Vintage Christmas Lights: Part II: Styles & Trends By Decade
Vintage Christmas Lights: Part II: Styles & Trends By Decade
yles & Trends By Decade
Americans purchase over 150 million light sets per year to be used in over 80 million homes across the nation. The use of Christmas lights has only been in practice for the last 100 years or so, but in that time, many changes and improvements have been taken place. In the last post, we took a brief look at the history and early uses of vintage christmas string lights and this time we will go into a little bit more detail about which styles were popular during each decade and the way they would have been used.
1920s
In the 1920s-1930s, technological improvements allowed for a significant decrease in the cost of Christmas string lights, which were at that time called festoons. Prior to these advancements, a set of christmas lights could have cost you as much as an entire two-week paycheck and added an extra charge on your electricity bill of around $500, or more, for the season; that would be equivalent to close to $2000 in today's economy. The lighting sets of the 1920s included some that looked like real candles as well as a more cone shaped bulb and this decade saw the first christmas bulbs featuring a ribbed design. The 1920s was also a decade of christmas string lights in figural Christmas shapes including those of a snowman, banana, a monkey, a man smoking a pipe, Santa Claus, a frog, a fish, a pear, and oddly enough, a bulldog sitting on a ball. Foil reflectors were also used in addition to the lights to add brilliancy and sparkle to the lights.
1930s
In the 1930s, an iconic and beautiful, highly-collected, Christmas light type was born... the matchless stars, made of crystal glass in Czechoslovakia. Although they were not a super great seller in the 1930s, I challenge you to find a vintage Christmas light that is more desired by collectors today. These beauties can also be found in vintage pinball machines as the lights that served as bumpers for the game. After the war, using glass from Czechoslovakia was no longer practical and the matchless star lights began using lucite in its place. This would continue until the end of their production in the 1950s. The 1930s also saw the introduction of NOMA's famed red bell cluster lights, which are still a very sought after vintage Christmas decoration, and General Electric's now hard-to-find candle shaped Christmas lights. Also available in the 1930s were new character lights featuring figural Disney characters or stars, and even ornament lights from Japan. The ornament lights are a great find if you ever come across a set since they are nearly impossible to find in good working condition.
1940s
The time from 1941-1945 is known as "the War years", and no new Christmas lights were produced by any American company since their focus was now on production of items needed for the war effort. However, after the war was over, Sylvania introduced their fluorescent pastel light globe shaped novelty Christmas lights called Ice Lights. These lights were pricey by the standards of the 1940s since they cost four times what a standard lighting set would cost. These lights continue to be popular today. The second half of this decade seemed to try and makeup for the first half's lack of new lighting options. In 1946, NOMA released their famed Bubble-Lites, which almost instantly became a Christmas favorite, and thus dubbed the time period of 1946-1950 as "the era of bubbling light". After an unsuccessful patent rights war, many other companies would also go on to produce their own versions of the beloved Bubble-Lites, known by other names such as Sparkling Royalties and Peerless Shooting Stars. Unfortunately, in 1949, NOMA's Bubble-Lites were blamed as being the cause of a house fire, which also, tragically included one fatality. In response, a chemical fire retardant agent was added to the plastic bases of the lights, but this addition ultimately caused a premature breakdown of the plastic used in the housing of the lights. NOMA would ultimately file for bankruptcy in 1965.
1950s
By the 1950s, nearly all Christmas lights were produced foreign by countries such as Japan and Italy, and then imported into the United States. The fact they were produced by foreign companies, most of which are no longer in business, can make identification of those lights more difficult, or even impossible. The 1950s also introduced another popular Christmas decoration known as the Alpine Village Light set, also known as Putz Houses. These glittery houses were meant to be placed underneath the tree as opposed to on it. The glitter used on the houses was created using mica glitter mixed with crushed glass and came with a miniature light string with 10 sockets. Also introduced in the 1950s were Ring-A-Lites, Flick-A-Lites, and a new string light set which utilized reflectors resembling tulip or daisies, which is the basis for their name which was Tulip Lights. In 1958, fairy lights made by the Italian company Silvestri company were debuted and also Kristal Lights by NOMA, which were ther response to the Ice Lights produced by General Electric. Although these lights were created and first sold in the late 1950s, the heyday of their popularity was actually in the 1970s.
