Sport Rope Light Signs, Just in time for football season!

Just in time for football season! These signs are lit with high quality rope light and are Licensed Logos by the NFL, MLB, and NCAA! These are great for use indoor and out to let people know what team you root for!

Some more specs from the manufacturer:

• A unique, cost-effective alternative to Neon signs
• Display indoors or outdoors to show your team spirit
• Wall and ground mounting systems included
• Durable rope light with 1" bulb spacing, shaped and mounted on a steel frame
• NFL/MLB/NCAA licensed
• UL Listed

Click here to see what all sports team signs we have in stock!

--
Zach

Lighting Glass Blocks and Bottles

One trend that is going strong and looks to continue to do so is Lighting Glass blocks and Wine/Champagne bottles. How you go about making these is really only limited to budget and/or tools available. You'll need to have some sort of drill bit or hole saw designed to cut glass, diamond bits are a good choice.

You'll clean the bottle or block and be sure to remove any labels (if you so choose), tape off the area you're wanting to drill with some duct tape and mark where you're going to want to drill.

Now, you can use a hand drill, but you've got to keep the object steady, it's better to go with something like a Drill press and have some sort of jig made up to hold your bottle or block perfectly still. You may want to use some sort of lubricant (WD-40 oil or something similar) to keep the glass from shattering.

Once you've drilled the hole that you're going to fish the lights through, remove the tape and rinse the bottle to remove any tiny bits of glass.

Once you've done all that your bottle is ready for lights! We carry 3 different styles of lights at this moment are perfect for this style of craft! Click here to go to our Mini Light page Our 15, 20, and 35 count light strings are great for this stuff because they have a small bulb count and don't have a end connector. That means lower heat and no clipping off plugs! We have a variety of wire and bulb options that will work for any style of craft and any color glass, not just white/clear or green glass! We also have LED battery lights which would work well for these Glass projects and would not limit you to placing these items by a power outlet. Click here for Battery Operated LED sets and Here for Cases

Plug up your light string when you're inserting them, why? The biggest reason is so that you don't loosen the bulbs and kill the string and saves you from having to redo it. The smallest bit of preparation saves you from giving yourself a headache.

Once your lights are in and working, decorate any way you see fit. Some people light to put on rub on transfers, or bows, or paint. Just be sure to take your time and have fun with it!

We have a large selection of lights perfect for this and will soon be carrying small count LEDs strings that would work great for this style of project. They should be in in the next few months.

--
Zach
All American Christmas Co.

Mini lights

Mini Lights are arguably the most common of Christmas lights available on the market today. Theres a handful of names for them (twinkle lights, fairy lights, miniature lights, tree lights, the list goes on) and year after year regardless of the popularity of LED Christmas lights, Mini Christmas Lights always come out on top.

We do get questions about these lights on a fairly regular basis.

How Many Sets Can I Plug Together?
The rule we go by is 3 sets, or no more than 300 bulbs. Typically 300 mini light bulbs is about 1 amp (or 110 watts) and you're best not to exceed that in one continuous run of lights, if you do then you run the risk of two things blowing fuses or blowing bulbs. Neither of those two make for a good decorating project, so we suggest making custom light power strips (click here to learn how!). This rule of 3 (or 300) is good for any style of mini light product; strings, icicles, curtains, nets, the list goes on.

Can I clip the plug off of the end if I don't need it?
WE NEVER RECOMMEND CUSTOMIZING A LIGHT STRING! This is a question you always have to answer carefully, because if a set has JUST TWO (2) wires going into the female plug, yes you can so long tape each wire off separately. If your set has more than two (2) wires then no, you shouldn't clip the plug off. PLEASE NOTE, we never recommend doing this because you're putting yourself at risk, and we of course will not be held accountable for any warranty or replacement for a customized string. So if you can get by without clipping the end plug, please do so. Or look at our No End Connector (NEC) sets as an alternative.

What does "End Connector" mean?
This is probably the second most common question we get and the answer is quite simple, think of the "Beginning" of a string as the plug that goes into the Wall, the male plug. The "End" of the string is the opposite end of the string were there is (or isn't) a female plug. The majority of 50 to 100 bulb count light strings have a end connector so you can connect sets "End to End". Our most popular Mini light strings have to be our "No End Connector" sets, these sets only have the male plug at the beginning of the string and end with a bulb instead of a female plug. NEC (no end connector) sets are perfect for crafts and decorating where you don't need and/or want that plug at the end of a string.

