It's the time of the year where everyone in a festive mood has put up some Christmas decorations. One of the best ways of decorating your Christmas tree or home is by using LED Christmas lights. They boast an energy efficiency that cannot be attained by using traditional lighting.
LED Christmas lights are very bright, energy efficient, and they will last a long time. They can save you up to 90% on electricity costs, which is a lot if you light up your house like the Griswolds. This means that you could be spending pennies on your Christmas light decorations. This is one of the smartest ways of using LEDs. The only drawback is that you'll have to switch out your old lights for new ones.
If you check what's available over at the Home Depot, you'll find that the costs are pretty low for these lights. Prices vary from $10 to $50 for the most part for set of lights.
There's also a lot you can do with these lights. Wrapping up a Christmas wreath is one of our favorites. The light generated by the LEDs is nice and bright. There are also what they call icicle sets, which mimic the form of icicles and can be placed around your house. All in all, if you have any Christmas lights up right now, it's probably worth the money to get some new LED ones. You'll probably pay them off in no time since they are so energy efficient.
(Images: Lolovive, Price Inspector)
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I really like the idea of LED lights... I just dont like the COLOR of the glow. Im a fan of the 'soft white" or "off-white" glow of traditional lights. These new LED's just look so cold :(
In theory, if you hung your wreath outside, you could use the solar powered LED x-mas lights. If it were a sunny day, the charge lasts about 6-8 hours. Even a partial charge should get you a couple hours after dark. Anyway, that would be even more energy efficient!
I agree foxconfessor, too icy for me...
I don't like the icy cool color either. However, this year, all the stores that sold LED christmas lights sold two colors: "cool white" and "warm white".
I picked up a couple packs of the warm white lights and love them! Seriously, check around the stores this year and see if you can find them too. They are bright like all LEDs, but the color is that more traditional yellowish/warm white color.
Actually, I like the cooler light for Christmas lights especially if they are outdoors. They make the snow sparkle nicely and add to the icy wintry feel that for me is such a big part of the season! One application where I think LEDs really work.
I bought a couple of strands last year, when they were super new. The only problem was that now my tree topper does not match. Its from 1982, and is an angel that my mom passed down and represents her sister who was killed by a drunk driver on Christmas Day. Although angels really are not my style, tradition is and those LED's went to the Office Christmas Tree.