Making the switch to LED Christmas Lights

Switching from Incandescent to LED Christmas lights may seem intimidating if you still haven't made the switch yet. The higher price tag and non traditional look of LED may seem a little, off putting, at first but once you compare the differences you'll be more than ready to jump on the bandwagon! I've blogged many times about how little power Christmas LED lights and I think most of you have gotten the point (if not check out some of my other posts on LED light strings), so this blog won't filled with complete technobabble!

Christmas LED lights come in a variety of shapes and sizes, most of which are based off classic bulb shapes we've seen all our lives. Below I will list some of the common shapes and styles of Christmas LEDs:

	C6 Lights - These have the shape of those classic C7/C9 bulbs we grew up with but are noticeably smaller. Great for indoor Christmas trees!
	C7 Lights - The classic C7 bulb never goes out of style, we offer LED C7 bulbs in both premade sets and screw in type bulbs. Use a fraction of the power will the same great look!
	C9 Lights - Just like C7 the C9 is a classic bulb that will always look great. C9 are perfect for outdoor jobs and have that classic look that can't be beat!
	M5 Lights - M5 LED lights look like Mini lights (Twinkle, Fairy, or Italian lights to some). You can string a ton of these together! These LED lights are perfect for ANY application.
	Wide Angle 5mm Lights - Our FAVORITE, the Wide Angle LED Christmas lights have a bright bulb with a concave bulb that can be seen from nearly any angle. The best LED Christmas light bulb in our opinion
	G12 Lights - G12 are often called raspberry lights because they look like the little fruit. These are cool bulbs that would look great mixed into trees and garlands!

These are just some of the LED Christmas lights styles available, but you can use this simple break down as a spring board to plan our your holidays lighting. If you are worried about the upfront cost we recommend buy a few sets for some small projects and try them out, they won't go bad!

Check out our LED Christmas Lights Page

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

How to repair Mini Christmas lights

We get a ton of questions asking if we can or know how to fix Mini 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.
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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.
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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.

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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.

Click Here to view our Mini Light Tester Box

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

Bubble Lights back in Stock

Bubble lights are back!! Our standard sets with wire and 3 pack of loose bulbs are back in stock and ready to go. These sold our for the better part of a year so if you need bubble lights ORDER NOW! We will only have so many cases until they are out again.

Click here to view our bubble lights





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

New Craft Mini lights and other News

We recently expanded our already large craft light section, we now have colors in our 10 and 15 light mini light sets! We got many requests for smaller light strings made like our 20 light strings (long leads, single plug, etc) and we recently got sets here so we can offer all the major colors! Our 10 light mini lights string has 3 inch bulb spacing, a 3 foot lead wire and is approximately 2.5 feet long. The 15 light string is the same expect it's total length is approx. 3.75 feet long.

These shorter light strings are great for installing the lights in glass blocks and wine bottles. You ideally want to use less than 50 lights in those projects because those sets are just going to be way to long for such a small enclosure.

We are talking about carrying NEW wine bottles in various colors. So if you don't want to have to wash bottles  or whatnot.  This should be happening in a few weeks! Watch the blog for all news about this. 

Click here to view our Mini lights

--
Zach

All American Christmas Co

www.aachristmas.com

www.allamericanchristmas.com

Screw In LED C7 and C9 bulbs

We carry a variety of what we call Retro Fit C7 and C9 LED bulbs. Retro fit LED bulbs screw into standard C7 or C9 sockets, so you don't have to replace all your wire if you are currently using screw in incandescent bulbs just your bulbs! This gives you a lot more flexibility in lighting with LED and you still retain all the perks that LED provide.

LED Retro fit bulbs use .96 watts a bulb! Incandescent C7 bulbs use 5 watts and C9 use 7 watts, so you are going to save a lot of money on power consumption and get a whole lot more mileage out of your wire! If you are using 18 gauge spt-1 wire you can use around 800 bulbs on one continuous run of wire, this will save many trips up and down the ladder and make tearing down your decorations so much easier!

We hand chose our Screw in LED bulbs because the look the best in the socket, the bulb doesn't sit way up high, the light in evenly spread out, and the colors are vibrant and true. We are also carrying a selection of twinkle and color changing bulbs!

Check out our re-designed LED page and all of our great LED products.

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

Halloween Lights

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, dressing up, eating WAY to much candy, and spending time with friends and family watching scary movies never gets old! Decorating for halloween can sometimes be just as fun as finding the perfect costume, and we have a selection of lights that are great for inside and out your home on this spooky holiday.  We offer Frosted Orange Mini lights on Black wire. These sets look great during Halloween and also during thanksgiving mixing in with leaves the orange really accents the colors of fall.