If one bulb burns out, do the rest stay lit?
Yes, almost all of the sets in production now come with a shunt. A shunt keeps the power flowing through the bulb even if the filament is burnt out or broken. All of our mini lights have this feature, and we hope that those old days of burnt bulbs killing strings are a thing of the past. Now remember, if a bulb is loose or twisted it WILL cause the string to not light, regardless of the filaments condition.

--
Zach
All American Christmas Co.

New LED sets for crafts!

So I've rambled and ranted about why LED bulbs and light sets are a better investment and so on, but every once in a while a new product shows up on the horizon and we get really excited in our office. We got a call from one of our suppliers/manufacturers about a new set designed for those people who need a LED for smaller scale and craft projects. After some negotiation with the factory and deliberation in our office we came up with a set that's going to be, dare I say, perfect for the niche it needs to fill.

Coming very soon is a LED light set that will have approx 20-25 Bulbs, 3-4 Inch Spacing, and no end connector and a extra long lead wire!!

...chances are you aren't as excited as we are, though, you should be if you are a fan of making crafts with Christmas lights. Imagine how you're Glass Blocks and Wine Bottles will look with these sets. They will generate no heat use very little power! The extra footage for the power chord means less extension chords, and the long life and reliability of these sets means less issues with customers. I could go on!

Stay tuned to the blog and I'll be sure to post when these great sets will be in for sale.

--
Zach

The difference...

Just a quick video to show the difference between No End Connector and End to End Christmas light sets. NEC (no end connector) sets are perfect for crafts and smaller scale lighting projects. Stay tuned for more videos!

--
Zach
All American Christmas Co.

THANKS!

Thanks to everyone who took advantage of our 5% discount coupon. This coupon code is no longer valid.

5%

Enter Thanks08 in the Coupon field when checking out to receive a 5% percent discount on your online order!

Valid for online orders only!

Christmas LED Lights for everyone!

So we've been making sure that we're going to have the widest selection of LED lights available. We've added our new Rectified sets which are better for using on controllers. There are a lot of new specialty style LED bulbs like stars, snowflakes, and other really cool looking bulbs. We've added more sets on White Wire and light colors. There are new Auto/Boat sets that have a cigarette lighter adapter and they look great when you're driving to see the family...or taking the boat out...in December.

Visit us to see all the LED Christmas lights we offer!

New products!

Long time no post! School and lot's of warehouse work has kept me from posting as diligently as I should. Exciting news otherwise, we are currently adding new products almost everyday so this Christmas you'll have even more option available.

NEW LEDS! We are currently adding new styles, colors, and new feature LED sets. We have a lot more battery operated LED sets, custom bulb shapes, and Rectified sets. Our new commercial Rectified sets, which should be up by the end of the week, are the newest in LED tech. These sets can fade and work great on controllers, they don't have that slight flicker effect that some sets do.

We have added and updated many of our Christmas Displays, new pieces that you can use to decorate your home, yard, business, church, or anywhere else you can run an extension cord to.

Bookmark the site and check back for new products often.
--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Halloween lights

Halloween is just right around the corner and we have upped our selection of Halloween lights and decorations. We now have multiple styles of halloween novelty light strings, pumpkins, spiders, etc. These styles of light strings are great for parties or decorations your home for trick or treaters. There are quite a few of displays that are great for putting in the yard, tombstones, ghosts, witches, and pumpkins are all available.


We also have orange light and black wire sets of lights available. Mini lights, Icicle Lights, and C7 style bulbs are in stock ready for this October!

Halloween is always a great holiday and while I wouldn't say it's overlooked, it easy to just throw a jack-o-lantern on your porch and say you decorated. Kids love trick or treating and if you live in a area that has a lot of activity on halloween kid's always remember the home that's all...spookified.

Click to check out our selection of Halloween lights.

Zach Broyles

DIY Christmas Lights extension cords...

Getting power to your light strings can be somewhat of a pain. If you use cords you buy at a department store chances are you're going to have cords that are to long or to short and your left thinking, "Wouldn't it be awesome if I could make my own cords". We here at All American Christmas Co know first hand the hassle of dealing with using large bulky cords for a couple strands of lights.

Rolls of 18 gauge bare wire are perfect for making your own custom Christmas light extension cords. We have them in 100 and 500 foot cuts in both white and green wire. We have both in SPT-1 and SPT-2 wire and offer some rolls in 16 gauge size. When you combine these rolls of these our Quick Connect plugs you can make almost any length cord for your lighting project. Check out the digram below to see just how easy it is to use our Quick Connect slide on plugs with our Bare Wire rolls.



