Where to Find Great Deals on Vintage Christmas Lights

Vintage Christmas lights add something special to the holidays. Many people even collect vintage Christmas lights (and other vintage Christmas decorations) as a hobby, making them a great gift idea for the collector. However, vintage Christmas lights are hard to find in retail stores and e-tailers are your best bet. Here are some popular styles of vintage Christmas lights and websites where you are most likely to find them.

The Christmas Lantern

These vintage Christmas lights were popular in the forties and fifties and used to light up Christmas rooms. They are some of the most attractive vintage Christmas lights out there. Christmas lanterns traditionally come in a set of six or eight of various colors and lend a festive air to the room that modern lights just can't manage. Check out search.rubylane.com for great prices on vintage Christmas lights like the Christmas lantern which they have available for $10.

Figurine Lights

Designers like Christopher Radko have been recreating vintage figurine light sets for years. These popular vintage Christmas lights come in several varieties, the most popular being snowmen. These large lights are a little over four inches tall and over an inch wide and come between seven and ten to a set. They make great additions to trees, walls and home exteriors. www.100bulbs.com carries vintage Glass snowmen and Santa sets for around $14 a set.

Big Bulb Lights

It is so hard to find these big, fun lights anymore. The tiny twinkle sets with the green wiring have flooded the market. But these vintage Christmas lights are big and bright and bring so much more Christmas cheer. Most of my Christmas memories involve these big lights hanging from the rafters of our home. www.antiquemaster.com has several sets of these lights available for about $10 a set which includes seven bulbs of varying colors.

It can be difficult to find vintage Christmas lights being sold by manufacturers or e-tailers. Your best bet when searching for these gems is to look at sites like Craigslist and Ebay. However, be very careful when making a purchase. Vintage Christmas light enthusiast know that malfunctioning bulbs are a common problem. People often find these bulbs in the back of the garage and don't even bother to plug them in before putting them on the web to sell. If possible, get the vendor to send you a picture of the bulbs in working order. This way you can save yourself the hassle of getting your money back for malfunctioning vintage Christmas lights.