We also carry black wire mini lights with clear bulbs, which look great mixed in with orange lights, and we also have brown wire mini lights which look great mixed in with leaves or around hay bales!  In addition to simple light strings we also carry Halloween style icicle lights, small  novelty style lights (small pumpkins, spiders, ghosts), fall colored garlands, and even halloween/fall themed displays!

Combining all of these styles of products let you create a really great Halloween themed decoration for indoor or out. If you have any questions regarding these products feel free to check the website and give us a call if you can't find the answer you need.

Click here to visit our Halloween Light page

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

Musical Christmas Controllers IN STOCK!

Holiday Light Show Controller

These Musical controllers are no longer available with All American Christmas Co. (as of Oct. 30th, 2013)

We have received our MP3 player ready Musical Christmas light controllers! Our Holiday Lightshow musical controller is the simplest and most inexpensive way to decorate your house and have it dance to music. Click here to view them on our site.

This controller features 10 Built in songs, 6 channels (i.e. outlets), a Outdoor ready speaker, a built in timer, and jacks to plug in a MP3 Player or external speaker source.

Each channel on controller unit handles 1.25 amps, that is around 375 mini light bulbs per outlet. If you are using LED lights you can get a lot more mileage out of the controllers since LED sets use such little power! Most people may say, "Well, 375 mini lights per outlet is just not enough for the idea in my head!!" and we totally get that but keep this in mind, computer controlled systems that do those insane youtube-esque videos start at around 500 bucks for the most basic systems, you have to program them yourself (or buy a program) and have a dedicated computer for it.

While our controller does not do the level of intricate animation that those big computer systems do, it's also a lot less headache and money. We recommend customers to integrate this controller into their current decorations, if you are aleady going to light up trees, bushes, the roof line, ect. choose what items you have lit and have then dance to the music! Say you have a your roofline lit, make your trees sync to the music with our controller.Mixing in animation will make your Christmas lights look less busy and more like a cohesive group of decorations. You want people to drive by and look in wonder at your decorations, not be so shocked they wreck the car (or well I hope you don't want people to do that)!

We currently have around 40 in stock, and are getting more in a few weeks. These controllers are selling out fast so if you are interested please order early to insure you'll have one for the comings season.

Our Holiday Lightshow Musical Controller is $169.99 and remember you can get 10% off that if you order online! Use coupon code Save10 during checkout and the controller is 152.99 before shipping!

Thanks, if you have any questions visit our site or email me zach@aachristmas.com

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

So many Mini Craft Lights to choose from! Differences between Craft light sets.

I know I've been blogging a lot about craft lights lately, and since we now carry 8 different types of Craft lights I felt like I needed to explain the differences between all the different craft sets. Craft lights are the most popular light string for the majority of the year and they are hard to find January to September but we are happy to offer these small Christmas light strings all year! They only time we aren't selling them is when we sell out of them!

About our Mini Craft Lights

• No End to End plug - All of our Craft sets only have one plug that goes to power outlet.
• High Brightness bulbs - These sets have bright bulbs that aren't like normal mini light string bulbs, they are a higher voltage and look great in blocks and bottles
• Color Variety - We offer sets (or cases) in all available colors on either White or Green wire, these colors include: Clear, Red, Blue, Green, Amber (Orange), Yellow, Teal, Pink, Purple, and Multi Color.
• Close bulb space -  Most of these sets have a 2" to 3" bulb space, this cuts down on the wire you have to have inside your project
• Longer lead wire -  Our craft lights have either a 24" or 36" lead wire, the lead is the wire from the plug to the first bulbs, this means you won't have to go hunting for a extension cord for a 4" lead wire.
• Stackable plugs - These light strings allow you to stack plugs on top of one another so you can plug multiple sets into a single outlet.
• Shunted Bulbs - If a bulb burns out the rest stay lit! If a bulb is loose or twisted the wire can not light but this is a rare occurrence.
• Case lots - All of our incandescent light strings are available in a case option, this lets you stock up on sets and save big money down the road.

Currently we are offering the following different types of Mini craft light sets

• 10 Light Set - 3" bulb spacing,  2.5 feet lighted length with 36" lead wire from plug to first bulb
• 15 Light Sets - 3" bulb spacing, 3.75 feet lighted length with 36" lead wire from plug to first bulb
• 20 Light Sets w/ Short Leads - 2.5" bulb spacing, 3.5 feet lighted length with 24" lead wire from plug to first bulb
• 20 Light Sets w/ Long Leads - 3" bulb spacing, 5 feet lighted length with 24" lead wire from plug to first bulb
• 35 Light Sets w/ Short Leads - 2.5" bulb spacing, 7.5 feet lighted length with 24" lead wire from plug to first bulb
• 35 Light Sets w/ Long Leads - 3.5" bulb spacing, 13 feet lighted length with 36" lead wire from plug to first bulb

I hope this clears up the differences in all the types of Craft Mini Lights we carry, please visit our Mini lights page to view what sets in stock!