You can also modify the slide on Female plugs to make a DIY Power Strip. Click here to see how to make them.

Visit our Clips and Electrical Supply page to see all our Rolls of wire and plugs.

Rope Light, "The" Alternative to Neon

Rope Light, Flex Lite, Plastic Neon, It goes by many names but they are almost always the same product. This flexible plastic lighted tubing is a very popular style of lighting and have a very large number of uses. The most common use for ropelight is outlining, you can use it to outline you building or roof, you can outline signs, they are common place on light displays. People like using this style of lighting for some sort of mood/back lighting. You can hide it and use it this way, underneath a shelf or counter to light up a floor for example.

There are a handful of different styles of ropelight available, sizes vary from 3/8", 1/2", 5/8". They come in a few different Wire counts, 2 wire, 3 wire, and 5 wire. 2 Wire rope light can only flash/fade with a controller, 3 wire can chase, twinkle, flash with a controller, and 5 wire has the same capabilities that the 3 wire has. To help picture how they are animated think of 3 Wire as broken down in to sets of 3 bulbs, so when they chase it's ever first bulb in a set of 3. 5 Wire works the same except there is more bulbs to a broken down set.

Each variant of rope light has it's own specialized power adapters, connectors, splice kits, and so on. You cannot use a 2 wire power connector with a 3 wire ropelight and vice versa.

For more information on Rope Light visit our Rope light page.

Using Christmas lights for mood lighting...

More and more weddings nowadays are using Christmas lights to set a mood, but you can't just buy a bunch of lights and just string them up like crazy...there is an art to it. Here is a couple tips that might just help you achieve the look you're going for in your head.

• Space - Getting bulbs that are spaced further apart (4-8 inches) will really help disperse the light to create more MOOD not just LIGHTING.
• Pattern - If you intend on using a pattern STICK TO IT! Don't give up halfway, because even if you are just using lights to set a mood...people notice laziness.
• No Patterns - Not using a pattern or a set layout is a nice way to create a ceiling of stars or something similar. Use wide spaced sets and try to just have fun, this is usually better for areas that are not going to be main focal points.
• # of Bulbs - People think you really need to flood the area with light...you don't. If being able to see isn't a key you can sometimes use a third less lights to just give everything a soft glow.
• Twinkle - The only standalone twinkle set we offer is only available on green wire,BUT if you are lighting greenery mixing in a coule random twinkle sets really look great. We also have 150 Multi function sets that can twinkle and comes in white wire.

Remember less is more, though if it's too dark...just hang some more lights!

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Sport Displays

They're here! We've got all our sport signs up and you just have to see for yourself how great they look. Like I said in the last post these signs are great for anyone looking for an alternative to neon, they work great in a bar, your loungs, a sports memorabilia room, and anywhere sports fans get together. They use approx. 100 watts of power, are lit with 1" Bulb spaced 2 Wire Ropelight, and can be wall mounted/hung or ground mounted. Oh, and they ship for free with FedEx!

Click here to view our great selection of Sport Displays
--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Coming soon, Sport Logo Displays!

We have been talking to one of our suppliers and very soon we are going to begin carrying Rope light sport displays, many of the most popular NFL and MLB teams already have signs being made and they look amazing.These Sport signs are great for you home, sports bar, restaurant, anywhere where sports fans congregate. These signs have a high quality metal frame, are lit with top of the line rope light, and come ready to hang right out the box. These signs are lightweight too so that you won't have to worry if they'll rip the hook out of the wall.

Besure to visit the site and we'll keep you updated on these signs as we get them posted.
Here's the list of teams we hope to have:

• Broncos
• Packers
• Cowboys
• Patriots
• Colts
• Rams
• Giants
• Jets
• Bills
• Chiefs
• Bears
• Vikings
• Seahawks
• Ravens
• Redskins
• Steelers
• Raiders
• Eagles
• Cubs
• White Sox
• Yankees
• Red Sox
• Mets
• Dodgers
• Lions
• Cornhuskers
  

Icicle and Curtain Lights

Icicle lights, of all the ways to decorated ones home or business they have to be one of the easiest. Run some along the gutter or roof line and you easily outline your building for a quick and great looking decoration that all can enjoy. Icicle lights come in a variety of colors and bulb counts. The most common bulb counts are 100 and 150, we do offer a 300 pack, but it's just two 150's packaged together. They come in both white wire and green and have a small selection of bulb colors available.

