Novelty Lights

There was a time when the term Novelty Lights brought to mind only those multicolored faceted bulbs, looking like inverted strawberries.

These days, however, novelty string lights can include anything, from multi-pointed Moravian stars to a series of miniature television sets, each one showing a different scene from the cult series I Love Lucy.

Novelty light fixtures these days have replaceable 12-volt clear mini-lights, or the equivalent, for ease of replacement. The novelty Christmas lights sets feature what is known as straight-line construction; this means that even if one novelty light bulb had to burn out, the rest will remain lit. Moreover, novelty rope lights are usually made of clear acrylic, since this is not as fragile as glass.

Novelty revolving lights have the added bonus of refracting light from the bulbs, thus doubling the effect. Although novelty light bulbs are resilient, most sets come with spare bulbs and extra fuses included, just in case.

For ease of use, outdoor novelty lights come in 16-foot strands, with 16 inches spacing between each bulb, and a further 48 inches of lead wire.

The choice of novelty lights from the thousands of styles and colors and shapes available makes the mind boggle. You can go for the old-fashioned and delicate icicle lights, or giant novelty lights in every shape imaginable – a sheep grazing on the lawn, or a Christmas Father climbing into a balcony.

Make your novelty light bulb purchase with value for your money in your mind; cheap Novelty Lights are never an investment, because when you take them out of storage the year after having bought them you might find them deteriorated to the point that they are unusable; besides, they can be dangerous.

Novelty Lights, especially if their choice was lone of the younger members of the family, will become part of the Christmas tradition in the home, and cherished for years to come. This will be especially true if the novelty light bulb selection comes from the Collectables Collection of establishments that occasionally offer memorabilia and one-off merchandising publicity items for sale.

Under this category one finds Disney characters, Betty Boop, personalities form fairy tales or literature, and even traditional Crib figurines – the Holy Family, the Three Magi, Shepherds and Angels.
Novelty led lights add a further spoilt-for-choice aspect to the whole affair, because by using them you can have more illumination at less cost.

Some novelty Lights packs include a clear lasher bulb in the pack – this, when used to replace any of the bulbs in the line, will make the whole string blink.