--

Zach

All American Christmas Co.

www.aachristmas.com

www.allamericanchristmas.com

10 Count and 15 Count Mini lights now available.

We carried 15 count mini lights for a long time and for a little while the manufacturers halted production for a limited time but now they are back and better than ever! Not only are the 15 light count an option but so is a 10 count mini light string, these are for the decorators or craft makers who want fewer number of lights and less wire inside their craft projects. We are selling individual sets in Clear on White or Green wire, and selling cases of 50 strings in Colors on White or Green wire.

The 10 count mini light strings we carry have a 36" lead wire, 10 bulbs, 3 inch bulbs spacing, Stack-able plugs, No End Connectors, and are approx. 2.5 ft long.

The 15 count mini light strings we carry have a 36" lead wire, 15 bulbs, 3 inch bulbs spacing, Stack-able plugs, No End Connectors, and are approx. 3.75 ft long.

These sets are great for lighting Glass Blocks, Wine Bottles, and since they are smaller light strings they could fit into even smaller blocks or bottles! Lighted Beer/Liquor Bottles would be very cool!

Click here to view our Mini lights page

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

Musical Christmas Controllers back in stock this week!

We are going to be getting our MP3 Musical Christmas Controllers in stock this week! We quickly sold out of these last year and we hope these controllers receive the same great reception this year. Our MP3 Christmas Controller is the easiest way  to decorate your home and sync it up to your own music. These controllers have 10 songs built right into the unit but being able to use your own mp3 plays gives you unlimited control of your own holiday decorations!  These controllers have 6 outlets and each outlet give you 1.25 amps, that's around 375 mini lights per outlet,  if you choose to use LED then you could almost triple that number of lights!

These controllers are simple to use and setup, have a ton of great features, and will really make your home light up and come to life! If you have any questions please visit the site and see all the specs listed online.

Click here to view this product 

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

Craft lights coming back in stock!

20 light count mini lights are coming back in stock soon! Our manufacturer has the lights so we will be getting ours in to sell individual sets in the following weeks. 20 light count craft lights has been extremely popular this year, so much so that our inventory was down to 1 or 2 sets per color!

The craft lights we carry usually have either 20 or 35 lights per string, they are typically spaced approximately 3 inches apart, and come in a variety of colors. Both our 20 count and 35 count mini lights have different lead wire options, either 2 foot or 3 foot lead wires. The longer the lead wire the better for most craft projects using christmas lights. If you have a 3 foot lead chances are you won't need a small extension cord for plugging up your crafts, this will give your projects a clean and unobtrusive look that your family, friends, or customers will enjoy!

Very soon we are going to be receiving 10 and 15 count mini lights, these small craft light sets will be great for small craft projects, you can use smaller bottles or glass blocks. Or if you just want fewer lights in your standard size blocks and bottles then this is a great option. The options on colors will be limited at first, but if the reaction to this style of Christmas light string is strong we will carry full color options in the future.

Of course we still offer our LED Craft lights, while these sets are more expensive you aren't going to have many problems with these lights. They have 25 lights per string and, 3" bulb spaces, and 2' lead. These sets don't generate heat, and use VERY little power. Lets say on average a mini lights string of 20 lights uses about 10 watts of power, these LED light sets use around 2.4 watts and the bulbs will last at least 10 times longer! So while the do cost more, the small price bump is offset by the smaller power usage and the life of the bulbs!

Comparison of Incandescent and Warm White LED

View our LED Craft Light strings

View all of our Craft lights

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

New LED C7 Snowfall bulbs

We have recently added these new Snowfall bulbs to our line of products, these snowfall lights screw into any existing C7 socket! So if you have C7 bulbs outlining your home you can integrate these into your light string and achieve a really great and clean icicle effect. We are also including 1 C7 Light socket so you install one of these icicles anywhere on spt1 wire!




Click here to view our LED icicles and our Snowdrop lights

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

Globe Light Size Comparison + Calculating Amperage

Globe lights come in a variety of sizes, and I'll be the first to admit that the designations G30, G40, and G50 do not give a clue as to the size of the bulbs! Just remember the larger the number, the bigger the bulb. G50 are the globe bulb that most people think of when they think of globe style light bulbs, these are a large 2" diameter bulb. These styles of bulbs are available on both C7 (candelabra) base and C9 (intermediate) Base, we have some options for Medium base which is the size of a household light bulb but you'll have to call or email us for info on those bulbs.

