Post #248539 by Eleio the fleet on Sat, Aug 12, 2006 12:35 AM

I'll have a go.

The hanging lamps were actually woven waste paper baskets I purchased at the local dollar store ($1 ea. of course). I then also purchased tap lights at the same store (same price), attached to the bottom of the baskets with sticky back velcro. A small package of sticky back will run around $2, but can cover at least two lights. If you're budget conscious and also plan to hang multiple lights, I recommend the 10ft. (if memory serves) package. Then there was the twine, which set me back about $3-$4 for 100 (if memory serves) feet.

Oh and batteries=$2 each light.

The lights pictured ran me about $5 each. I bought some extra, which I plan to try a mini fish trap light, in the future.

Positives: Since the lights are battery powered, they can be hung anywhere and don't require any wiring. They throw off a decent amount of light and seemed to be an effective answer to "down and dirty, yet cheap" tiki lighting.

Negatives:
-Don't buy your tap lights at the dollar store! You'll notice that one of the lights is dark. In all, I made about 8 lights and each lasted a different length of time. Some lasted the entire party (6 hours). A few seemed to use the batteries up faster (3-4 hours) and some actually burnt out after an hour or so (meaning the light bulb burnt out). Problem with the burnt out bulbs is that the bulbs were welded into the sockets. It's actually cheaper and faster to buy extra lights than to try and replace the bulb.
-Batteries. I found that "normal" power consumption ran about 4 hours. That's great if the party is only that length of time, but a hassle if you have to take the time to change out batteries. Plus it does disrupt the illusion for a bit. Cost is also a major factor. If you're going to go with this style of lighting, don't use dollar store batteries (maybe an hour or two if your lucky), but rather purchase the big bulk packages of namebrand or use rechargeable batteries (assuming you've purchased these kind of batteries for another item, like a camera).
-"Life" of the lights. With the one exception pictured, all of my lights functioned acceptably for my first party; however, most died within 2-3 hours of my second party. The batteries were fresh, but the bulbs had just reached the end of their short life span.

Recommendation: I still would advise this style of lighting for parties on a budget and if you have an aversion to wiring lighting (like me). I would recommend that you purchase the usually more reliable $3-$4 tap lights at your local Target, Wally World, etc. I'm not sure, but you may even be able to change the bulbs in those versions. I use rechargeable batteries and have a 20-minute charger for my camera, so I think I'll be purchasing more rechargeable batteries over the next year.

Hope that helps.

Mahalo!

-Eleio

[ Edited by: Eleio the fleet 2006-08-12 00:39 ]