Tuesday, February 12, 2013

New affordable LED Craft Lights

New LED Craft Lights at All American Christmas Co.

Using short Mini light strings for lighting up blocks and bottles is old news and has been discussed in excess on this blog but late last year All American Christmas Co started carrying a brand new line of 20 count LED Craft lights that are much more affordable and functional than previous incarnations of LED Craft sets.

LED Craft Lights
Wide Angle (Concave) Bulb
The New LED Craft Light strings we carry feature Wide Angle 5mm LED bulbs (shown left) these style bulbs offer the widest viewing angle and most vibrant colors in our opinion. These sets feature a 36" long lead wire from the plug to the first bulb so you (or your customers) won't need a extension cord for simple decorating applications. Bulb spacing is approximately 3 inches with an over all lighted length of approx. 4.75 feet. This string will be perfect for both wine bottles and glass blocks and other popular craft projects. They come on both Green and White wire with most standard colors available so you aren't stifled by LED's lack of variety! Now for the best part, prices for the LED Craft Lights range from $5.49 to $6.99 depending on the color of the bulb, so you're not spending 10 times the money for a light string.

What are the real advantages of switching Crafts to LED?

If you are used to using Craft mini light strings you're probably spending somewhere around $3 a set, for 2 or 3 more dollars you'll be saving yourself time, headaches, and in the end money! LED sets are rated at 50,000 hours of burn time, now we think that number is a little extreme but even 20,000 hours is a vast improvement over the 2,500 hours you get from incandescent lights. Our LED Craft light bulbs are molded in so you wont have to deal with bulbs coming loose or twisting during installs and they generate little to no heat because they don't have a filament heating up so your crafts won't even be warm to the touch. If you make lighted wine bottles for a side business or even a full time job you'll find that increasing your price to give your customer a product that will last longer, use less power, and give the same beautiful effect will be a smarter investment in the long run.

Now you may think,"The look won't be the same!" and you're right. LED lights are a different look, the way the light is made isn't the same method so they give off a different light, but we carry Warm White lights that match the color of Clear mini lights very well and honestly LED colors look a million times better than incandescent because they aren't lighting up painted glass the diode actually lights up the desired color. Below is a comparison of Warm White LED lights and Clear (white) Mini Christmas Lights.
Warm White Versus Clear Bulbs
Warm White LED VS. Clear Incandescent Bulbs

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Globe lights for Weddings

Globe Lights for Weddings
Globe Light Bulb on C9 wire.

Globe Lights for Weddings

All American Christmas Co. carries a wide variety of light strings and bulbs that can fit in to about any application or holiday. One of the most popular "Christmas Light" bulbs for use during other events are Globe lights, these round bulbs are a classic style bulb that don't appear at all Christmas-y. These have skyrocketed in popularity in the past few years for us in weddings because almost any theme can find a place for these lamps. This blog will again cover Globe bulbs and their uses in Weddings.

Friday, January 4, 2013

DIY Mini Light Garland


We all know that these days we are trying to do more DIY projects. They help to save money but also they can help you to completely customize the wedding or party to the theme with recycled mini lights and inexpensive cups or cupcake papers. Now who can say no to that? One way to add fun and festive customization is to make covers for your mini lights to string around the room or venue. You can do this in several different ways using several different products. Some people use cupcake pan liners, clear plastic party cups covered with fabric or covering Dixie cups with scrapbook paper that matches your party décor.



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

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Zach

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

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