More than just the size varies with Globe light bulbs, wattage of bulbs varies as well. G30 and G40 with a C7 (candelabra) base are 5 watts, where as C7 base G50 bulbs are 7 watts. You have to take this into consideration when decorating with globe lights because you DO NOT want to overload your wire. Speaking of which, here's the math on calculating amps for wire:

(Bulb Wattage) x (Number of Bulbs) = Total Wattage
(Total Wattage) ÷ 110 (Volts) = Amps

Example; Standard SPT-1 Wire handles 7 amps, so you do not want to exceed this, lets say you have 100 G4 Globe bulbs that are 5 watts a piece, your calculations should look like this

5 Bulb Wattage x 100 Bulbs = 500 Watts

500 Watts ÷ 110 Volts = 4.55 Amps

So as you can see, 4.55 amps is below so you can safely use 100 Globe bulbs on SPT-1 Wire. Most stringers we carry are SPT-1 unless noted and our spools of light light is available in both SPT-1 and SPT-2 options.

I hope this cleared up the confusion on bulb size of Globe lamps and let you have a little insight on how to decorate safely by calculating how many amps your number of bulbs are going to use.

Please visit our Globe Lights Page today!

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

Commercial Curtain Lights White Wire back in stock!

We just received our Commercial Wall of Light Curtain lights back in stock. These are the most popular Curtain light string we offer and for good reason, these sets look great and very well made. Our Wall of Light strings are 16.5 feet across the top and 9.5 feet tall so they are great for covering walls for parties and weddings. Their 456 bulbs provide plenty of light, and the drops are removable so you can remove lights if needed. These strings always sell out super fast so if you're wanting some for a project please don't delay and order ASAP before they are all gone again.

Click here to check out our Commercial Curtain lights

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

MP3 Music Christmas Light Controller coming soon!

We started carrying this awesome controller last year and we quickly sold out! I'm trying to give everyone a heads up, we hope to receive these early September. So please bookmark the site or follow the blog (or RSS feed) because as soon as they are back in our hands to ship we'll update the site and blog.

Decorating with Rope Light

     Rope light is a super easy product to decorate with and can add great lighting just about anywhere. Rope light from stores like lowes or home depot come in  short lengths, but we here at All American Christmas Company sell rope light in spools of 150 feet that come with multiple power cords and other misc connectors that you'll need for a clean decorating job. Now most people will think, "Why on Earth would I need that much!!" but once you start wrapping the rope light around something those small strings from the hardware store will get used up quickly. We have always had the attitude, "If you're going to do something do it right and do it right the first time." and if you custom cut your ropelight to fit your application using a commercial rope light spool you're going to get exactly the right look with little fuss and hassle.

Rope light is pretty simple to decorate with, many people use this plastic neon lighting for mood lighting or accent lighting. You can install them around ceilings and floors for indirect lighting, You can use colors that coordinate with your room for a great effect! I've seen it even used to decorate behind desks and entertainment centers to add a cool mood lighting for offices and home theaters or even just a normal family room.

You can also use rope light to wrap things you want to light, you can use it around handrails on a deck or going up columns on the facade of a building. It's perfect for these type of applications and will a nice ambient lighting to a deck for entertaining guests or just relaxing outdoors. Rope light is also great for outlining tents for outdoor parties.

Installing Ropelight onto most surfaces is very, we offer a selection of clips but for most application you can use zip ties! Zip ties are easy to use, inexpensive, are not permanent, and shouldn't damage the surface. We also carry clips and rope light track. Our rope light clips can be nailed, or screwed, onto a surface and the ropelight track can use adhesive pads, glue, or silicone caulk.


Rope light comes in 3 typical sizes, 3/8", 1/2", and 5/8". These 3 sizes have a varying number of wire count, what that means is how many circuits the bulbs are wired in. Normally rope light has 2 wire, but if you want a chasing effect you will need to purchase a controller and 3 wire rope light, and if you want many different chasing options you will need to purchase 5 wire ropelight with the corresponding controller.

Please visit our Rope Light page to see all the rope light we have to offer!

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

Globe Lights

Globe Lights

Globe lights are instantly recognizable and synonymous with festive lighting. They can be seen at restaurants, on patios, around pools, lighting at weddings, the list goes on and on. Many customers are so surprised we carry globe lights, but we carry a very large selection of  Globe lights! We have multiple sizes of bulbs that fit Candelabra, Intermediate, and Medium Base bulbs!

There are different designations for sizes of Globe bulbs, they start with G and are followed by a number. We carry the following sizes:

• G8 - These bulbs are 1" in diameter and are very small! Cool for small sign style displays
• G30 - These bulbs are 1 1/4" in diameter. 
• G40 - These bulbs are 1 1/2" in diameter.
• G50 - These bulbs are 2" in diameter. G50 are the size that people typically associate with Globe lamps.

Globe bulbs come in a variety of colors, but they are different than traditional C7 and C9 bulbs. They are usually a satin color and are often painted on the inside of the bulb. This type of paint inside the bulb gives the bulbs a soft glow when lit. Multi-colored packs are very popular but Pearl White and Clear reign supreme. 

