Fun Facts About Christmas Lights

Fun Facts about Christmas Lights

You see holiday lights almost everywhere you go these days. From roof to ground and all around, they help make the holidays festive and bright. Here are a few fun facts about the early days of these lights.

The first electric Christmas lights were displayed in the home of Edward Johnson, a colleague of Thomas Edison, just three years after the light bulb was invented. Johnson's tree had hand wired lights in the patriotic colors of red, white and blue.

Many of the earliest Christmas lights burned so hot that they were about as dangerous as the candles they were advertised to replace.

It was a common but incorrect belief in the early days of electric Christmas lighting that Christmas light bulbs would burn longer in an upright position. Early decorators spent a lot of time making sure that the lamps were positioned upright on the tree.

Early in their history, Christmas lights were so expensive that they were more commonly rented than sold. An electrically lighted tree was a status symbol in the early 1900's.

Electrically lit trees did not become "universal" in the United States until after World War II.

True outdoor Christmas lights were not introduced to the public until 1927-1928, almost 45 years after the first electric tree lights were demonstrated. There were sets offered for sale as safe to use outside before 1927, but they were small, dangerous and extremely impractical for the average family.

Many of the earliest figurative light bulbs representing fruit, flowers and holiday figures were blown in molds that were also used to make small glass ornaments. These figurative lights were painted by toy makers.

General Electric was the first company to offer pre-wired Christmas light strings. Prior to this, lights had to be hand wired on the tree. GE was unable to patent their string (or festoon), and suddenly the market was open to anyone who wanted to manufacture the strings.