amperage, for instance Clark would need 1,590 amps to power the massive number of lights! When it comes to overloading wire, most 18 gauge wire will fail after you pass 7 amps through it, once you begin to get close to that 7 amp limit you'll need to start a new line with a brand new power source.

There are so many things you have to take into consideration when you start any large scale lighting project, always be safe, have someone helping you when you work on a pitched roof, and do the math on power before you commit to large scale!
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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com

The Many Non Christmas Uses for...Christmas Lights!

In our industry we call pretty much everything Christmas lights, Mini light strings, LED light strings, C7 bulbs, C9 bulbs, etc but just because they found favor lighting houses during the Christmas holiday season doesn't mean that's their only time to be used. I talked to the boss man about many mini light strings that get tossed and he guessed hundreds of thousands, and I'd say he's right. That is a sad thing because Christmas trees, garlands, and on the hedges outside aren't the only places/things you can use Christmas lights to decorate. Below I've give a little rundown on other uses for these light strings.

Christmas Light Sale

The Season is over, lights and trees are coming down and if you're like us you assess what lights have gone out and what you need to replace and get ready for next year. We are still offering 10% off online orders over $40 dollars.

Enter coupon code SAVE10 on the shipping address screen and the cart will deduct 10% off the product cost! Buy now and save!

I know many people have Christmas lights on sale but many of our competitors have little to no stock! Check out our wide variety of LED Christmas lights, Mini lights, Craft lights, C7 bulbs, C9 bulbs, Wire, and much more!

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.
www.aachristmas.com
www.allamericanchristmas.com