I hope this post gives you a little more info on Globe Lights, please go to our Bulb page and see what we have to offer. Click here (Globe Lights are at the bottom of the page).

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

Decorating with Curtain lights (Updated)

    As trends go, the use of curtain lights for Non-Christmas events has risen steadily over the past 5 years. The biggest use of these Curtain sets has for this non holiday use has been for Weddings and other Special Events. We carry 2 main types of curtain lights, Standard and Commercial. Standard are built like you're standard mini light string only in a curtain design, using quality 22 gauge wire and shunted mini light bulbs, these are great from smaller applications. Commercial sets use larger wire and bulbs, these sets are almost twice the width and height of a Standard set and have many more bulbs, commercial sets also have molded in holes to make mounting easier. One thing to keep in mind is that commercial weigh more than double that of a standard set, so be sure you can hang them if you decide to go that route.

     The most common way people use these for weddings is by hanging them on a wall or on a frame of some sort. Hanging curtain lights from your wall is simple. If you have a drop ceiling then you can easily use a light weight wire or string and hang them from the ceiling grid. If you have walls you can drill or hammer into then you can very easily put some nails or small hooks up. The biggest issue people run into is not being able to drill into a wall, or having concrete walls and no drop ceiling, but don't worry you have a couple options. If you can hide it  heavy duty adhesive tape is a good option. Tapes come in a variety of colors and even clear duct tape is now available, using clear or white would be ideal. Many customers have said they use items like 3M's Command Line of adhesive hooks and hangers to hang these sets, you just have to make sure with any type of product like that you can get it to adhere to a surface and distribute the weight evenly. Nothing is worse than hanging your sets only to have not hung them properly and they come tumbling down.

    Hanging them from some sort of frame is and easier option, so long as the frame itself can handle the weight. The frame or stand could be anything from just a couple pieces of PVC pipe made into a stand or frame of wood. After you construct your frame/stand you can easily mount your sets, depending on it's construction you can screw clips, mount nails, tape, zip tie, etc the sets to your frame. Using this method  allow makes things easier for you to hang some sort of fabric in front of your lights. This is a great way to set the mood and soften up the lights. Like in the picture below.

Wedding Curtain Lights

     I hope this give you a little insight into hanging curtain lights. Please visit our Curtain Light section and Wedding Light section for more wedding decorating ideas!

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

Spice up your decorations with Chili Pepper Lights!

Chili Pepper Light String

       Chili Pepper lights are a great novelty light string that look great hung just about anywhere. At All American Christmas Co. our chili pepper lights come with rubberized chili covers that slip over incandescent mini lights. Typically these come with red chilies but green and multicolored ( red, green, and yellow chilies) are available.  These are inexpensive light string and are a great way to spice up any decorating project. Pun intended.

Chili pepper lights come in different light string styles as well, the standard light string is a 6 inch spaced light string with 35 lights/chilies per string. These are great for hanging  and look killer in restaurants and around grills on a patio.

Chili Pepper Light Cluster

We also have a Chili pepper cluster which looks like a hanging bunch of fresh peppers. These have 35 lights and have a great look and would be a great addition to any decorations with existing chili pepper lights. We also carry a wreath that is lit with different colors of peppers.

If you're interested in these light strings, please visit our site and look at what we have and if you have any questions give us a call or email us! Click here to view our Chili Pepper Lights.

Thanks!


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

Wedding light ideas

     There are a ton of great products to use for a Wedding ceremony and/or reception! I've gone on and on in previous blogs about how popular Curtain lights are and how great they look for weddings. I'll get to them but first I'm going to give some details on some other great lights for weddings.

White Wire Mini Lights

Click here to see our Mini Lights

     White wire mini lights come in a variety of bulb spacings and bulb colors! Bulb spacing can vary from 2.5 inches apart all the way up to 8 in some cases, and Mini light bulbs come in all the standard colors; Clear, Frosted White (show), Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink, Purple, Amber, Teal, and Multi. Mini lights are a great way to accent the colors of wedding party and a great for table decorations. Mini lights are also great for hanging from the ceiling creating a swag effect!  Mini light strings vary in bulb counts from 20 all the way up to 150 lights per string so unless you're lighting a football stadium chances are mini lights will meet your lighting needs!

Globe Lights

Click Here for Globe Bulbs
They are on the bottom of the C7 & C9 Page

     Globe lights are pretty common for decorators, they are the quintessential outdoor decorative light! They come in a variety of colors and sizes but it's hard to beat a clear or pearl white color Globe lights especially for a wedding! These lights go in either C7 or C9 light line which you can custom cut from a spool to fit almost any need. Globe lights are perfect for hanging outside outdoor tents and are killer for lighting walkways if you're doing a dusk/nighttime wedding. The standard size is called G50 and can fit into either C7 or C9 base,  G50s are approx. 2" in diameter. Some people complain about price (around 16 bucks for 25 bulbs) but these bulbs will last a long time if maintained.

