Showing posts with label Christmas Light Displays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas Light Displays. Show all posts

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Patriotic Lights and Displays

The Fourth of July is just around the corner and I know everyone is getting excited for the cookouts and parties that come with it. But have you thought about how to decorate for your favorite summer gathering? Here at All American Christmas Company, we are proud to offer a selection of patriotic lights and decorations so that you can show your American pride.

Starlight spheres are great for using outside for late night parties and barbecues. We offer a large selection of sizes, including spheres on stakes to line walkways and driveways. There are even special patriotic options, such as the USA sphere that resembles the American flag and solid colored red, white and blue. You cannot go wrong with this festive globe of light.

I know most people don't think about using light displays for much more than around Christmas time, but we have some great patriotic light displays that are perfect for this time of the year. We offer an American flag and USA in red, white and blue. These are great for hanging outside for your July 4th barbecue. It will not only give a little extra light but also show you're proud to be an American.

One other option to consider is string lights in patriotic colors. These are available in all of your favorite light styles; LED bulbs and strings, mini lights, icicle lights and rope light. Any of the more traditional patriotic lights will work with your decor and give you some fun light so that the party can continue into the night.




Try to get creative with your lighting and have fun. You cannot go wrong with any these options, any of them will be sure to show your American pride on the fourth of July!

--
Hannah
All American Christmas Co.

Friday, November 30, 2012

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

--
Zach

Monday, January 17, 2011

Restoring your Christmas Displays


The Holiday season can put some major wear and tear on Christmas Displays. Bulbs break and burn out, UV rays wear our plastic, Clips come loose or break and after multiple seasons your displays may look a little lackluster. Wear and tear is a natural thing and happens from use and even when you move them to storage. We get calls on a regular basis if we do restoration work for displays, we have brought old displays to life. We completely restored a intricate angel tree topper for Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN. But typically it's cheaper for the customer to do the restoration themselves.

If the display just needs bulbs replaced we suggest ordering all new bulbs, old bulbs don't burn as bright as new bulbs and it's obvious once the displays is on a lit that certain bulbs are new and some are old. We sell both Incandescent bulbs and LED, LED bulbs will cost more up front but save you money in the long run because they use such little power and their hard plastic bulbs are much harder to break.
Displays that are lit with Mini lights or small LED usually use Sculpture Clips to attach the sockets to the metal frame displays. These clips can come loose and get lost or break. If you're missing clips we have three different sizes in Black and White that are perfect for fixing up your Light displays. They come in 1/8", 3/16", and 1/4" sizes. The size of a sculpture clip reflects the size of the opening that will clip on the displays frame. You can easily measure your displays frame diameter with a crescent wrench and a ruler, simple slide the wrench onto the frame and tighten it down, slide it off them measure the opening and viola you have your size.

If you are lighting your display with C7 or C9 bulbs you will have to use 18 gauge wire with sockets on it. Replacing this wire is a fairly simple job. Remove all the existing wiring, and if you are so inclined now is the perfect time to wire brush and paint your frame ( a couple coats of a quality spray paint will work fine, just allow it to dry fully before wiring). There are a couple ways to secure the wire/sockets. You can use electrical tape to tightly wrap the sockets and wire to the frame, but always cut the electrical tape with scissors or a knife, pulling the tape causes it to stretch and after time it shrinks back to normal and will come loose. Another option is using zip ties. Both of these methods will take a long time so be patient and don't rush! The more you pace yourself and do it right the longer before you have to do it again!

I hope this gives you some insight into how you can go about restoring Christmas Displays!

--
Zach

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