Those of course are just the classic, no frills lights. We are beginning to carry some new and interesting icicle strings, we have some strings that morph from one color into another. We have some strings that have a simulated dripping effect. We have some Commercial Icicle lights that are tough, heavy duty rubber coated wire, can connect up to 10 sets together, and so on. The most different light string is of course are our LED Icicle lights. If you have ever read any of our blog entries you surely know that we are crazy about LED, these strings are no exception. They have strange bulb counts (70 lights and 105 lights) but all the great colors and advantages of LED.

In the same family but for different application, Curtain lights are constructed in the same general way as icicles but have different type drops. Curtain lights have drops that are all the same length, hence the name. They are great for using along walls or entrances. These are popular year around, but during the spring/summer they are used a lot for weddings. A good 75% of all curtain lights sold during the off seasons are for wedding uses. Our standard curtain light string is constructed just like icicle lights, simple, easy to use and maintain. If you need something a little bit tougher our commercial curtain lights (or Wall of Light) is a great alternative. Our wall of light is a tough, heavy duty light string. It has a main power cord that runs along the top, and each drop has a special screw in adapter that allows you to choose where you want your drops. You have more control over you string of lights, and that's always a good thing.

I hope you've gotten a little better understanding of icicle and curtain light strings. Both are easy to use strings that look great for more than just Christmas lighting. Visit our Icicle Page to view all the products we carry.

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Nativity Scenes and Displays...

Nativity Scenes are a classic Christmas decoration and simply cannot be missed during the season. These types of Manger scenes come in a variety of shapes and styles, everything from the simple lighted frame displays to the larger than life size fiberglass pieces.

We carry a large selection of Nativity light displays. These Displays range in size from 3 feet to 7 or more! These are great because they require little maintenance and care in the off season, just store them (making sure you protect the bulbs, and keep them out of the weather) and you're good until next year. Churches, businesses, homes, parks, anyone can enjoy these larger than life scenes. You can always find Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus in a set, but we also carry a large line of other displays too. Wise men, Mangers, Angels, Animals, and more. You can create HUGE scenes will all these pieces.



On the opposite end of the spectrum are the Fiberglass Nativity Scenes. These offer customers with a completely different look. Most of these pieces are hand painted and made of high quality fiberglass and look great outdoors. Like the light displays these come in a huge variety of size, styles, and with many different figures. You can get a huge scene going,with some styles you could have up to 19 pieces! These are expensive pieces but really give a dramatic effect, they can be used outdoors in the weather and lit with spot lights for night time scenes.


Visit either of our websites to view our great selection of Nativity scenes, both Fiberglass and lighted Displays

SPT-2 Wire...

SPT-2 Wire is a great alternative to the standard SPT-1 Wire that most companies carry if you are looking to run higher wattage bulbs or do longer runs. As you can see from the picture on the left, both SPT-1 and 2 are 18 gauge wire (determined by the copper inside the wire), but SPT-2 (bottom of picture) has a noticeable amount more of insulation. This extra insulation allows this wire to be rated at 10 amps (as opposed to 7 amp Spt-1).

SPT-2 is usually considered a commercial product, but works equally as well for small residential projects as well. We carry a full line of products for this wire type, bare wire, quick connect plugs, replacement sockets, and C7 & C9 Spools. Using 10 amp C7 spools will allow you use 7 watt bulbs without concern, and with C9 you can use 10 watts bulbs no problem.

Please note, you shouldn't mix and match Spt-1 and 2 products. For example, you shouldn't use SPT-1 barewire with SPT-2 sockets.

Unlike most big Christmas Light retailers we carry a wide variety of C7 & C9 lightline spools in SPT-2. They are available in both Green and White wire colors, and in all major spacings.

Visit www.AAChristmas.com to view all our SPT-2 products.

Christmas light controllers...

Most of us have seen the videos of Christmas lights on homes that are synced up to music, and while the same number of us normally don't have the time or money to devote to those sort of Christmas light antics there are some simple and affordable ways to animate the lights on your home.