Rope Light

Click here to view our Rope Light

     Rope light is a great form of accent lighting. It's compact, attractive and easy to decorate with! Rope lighting is great for going down walk ways or aisles, for wrapping columns or hand rails. Rope light comes in spools of 150' with all the accessories you would need to make multiple runs of rope light for your special day. Just like mini lights rope lights are great to make swag lights.

Curtain Lights

Click here to view our Curtain Lights

     Curtain lights for weddings are super popular! Many decorators and the like rent out curtains lights but if you're a do it yourself-er like many of us are and want to save and buying your own to use and reuse on other holiday projects. We offer a smaller light curtain thats around 5 feet tall and a larger one that's around 9.5 feet tall! Like the picture on the right shows these curtains are great for going behind tables at a reception, they are great behind the bridge and groom during the service. A great effect is had by putting the light curtain behind some sheer fabric, this hides the wires slightly and looks great!


If you have any questions please visit the site or give us a call Mon-Fri 8-5 CST

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

Christmas Light Fading Controllers

     Fading controllers are a great way to add some life to your displays or Christmas light strings! The most affordable light faders are 2 circuit, so they have 2 outlets the controller fades between. These simple controllers are good for changing between two displays or light strings; say you want to have different characters fading in and out or different trees lighting up in a specific color , really anything you can think of!

    These type of smaller controllers (like the one shown above) handle up to 360 watts per channel, 3 Amps Maximum, they also have a dial for controlling speed of fade. The controller above does 10 seconds max to 1 second minimum fade time. So lets break that down, that's approximately 900 mini lights per outlet, 72 C7 bulbs per outlet, or 51 C9 bulbs per outlet.  LED sets sometimes don't fade very well, so we don't recommend using them on a fading controller. These controllers have a easy to set speed knob that give you control over the speed of the fade between the outlets. We offer two types of these controllers and the one above is built in the USA!

    We also carry Commercial quality Christmas light faders.These have 8 or 16 outlets and and can handle 15 to 100 amps! These are made for large commercial displays and large scale lighting projects, these faders have more intricate fading, they allow for overlap of fades and more.

If you'd like to see the controllers we have available Click Here

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

May 30th, 2011 is Memorial Day! 10% off coupon code!

    May 30th this year is Memorial day, and many of us like to get together with family and friends on this holiday when we take time to think about the soldiers who have sacrificed for this country. If you like to decorate for this holiday we here at All American Christmas Co. have some great lighting products that would look great for any indoor or outdoor celebration. We have Patriotic Spheres which look great indoors and out, as well as solid Red, White, and Blue Spheres. Starlight spheres are a great way to easily decorate holidays and if you mix and match them you could use solid colors for more than just patriotic holidays.

    We also carry Red, White (or clear), and Blue incandescent and LED lights. Almost all of the Mini lights we carry come in those color options on White Wire, which look great for hanging around the house or outdoors. C7 and C9 bulbs are great for hanging up around decks and patios for a little extra light, our painted/opaque C7 and C9 bulbs are great for mood lighting. We have many LED light options as well but, they typically do not come on white wire but green wire looks great too!

Be sure to use the coupon code SAVE10 to save 10% on all online orders over $25! 

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Zach
All American Christmas Co.

www.aachristmas.com

www.allamericanchristmas.com

Commercial Snowflake Christmas Tree

    This is a Snowflake Panel Tree we sold to a customer putting it in a shopping mall. The customer added the sheer fabric and it really looks great. We can help you design any style Christmas tree you'd like. Commercial trees range in size from 14' to 40' and up!

There are a few different styles of Commercial Christmas Trees

• Panel Tree -  Has large panels that mount on a frame.
• Branch Trees - Has large branches that attach to a frame.
• Chain Trees - Has special garland or light strings that attach to a center pole and a base.

Please shoot us a email and we can work up a quote for you. Please let us know what style tree you'd like, height, type of lights, and all your contact info and we'll get you a quote. 

Go to www.allamericanchristmas.com to see all of our Commercial trees!

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Zach

All American Christmas Co.

www.aachristmas.com

www.allamericanchristmas.com

Patriotic Christmas Lights & Decorations

All American Christmas Co. carries a wide selection of great Patriotic themed lights and decorating products. From simple Red, White, and Blue light strings to awesome decorative light displays, we have you covered.

Mini lights are a great option for decorating parties, events, and holidays. We have solid Red, White (or Clear), and Blue light strings. You can use mini lights around decks or patios, tables, hang them for accent lighting or anything your mind can come up with!

Same goes for C7 and C9 bulbs, they are great to buy a couple packs of different colors and mix them up for a great effect, put those bulbs on a white light stringer and you have a simple decorative light string that will look better and last longer than any pre made cheap light string you buy at the local department store.


