We welcome the warm weather by spending more of our time outdoors — and this includes having friends over for dinner or parties. Backyards, rooftops and balconies come in handy in order to host an outdoor soiree, and we've begun planning some of our own. We started out party planning research first by looking for some outdoor friendly, affordable lights. Here's what we found.

Bali Stripe Paper String Lights ($16.99): These Bali stripe paper string lights add a colorful twist to your average string of lights. The strands are 9 feet with 10 lights and shades attached. Three strands can be connected together so that if one bulb burns out the rest will still remain lit. You can use these indoors our out, just make sure you bring them in if it rains.

Spoka Animal Light ($14.99): It's always fun to add a bit of dim "mood" lighting. We like these Spoka Animal Lights from IKEA — how fun would they look for an outdoor party? You turn them on and off by pressing on the head. They aren't available for purchase online, but we've seen them at our local stores.

Dreamlight ($35): Another great option for setting the mood is this Dreamlight that is conveniently portable. Leave it out in the sun all day to power up the 6 LED lights inside, or put in some batteries to get the Dreamlight to twinkle as if fireflies are inside the jar.

Clip String Lights ($24): These light up clip strings would be perfect for a party with a theme since you can clip photos, Polaroids or any type of light paper decoration you can think of. It's 10 feet long and has 12 clip lights. It could work outdoors, because it doesn't need to be plugged in since it runs on batteries.

Cotton Ball Lights ($15.50): Leave it to an Etsy store to make fairy lights out of cotton. These balls are made of cotton that is wrapped together to create a ball the size of a tennis ball. There are 20 balls on each 3-meter string. Although it's a product from Thailand, your order will come with an adapter plug.

(Images: as linked above )