I forget where I first saw lighted Christmas balls but it was at least 3-5 years ago. Since I saw them I kept thinking we needed to make some.  Now that we have made them, I’ve been just a *tad* obsessed.  To all the close friends, coworkers, and family that I have tortured with stories of our light balls, I assure you.. I will stop this discussion after Christmas.  Maybe.

Back to the beginning of this story… finally this year Oak offered to help with the exterior holiday lighting efforts, so I thought this is my chance for some balls. Yeah, get your mid out of the gutter. Or, be prepared to make about 900 dirty jokes while you create these objets d’art.

I did a quick google search on how to make them, figuring I would need to go on some kind of crazy hunt for a sphere made out of twigs or something. But, lo and behold, I came across this site.  It explains that you can use chicken wire to make the bases of the balls! Turns out, a community in semi-nearby Greensboro does these lighted balls on a grand scheme every year! Their display is so grand, people donate food to the food bank as a charity and they have received over 5000 pounds of donations in food in past years!  So, clearly, I’m not the only one who enjoys some light balls.

Anyway, the site has extremely detailed instructions, and even a video,on how to make your own light balls using chicken wire and regular old strings of lights.

Purchasing the lights were an interesting part of the equation.  Originally I thought we should do white lights, because we already have white lights around our door.  However, none of the stores we went to (Walmart, Target, Kmart, Home depot..) HAD any white lights. Apparently the are a hot and/or understocked item this season. So, we decided to buy some strings of multicolored lights and mix them with some we already had.

They are really pretty easy.  The most expensive part of this project, we soon discovered, is the extension cords.  We had to get a long cord to go from the house to the big Oak tree in the front, and then another cord with an “octopus” of connectors to hook all the balls up.  We made 6 balls this year, but hopefully in the future years to come we can start expanding the collection.

And, it turns out, I like these colored balls a lot.  I think they really sparkle and bring interesting depth that white lights probably would have lacked.  I highly suggest you try to make some.  They definitely have me in more of the holiday spirit!  Merry Christmas and happy new year

Posted by Carrie on Friday, December 16, 2011
Categories: crafts, garden, home improvement · 1 Comment »