We also carry a wide selection of starlight spheres, they are a simple and great looking lighted decoration.that comes in a variety of options. We have a USA Starlight sphere that looks like the American flag, we also have solid Red, White, and Blues of course. These are great to hang outdoors for late night BBQ's and parties! Spheres come in a variety of sizes and even have light stake options for lining walkways and driveways.

At the top of this blog post there is a image of a great American flag display we have, it's made of high quality Rope Light, and looks great hung up out doors. Which proper storage this display will last you many many years. We also carry custom R, W, B ropelight that has alternating colors.

Click here to check out some of our Patriotic lights.

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

Premade C7 and C9 sets!

C7 Bulb

We are now carrying cases of pre made C7 and C9 sets. These sets come with 25 C7 or C9 bulbs already screwed into sockets so you just have to open the box, remove the tray from the packaging, and you're ready to decorate. C7 Sets come in cases of 24 sets and C9 sets come packed in cases of 12 sets.

These sets are great for people who are pressed for time for their decorating projects and need a quick and simple incandescent light string. These sets are not made like other light strings and usually have smaller gauge wire so you can't plug many sets end to end. Most manufacturers recommended only 2 sets end to end, so I wouldn't recommend plugging more than that end to end.

Standard C7 and C9 strings and spools can allow for many more bulbs to be on a continuous run, but they are never pre-bulbed.

Click here to see our C7 and C9 lights!

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

Making Custom Quick Connect Plugs

Quick Connect plugs are the handiest tool for commercial decorators and anyone needing a quick and easy plug for 18 gauge wire! Steve (the guy who started this whole company) began modifying these to use in the middle of a line so you can easily get power to a light string or display without running a new wire! This blog is gonna show you how to do yourself! It's easy and takes about 30 seconds, so get out your tools and grab some plugs it's time to modify!

Mini Light Description Video

Click here to watch on Youtube.

Here's my video giving you a run down on mini lights, stay tuned for more videos! Thanks.

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Zach

All American Christmas Co.

www.aachristmas.com

www.allamericanchristmas.com

Commercial LED Christmas Lights Limited Stock

We have limited stock on all of our Commercial LED lights so once they are gone they are gone for good. Commercial LEDs have the ability to string 100+ light strings end to end, so you could potentially light one project off one power outlet! Sounds absolutely crazy, I know, but it's true.

Commercial LED Christmas lights come in all the most popular bulb shapes and in all the colors one would expect, they require special power plugs but besides that they are simple sets that screw end to end and have water tight end to end plugs/connectors.

Head to our LED page to see what we have available and don't forget to use the coupon code SAVE10 to get 10% off the product costs.

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Zach

All American Christmas Co.

www.aachristmas.com

www.allamericanchristmas.com

C7 and C9 bulbs

C7 and C9 bulbs could quite possibly be the most recognizable Christmas bulbs in the country. You can find them on trees, homes, and businesses during the holiday season and during the rest of the year they are great for mood lighting for parties, restaurants, and other decorative purposes. C7 bulbs and C9 for that matter are a great alternative to using household size bulbs for decorating indoors because they use much less power and since you'll probably be using it as accent lighting. These bulbs come in Transparent colors in both a Steady Burn or Random Twinkle option and a Opaque, or Painted, style.

C7 bulbs are often called Candelabra base. For Christmas light and decorating applications most C7 lights you'll encounter are 5 watts. C7 base bulbs are also known as E-12 base.

C9 bulbs are larger than their C7 cousins and also use more electricity. C9 bulbs are typically 7 watts and their bases are called E-17.

Incandescent style of lights are still very popular but with energy costs going up and up many are switching to LED bulbs. We offer a wide selection of LED that go into C7 & C9 sockets, so you don't have to replace your wire if it's already hung, just swap out the bulbs. LED Christmas lights pull about 1 watt of power, whereas incandescent pull 5 to 7 to sometimes 10 watts per bulb! So a typical 100 count lightstring with filament style C7 lamps will pull 500 watts of power (4.5 amps!) and if you used LED retrofit bulbs you'd only pull 98 watts (less than 1 amp). Now LED bulbs are pricey but their long term power savings is tremendous! They are made with hard plastic instead of glass, typically have truer colors, and bulb life that will dwarf filament style lights. Here's a comparison shot of Incandescent bulbs vs. Led bulbs.

Click here http://www.aachristmas.com/vpasp/C7-C9.asp to check out all our C7 and C9 bulbs.

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Zach

All American Christmas Co.

www.aachristmas.com

www.allamericanchristmas.com

Mini Light Black Out & Color Caps

Black out caps have been a popular product for many years, they are a black cap that slides over bulbs that you don't need lighting. They are perfect for cleaning up decorating projects. Lets say you want to outline your homes windows with mini lights if you connect the strings end to end there will be extra mini lights hanging between the windows, and with black out caps you can black out the lights for cleaner decorated look. The picture to the left shows the difference before and after. There has been a growing popularity for caps for mini lights, and color caps have been showing up more and more.