Our Musical Christmas controller is by far the most popular light controller we have ever carried. This easy to use controller features six outlets and 20 different Christmas and Holiday songs! There are 3 modes for your Light Show; Steady, which makes all the lights stay on, Unison, lights simply in time to the music, and Multiplex, this mode makes every outlet effectively a different instrument so that every string of lights is doing its own part of the song. It can handle a total of 12 amps, has a built in speaker, and can be mounted in a variety of ways. No programming, no dip switches or jumpers, just a simple plug in, turn on operation.


If you don't need music and just want to simply animate a display we have our small preset chasing controllers. These controllers have anywhere from 2 to 4 outlets and a dial that you can use to control speed of the chase. These controllers simple rotate through the outlets, lets say you have a 3 circuit chasing controller, all the controller will do will be a simple turning on and off of each outlet as they are ordered. So, outlet 1 is on then turns off, then outlet 2 comes on and then turns off, and so on. There's a small potentiometer that controls the speed, from slow to fast.





On the opposite end of the chasing controller spectrum we have our Programmable Chasing Controllers. These controllers have small DIP switches which allows the user to make their own light show. The more expensive versions of this controller can do build ups, fades, chases, flashes, and can be set to do anywhere from 2 to 8 circuits!


If you just need a gentle fading controller we offer those too, our small fader box simply plugs into a wall outlet and lets the user plug two different strands of lights into the controller. We do offer some commercial quality Faders as well.



I hope this post has given you some insight into the world of Christmas light controllers. We carry a wide variety of controller but no magical controller that makes normal lights chase, fade, twinkle, etc inside the string itself (btw if you know someone who makes one, send us a email!).

Click here to check out all our Light Controllers

--
Zach Broyles
All American Christmas Co.

Getting a decorating plan for your Wedding Lights...

90% of the time when a customer calls us to purchase lights to be used in decorating a wedding they have not fully laid out a plan on how to hang their lights, get power to them, and how to hide the wires. These steps are quite possibly the most important part of your light decorating agenda and should never...ever be a afterthought.

The first and the most important step is planning how to hang your lights. If you're purchasing lights to be hung along a wall or a ceiling figure out how you can attach them to the wall or ceiling before you commit money to a product. If a room has block walls or something you cannot drill or hammer nails into you may have to improvise with tape or something like a sticky pad hanger (the 3m Command Series largest hook holds up to 7.5 lbs per hook) that wont damage your walls. Tapes and sticky hangers might not have the strength to hold up a whole string of heavy duty Curtain lights so you may be out of luck. If the ceiling has a drop panel ceiling you may be able to hang your lights from the frame in the ceiling. You can use fishing line, thin wire, even paper clips can be transformed into a quick and easy hanging device for drop ceilings. Remember to try not to damage the panels if you want your deposit back!

The second step may be more important than the first to some but finding a good power source for your lights is second on our list. Hanging lights from a wall or ceiling can put a decorator in between a rock and hard place, they can really give a great atmosphere by hanging lights but it's usually hard to get power where you need it. You usually want to draw a layout of your room, note where your power outlets are and then using a pencil, draw your extensions cords to where your lights will be. Using your extension cord map you can start to power you lights. We recommend using our bulk bare wire rolls and quick connect plugs to make your own power cords, this way you can hide them (more on that later) and cut them to EXACT length that you need. If you have to run up a wall, find a corner and run it up the corner taping it as you go up. Another option if you are hanging lights from a drop ceiling is to run the power up the wall far away from the wedding action and simply run it over the ceiling panels and drop it out where you need to power lights. Powering lights on tables or in places where the power is closer to the ground is easier, again make a map and see how you need to layout your wires. You usually want to keep wires out of high traffic areas but you can always use our bare wire and quick connect plugs to make your own perfectly cut cords and them tape them to the floor.

The last and final step is hiding the wires. No one wants a extension cord to ruin a good wedding photo. Hiding extension cords isn't as hard as it may seem, on carpet you want to stick your wires along the wall or next to furniture and you can usually push the wire into the seam and make it almost disappear if the carpet is thick enough. Tile or hard floors can be a bit trickier, usually running wires along the wall and only coming out when necessary is about the best one can do, you can use tape to secure the cordage and or rugs laid over the wires will really help if you have to take pictures in a are with a lot of wires about. Another tip is to use anything around to hide your outlets and wires, foliage, cloth, anything available that matches the weddings theme will work.

I hope this has given you some insight into the world of wedding light decorating. Remember to plan ahead, map out your area before you commit money into products.

Click the link on the right to visit AAChristmas.com and see all of our wedding lights and Christmas light accessories.

--
Zach