Although, it was not a type of vintage Christmas lights, and actually could not be used with any type of electric string lighting of that day, it is worth mentioning that in 1959, the very first all aluminum Christmas tree was offered for sale by the Aluminum Specialty Company. This first tree was perfected by 1960 and was then named the Evergleam tree. Initially, sales of this silver tinsel Christmas tree were slow, but quickly picked up and during the ten years it was produced between 1959-1969, it has been estimated that the Aluminum Specialty Company manufactured and sold over four million aluminum Christmas trees. Since it was made from aluminum, an excellent conductor of electricity, regular Christmas string lights could not be used on the tinsel trees, which were also offered in blue, gold, green, and the rarest color, pink. To accommodate the aluminum trees, rotating color wheels were used to cover the gleaming tree in color and light. Most color wheels could be used on the floor, or on a table and some were even mounted on the walls. The tree was marketed as a "permanent tree" and could be found in many different sizes from a 12" tabletop tree to a 7-ft. tree. "Half-Trees" were even offered to be hung on the wall in spaces with less room available to accomodate a regular free standing floor tree. Other companies that got in on board with the popularity of the tinsel tree and began producing and selling their own versions included the Star Brand Company, Real Electronics, and California's Fairyland Trees. Vintage mid-century aluminum Christmas trees are extremely popular with collectors and can be extremely valuable. This unique Christmas tree was so popular that in 2000, reproduction aluminum Christmas trees hit the markets and were well received and sold in surprisingly high numbers.
1960s
Christmas lights of the 1960s were fun, creative, and exotic such as the Rainbow Wink-O-Lites. By the 1960s, Americans had also taken the excitement and beauty of Christmas lights outdoors and were now also decorating the exterior of their homes. Larger sets were produced by companies. The 1960s is also the decade responsible for starting the "pixie" craze, with the adorable elves being used for all matter of Christmas decoration needs including as figurines, tree toppers and even figural lights. In 1963, General Electric boasted the introduction of the first all-American made Christmas lights as well as the debut of the "twinkling" light sets.
1970s
By the end of the 1970s, the era of American-made Christmas lights had ended, and nearly all light sets sold to American consumers were produced overseas and imported. The most famous Christmas light of the 1970s was actually a tree topper called the Celestial Moon made by the Bradford Company. When in use, it rotated and created a disco light pattern that was cast onto the walls ceiling and tree branches. Initially sold for $3.95 in the 1970s, these vintage tree toppers now command a price of $250 and up in good, working condition. In 1970, another short-lived Christmas bulb was sold by GE; the multicolored, marbleized Satin Brights, although intended to be 'the most beautiful Christmas lights' featured bulbs with a painted on color coating that is usually found in an unattractive state, with horribly chipped paint.
1980s
1980s Christmas trees were alit using popular styles of the previous decades especially those featuring light reflectors, such as the daisy and tulip lights. A variety of character and themed figural light sets were also available as well as sets that played a familiar Christmas song. However by end of the decade, early LED lights sets were beginning to be sold in super bright red, yellow, and green. Larger retro C7 bulbs were also used for outdoor Christmas light decorating.
1990s
LED Christmas lights would see improvements throughout the 1990s and advancements finally allowed a way to create a blue LED light and really brought LED Christmas to the forefront of the holiday decorative lighting scene. The 1990s Christmas lights were mainly the incandescent miniature bulbs that had been the standard since their introduction. Another popular Christmas light favorite was introduced in the late 1990s called Icicle Lights which were consisted of a main horizontal line string with several other shorter vertically hanging strands. They were meant to be hung from the roof's edge of a home to resemble frozen icicles hanging.
2000s to Now
Modern Christmas lights continue to improve and advance with new options being added nearly each and every Christmas season. Recent trends have even seen an uptick in the production for sale of reproduction lights and other vintage inspired decorations. This is obviously due to the current trends of incorporating vintage pieces into your home decor schemes. Advancements in technology have even made it possible to control your Christmas lights as well as synchronize them to music from apps on your smartphone!
I hope you had a very Merry Christmas shared with family and dear friends and I want to thank you for reading this post! If you enjoyed it, I hope you will subscribe to the blog and follow TheVintrageVixenShop on our social media channels. And if you haven't had enough of Christmas yet, you've got to check out the phenomenal end-of-year sales going on now at both, TheVintageVixenShop and aVixenChristmasShop. I'll see you guys soon in the next post!
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