String lights give you the perfect feeling of festivities and joy. They help add that sparkle to special occasions that completes celebrations. Find out some interesting ideas on outdoor string lighting in this story.
Why do most people like Christmas? Apart from the tree, the gifts, the chocolates, the pie or cake, apart from all the shopping, apart from the food and wine, what is it that just makes you feel nice? I think it is the visual appeal of the festival.
All those lights glowing in the dark, the colors, the fire-crackers... the night is bedazzled, and it leaves you with a warm, fuzzy feeling in your tummy! Decorations are a major part of any kind of celebration.
No festival really feels like a festival if there is no color, glitter, sparkle and light! String lights help you add just that to any kind of celebration or festival.
There are many interesting ways in which you can use string lights to beautify your garden for an outdoor garden party. Be it a simple barbeque party, or some kind of jubilation, string lights can be used for various occasions. They should be used more frequently than just for Christmas... after all they look so pretty!
Outdoor String Lighting Ideas...
... for Christmas Make your house looks like it is right out of one of those Christmas movies or Christmas carols and tales! Christmas is a fun time for everyone, and so should it be for your house. I am sure you are going to decorate your Christmas tree with a lot of pretty little decorations.
One of the best things to do to decorate your Christmas tree would be to hang a few decorative string lights from the top. Another idea could be to make a circle of string lights on the ground around the Christmas tree.
You can place your gifts within the circle. While decorating the house, one idea could be to use string lights to outline the door and window frames of the house.
If you live in a part where it snows and you are going to build a snow-man, add some light to the snow-man as well! Finally, the walkway in the garden, or the porch can also be decorated with interesting string lights.
... Theme Based String Lighting Apart from Christmas, many other occasions such as Halloween call for string light decorations. Why not use theme based string lights for such occasions? You can make small pumpkins out of Styrofoam.
Cut out eyes and the stereotype wicked smile on the pumpkin and hang them around each or alternate string light bulbs and use them to decorate the place. Alternatively you can make a huge pumpkin and hang it by a lamp post that you may have erected in the garden, and then have string lights radiate from the lamp post over your garden in all directions.
Even without an occasion, a theme can be worked up for the string lights. You can make Japanese lanterns out of paper and use them, or the traditional lamp post type of paper lanterns can also look charming.
... for Birthday or Anniversary Who said you can or should use string lights only on festivals? You can use them as a birthday decoration as well! One idea could be to make Styrofoam lanterns, and then cut out the age in numbers of the birthday boy or girl.
This could be a nice idea even for older people as well - your Father's 50th birthday, your Granny's 75th birthday etc. You can use a similar idea to celebrate a wedding anniversary as well. Make sure you do not hang such a lantern on each of the bulbs of the string light though.
Only a little amount of light is going to come out through the 'cut-out'; so use them on alternate bulbs, or every third bulb on the string etc. Another idea would be to make a rectangular frame out of sticks and cover it with a thin cloth or paper. That way you can paint the number onto the lantern.
... for a Get-Together Get-togethers to celebrate somebody's graduation, or to celebrate somebody's engagement, a marriage proposal, to get to know your would-be son-in-law or daughter-in-law, or simply a family re-union after a long, long time are occasions that call for decorations as well!
It doesn't always have to be 'guests' and 'friends' who get to enjoy the string lights... why not your own family as well? A good idea for a get-together would be to leave out the 'hanging' string lights and go for 'grounded' lights.
Instead of having string lights hanging in the garden, choose to decorate the walkway, or the tables. You could even decorate only the garden canopy or patio.
If you have a huge tree in the garden - one that particularly stands out - use the string lights to decorate only that tree. Basically, let there be a vantage point, a highlight of the garden-scape that you adorn with the string lights.
Some General Tips
You can use LED lights if you plan to accommodate for dancing as well.
Colored string lights could be a good way to decorate your garden. Coordinate the lights with the item being decorated - green for trees, orange for wooden furniture and so on.
Make sure you do not let the string lights come anywhere near water taps and sprinklers that you may have in the garden - it might just fuel a mishap.
Make sure the string lights do not come in the way of your guests and obstruct moving about in the garden.
Keep them safely away from the reach of children.
The kind of lights you choose for an outdoor party can greatly change the look of your garden and take something ordinary and make it extraordinary. Personally, I do not like LED or colored string lights. There is something very pristine and dainty about the traditional yellow string lights.
I love them the most and think they look the prettiest! But of course, for all those who love 'variety' and 'color', there are lots of colorful options. I guess these are some easy lighting ideas you can try out. Here's wishing you happy times ahead...!