Cheaper solution to expensive swag lights

[CB_Christmas]

There is a house up the road that has swag lights the whole length of the house. I recently went to Wal-mart to price them.... WAAAAAAY too expensive for me. I was at the Dollarama (simelar to dollar tree) and saw packs of 6 wire coathangers for 1$. I then had a EUREKA!! moment and this thread was born. These are alot cheaper and are great for all of you who program you lights to music because you can add as many different colors as you want without buying many sets of expensive lights( because i know alot of you are on a limited budget, like me) Its quite simple set-up. you straighten your coat hanger, bend a small hook at either end, and bend into a swag shape.
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/CB_Christmas/DSCF5373.jpg
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/CB_Christmas/DSCF5385.jpg
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/CB_Christmas/DSCF5386.jpg

after this its a simple as clicking the hooks into the trim on you house, clipping them in or attaching with staples,zipties etc....

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/CB_Christmas/DSCF5379.jpg
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/CB_Christmas/DSCF5380.jpg
then you can either wrap or ziptie your lights to the swags. as many as you like in what ever colors you like. They work great and are actually stronger than the cheaply made plastic ones from wal-mart. :)http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/CB_Christmas/DSCF5387.jpghttp://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/CB_Christmas/DSCF5376.jpghttp://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/CB_Christmas/DSCF5374.jpg

when you are ready to store them, just take them down and fold the section accordion style onto the next piece. just want to make note that the pictures were just taken quickly and the sections were just "thrown up" so that I could show everyone on the forum. well.... thats my first ever tutorial. if I wasn't clear,or you have a question, comment or send me a private message and I will do my best to help!

[Just Whisper]

that is a great idea. You can make as many "layers" as you want also. So it has maybe 3 swags with 2 different color lights. Here is a drawing of what I mean. Not great but you get the idea, I hope. This actually looks like someone wearing braces on their teeth. LOL

[CB_Christmas]

hahahahah yes it does JW!:) thats a great idea!

[chris]

CB_Christmas great idea!

[CB_Christmas]

thanks! it would have cost me about 200$ for just 1 color. this way, it cost me 8$ (coat hangers and zip ties) because I already had the lights. Tants what I call frugal idea:

[Sickie Ickie]

That's really using your noggin!

[theedwin]

Great job CB! And you gave me an idea on how to hang lights on my house too! :D

[EnlightenedGrinch]

Great idea, CB! Looks really good!

I see someone else uses indoor extension cords outside like I do! :)

[theedwin]

The "Indoor" thing is only a suggestion.... LOL Just like the posted speed limit!

[Just Whisper]

Great idea, CB! Looks really good!

I see someone else uses indoor extension cords outside like I do! :)

most of my ext cords and power strips are for indoor use. In fact, when i cleaned up the yard I had to pour about a half cup of water out of each of my power strips. Not one of them went out this year.

[DanoNJ]

most of my ext cords and power strips are for indoor use. In fact, when i cleaned up the yard I had to pour about a half cup of water out of each of my power strips. Not one of them went out this year.

OK, once again don't tell anyone...... I have some 'indoor' cords in the yard all year. Funny thing happened this summer, I was prunning a bush and found there were lights on it! I must have missed them during takedown. They were actually there for some time as I didn't light that bush (backyard) the prior year. And they still had that 'indoor' cord attached. Pluged it in and worked!!

Sorry for the hyjack....

[Sickie Ickie]

LEDs or incans?

[EnlightenedGrinch]

Yea, I always thought indoor cords would blow if they got wet, but that doesn't seem to happen.
I still tape the open plugs I don't use with electrical tape just in case.
A few years ago I figured I would just buy the outdoor 3-wire cord male and female plug ends and make my own short cords. But I found the price I'd pay for both of those plug ends would be more than the price of a 50 foot cord! LOL
I need to try that project that uses the vampire plugs to make your own custom cords.

[CB_Christmas]

ahahaha I only used that because I packed away all the christmas lights in the barn and all I had left out were the St.Patts day lights:). (shhhhhhh) I tend to use indoor cords outside too (i tape them), but the one in the picture was only there because those lights were only up for about half an hour so I could take pics.

[CB_Christmas]

LEDs or incans?

I try to use as many LEDs as I can to save energy...but to date,my display is primarily incans:(

[Just Whisper]

Me too CB. LEDs are still out of my price range plus I had a rant on another thread about how crappy i think they are. But they look nice.

[CB_Christmas]

Me too CB. LEDs are still out of my price range plus I had a rant on another thread about how crappy i think they are. But they look nice.

yeah, they are pricy here too. I do agree that the look nice (espically since they fixed the green ones a few years back to actually look green) what do you not like about them?

[Just Whisper]

They are getting better but many of the manufacturers were making them (i don't think it was intentional) so water could still get into the wiring and they were rusting. Also the lights were burning out or failing quickly. The bulbs are hard or impossible to change on many of them.

[CB_Christmas]

thats not good. the only things i dont like about them is that you cant really m\ke your own color combinations without buying multiple sets. that and you cant change the order of the bulbs (because certain colors require more energy than others, red being usng the least,blue/green using the most energy)

[Sickie Ickie]

They've recently come out with sets that you can change the LED bulbs on and in any order. Not enough of those out yet, though.

[CB_Christmas]

They've recently come out with sets that you can change the LED bulbs on and in any order. Not enough of those out yet, though.

I haven't seen those around.... are they expensive?:exclaim:

[Sickie Ickie]

Well, the commercial ones are: http://www.worldclasschristmas.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1421

I *did* see some cheap ones at Menards this year... something like http://www.worldclasschristmas.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1182

[CB_Christmas]

thats cool! I have never seen those before!! :)

[CB_Christmas]

just an update.... Heres a pic of the swags all finnished and installed. also, you can see my sign for our community festival that I made. It has become quite the tradition. The community almost expects a new sign every year. Im happy to oblidge:exclaim:

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/CB_Christmas/hrmm037.jpg

[Sickie Ickie]

I can't make it out...what does the sign say?

[CB_Christmas]

I can't make it out...what does the sign say?

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad215/CB_Christmas/hrmm036.jpg:):)

[Just Whisper]

Great sign CB. I saw that on your Facebook. Now I know what i was looking at. And the swags look terrific. You really did a good job.

[Sickie Ickie]

Great dimension on the pic of the building!

[Just Whisper]

What is the building in the pic and where is it located?

[theedwin]

That is a neat looking building. In the first pic, I thought it was a tugboat. LOL

[Just Whisper]

me too edwin. Glad you reposted the pic CB.

[CB_Christmas]

The building is the power plant across the water... its the background to where the fireworks are set off. The field where the festivities are is about 200 feet from my house.

[Just Whisper]

I can see that now. It looks like a power plant.

[EnlightenedGrinch]

Really nice job on the sign! And the swags!

[CB_Christmas]

Really nice job on the sign! And the swags!

Thanks Grinch! They were a lot more work than just buying swags, but they saved me a ton of money.