For the last few years, Christmas tree decoration trends have leaned toward classic but minimalist. The mood shift toward all-white tree lights suited me just fine. I always came down on that side of the fence. And I couldn’t complain about the restrained lack of garland, popcorn strings, and flocking. No shade against any of them. I just vibed heavily with the sleek trends of the past few years.
That shifted in a big way this year. Colorful, gaudy, and maximalist is in. “Everything and the kitchen sink” seems to be the motto for this year, and surely for the next few years, as waves of Christmas trends always go. And when I saw these definitely-not-minimalist, retro Christmas bulbs blow up my entire Christmas vibe, well, I loved it immediately. Who’d have thought. But the swagger, the cheeky playfulness of the marketing, and the vintage looks just check all the boxes.
new tech, old look
Tru-Tone talks a lot about nailing classic incandescent light bulbs’ warm glow, but as LED bulbs. To do that, the bulbs incorporate “traditional glass enclosures and original ceramic-style and transparent color coatings—the same coatings that were used on vintage bulbs,” as they put it.
Each bulb packs a custom-designed LED filament in the vein of vintage bulbs’ tungsten filaments in their shape, brightness, and warmth, which typically means a more orange hue than LED’s typically cooler, blueish-tinged lights.
That also brings the benefits of LEDs’ cooler operating temperatures and energy savings. Tru-Tone says these indoor/outdoor bulbs consume 88 to 90% less energy than comparably sized incandescents, depending on which of the three available sizes to buy.
bulbs sold separately, but also not
Figure out how much Tru-Tone light string you need, and then buy the bulbs to fill the empty sockets. The star bulb is also the smallest one, the 1.5-inch-high C7 bulb shape, which mimics General Electric’s original, incandescent C7 bulbs, which Tru-Tone says were “the most popular and recognizable of their time.” If you’re of the idea that bigger is better, you can choose the slightly less vintagey, 2-inch-high C9 shape or the full-size, 2.5-inch-high S14 bulb, which screws into a home-standard E26 light socket base.
Not digging the idea of reenacting the light-stringing frustrations of Twelve Pains of Christmas by having to screw in your own separate light bulbs? Tru-Tone also sells complete light strings, with bulbs, plugs, wiring, and all.
storage, setup, and savings
Shopping for Christmas lights separately rather than as one, big string of pre-assembled festivity is a foreign concept to me, and I’ve been through a few decades of Christmas decorating. I’m guessing it’s a new concept for you, too. For questions such as figuring out how many bulbs or how much string to purchase and how to store and protect them, the company put together a hub page to help you out, replete with vintage-vibey graphics.
Tru-Tone says that their energy-saving LED bulbs pay for themselves after two seasons, or about 3 1/2 months of use. Tru-Tone uses lots of calculations (and a professional-looking graph that makes us swoon) to arrive at that figure, and in short it hinges on comparing the energy savings of the LED Tru-Tones to traditional incandescent bulbs, which are less energy efficient.
The bulbs are as old-school as you’re going to get without going all the way back to the time of lit candles being placed on trees, which yeah, people actually used to do. Tru-Tone’s got some sweet decoration ideas, too, such as 1960s-style felt flower surrounds for your bulbs. Or if you’re like me and don’t have room for a tree this year, you can steal some ideas for decorating with lights that don’t require any timber, artificial or otherwise. Something groovy for you to consider for next year. Baby.
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