Color caps work best of clear mini lights bulbs and are used to of course change the color of the bulb. Color caps are a translucent rubber that is colored and they come in all the most common colors. These are great for doing custom displays or decorating projects so you can get the perfect combination of colors. Using color caps is easier than changing out actual bulbs and cheaper too!

Click here to check out all our caps!

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Zach

All American Christmas Co.

www.aachristmas.com

www.allamericanchristmas.com

How To and Product Videos

About a year ago now we said we were working on Product and How To Videos and a combination of school and being busy with so many other projects for work put this idea on the back burner. Well it's a new year and I'm done with college and are able to do many more cool projects like this. We have a HD Camera and are setting up a small studio in a back office so we can so you guys how to properly utilize some products and just give general info on the products we carry.

Steve has 20+ years decorating experience and his expertise can really help anyone who are going to be using anything from a 1000 foot spool to a 5 foot light string. We will put some links to our YouTube so you can Subscribe and keep up to date on all our tips & tricks!

Here are some videos to tide you over (By the way, the new videos are going to be a TON better):

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Zach

St. Patrick's Day

March 17th is St. Patrick's Day and if you need Green lights All American Christmas Co. has got you covered. We carry a full selection of Mini lights, C7 and C9 bulbs, and LED Lights that would look great for any sort of St. Patrick's Day celebration for a Home, Office, Restaurant, or Bar! Almost all of our lights come in a vibrant green color and are on green or white wire which would look great hung around a room, a porch, bar, or any where else you would want to light up green!

We also have a great Shamrock would be a great decoration for this holiday. Rope light displays are great looking and easy to decorate with. They will last season after season with proper storage.

Please visit the site to find green lights on green wire on the Mini light, C7 & C9 Bulb, and LED pages, or Click Here to see the Shamrock shown above.

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Zach

Flicker Flame Lights!

Flicker Flame lights are a unique type of Screw in light bulb that simulates a candles flame. They are used in a C7, or Candelabra, light sockets and are most commonly seen on Faux Wax Candle sticks. Flicker flame lights have 2 metal plates/filaments light up with a red and yellow color and the light looks like, well... a flickering flame.

We carry a 3 pack of Flicker flame bulbs and a 7 pack that includes a light string with a 2 foot bulb spacing. We also have a Traditional looking C7 bulb that has the flame style filament inside and a silicone coated bulb that has a soft glow for a completely different lighting effect.

These types of bulbs are popular in Candle sticks for window or table decoration, they are great in chandeliers or antique style lamp that traditionally would have used an actual candle. They are great for craft projects or custom creations were you need to simulate a flame without the risk of burning anything.

Head to our Specialty Page for links to Flicker Flame bulbs and much more!

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Zach

Craft Lights! Perfect for bottles and glass blocks.

We here at All American Christmas Co. are proud to carry the best mini light and LED craft light strings. For Mini lights our 20 count and 35 count light strings both are made with only one plug, we call these sets No End Connector sets (or NEC for short). These light strings have the male plug with up to 3 feet of lead wire (wire from the plug to the first bulb) and they end with a bulb instead of a female plug. So with these sets you cannot plug them end to end, which makes them great for decorating glass blocks or bottles.

Our 20's and 35's, as we call them, come in a variety of bulb colors with all the standard mini light colors being represented. These lights come on both Green and White wire. These strings are relatively short so you wont have a mile of wire inside your craft project, or have to have lights hanging outside the craft either, using sets that made for this type of project will help make a cleaner looking end product! Our 3 foot lead sets are great because you don't have to use and extension cord to plug the craft in in most instances!

We have a couple options for LED craft sets, we have two 25 light count sets that come on either white or green wire with Warm White leds. The sets are NEC and are a low power & long life alternative to mini lights. They have a higher upfront cost but are going to last over 10 times longer! We also have battery powered LED sets, they will last Approx 30 hours with 3 AA batteries, and would be great for decorating without having to worry about a wire running down the wall.

Click here for Mini lights & LED Craft lights!

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Zach

2011 Bulb Sale Happening Soon!

We are going to be putting all of our Replacement bulbs on sale for cities and businesses very soon. Cases of C7 and C9 bulbs in both Incandescent and LED styles will be highly discounted. Customers will be billed in Late Fall 2011 and products ordered will ship Late August/Early September 2011.

This sale is going to help cities and business get bulbs for replacing burnt out or damaged bulbs that are used in Holiday Decorating. Check our last blog to learn more about restoring displays!

Email or Call us to learn more about the upcoming sale!

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Zach

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!

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Zach