5 Ways to Use Your White Battery Operated Lights

We’re giving away a set of battery lights with every order during our Christmas Light Source Happy Birthday Weekend.  (Online since October 15, 2007)

We love battery lights for parties and special events.  The most classic and basic of this class of lights is the incandescent light strings that run on 2 C batteries.

Lasting about 5-7 hours per battery set, they are a fun and economical way to light events and parties with the rich glow of traditional Christmas lights when you don’t have access to an outlet.

Materials for these projects

• one or more sets of white battery operated lights
• glass containers – we love mason jars and IKEA and thrift store vases (finally something to do with all those glass jars you’re saving for a project!)
• see-through bows
• fillers like Christmas ornaments and seashells
• a succulent, because everyone puts a succulent in every project these days

(These lights also come in green. It’s really nice to have both.)

Inspiration #1

Lay the lights down in a decorative bowl and cover the lights with objects. Here we’ve used plastic Christmas ornaments. Best sources:

Best sources for these ornaments:

• your Christmas storage
• local craft store – especially the week before and after Christmas
• the dollar store

Just load up the C batteries, and lay the lights in the bowl.

Add ornaments.  This takes about 10 seconds.  You can fit this in between prepping the entre and making a vinaigrette for a dinner-party.

Inspiration #2

Use the lights as part of a beach motif centerpiece. Note the use of the succulent.

Inspiration #3

Celebrate fall with a pitcher of Autumnal grasses and leaves, a couple of pumkins – real or fake – and some flowers.  In the photo below, we tucked the lights into the pitcher, into the flowers and around the base of the pumpkins.

I see now that we were trying to decide if this was a wedding or a Thanksgiving tablescape.  For this moment in time, it was both.

Inspiration #3

Fill a glass block, inexpensive glass vase or mason jar with seashells and a string of battery lights.  Perfect for a centerpiece for a woman’s luncheon.

Inspiration #4

Light up a small lantern. (This lantern was purchased at IKEA.)

Combine Inspirations #1 and #4.

Read how to use the larger battery box on this light string to its best advantage here.

Inspiration #5

Add sparkle to your wedding reception tables.

Add battery lights to decorative lanterns and use them to light up bouquets that can be a part of your centerpieces then serve as gifts for your guests or wedding party.

Share your photos of how you use battery lights.  We’d love to see them.

Shellie Gardner

Aside from throwing dinner parties that feature at least two kinds of cheese dip, Shellie's passions include travel, Mid-Century Modern furnishings and finding the perfect street taco. Has been known to snort laugh champagne.