Light us your summer and Independence Day celebrations with banners and intertwine them with lights!

Materials:

1. Red, white and blue banners. Use a fabric one like the one used in these photos. This project would work equally well with burlap or flag banners.
2. Customized outdoor string lights – bulbs and cords!

For this project, we pulled a white C7 cord (the base E12, candelabra, the same size as a night light) and red, white and blue G30 glass satin-finish bulbs. These incandescent bulbs are about the size of a ping pong ball and have a retro glow in traditional colors.

The Bulbs

These satin finish bulbs are coated “on the inside” instead of on the outside so they are “opaque” but shiny. Very cool. Really pretty. Modern and retro all at the same time.

For the photos in this post we use G3o bulbs but you could go larger and choose G40 or G50.  (The numbers refer to the diameter of the bulbs in millimeters.)

Here’s a video discussing the difference in the bulb sizes:

Keep in mind that G30 bulbs have E12 (C7) bases, G40 bulbs are made with both E12 (C7) and E17 (C9) bases and the larger G50 bulbs only come with E17 bases.

If you already have Christmas light cords, pull them out of storage and repurpose them for summer with round bulbs!!

The Cords

We chose white C7 bulbs which are compatible with the smaller G30 bulbs. Alternatives include green and brown wire and larger C9 (E17 base) stringer wire. If you decided to go with a larger bulb, you might need to go with the E17 base.

Ultimately, chose your bulbs, then choose the cord. You can select the color of the cord that best matches your background and the required socket size for the bulb of you choose.

The Banner

We mocked up this project with a durable fabric banner. Banners can be found at your local hobby store or party store or online on Amazon, Etsy and online stores specializing in banners and home decor.  (Google “flags and banners”.)

Here’s what our project looked like:

 

 

Installation is easy. Give the bulbs a quarter counter-clockwise turn to make sure you don’t cross-thread the bulbs. Take advantage of the socket’s built in clips if you want to install the light strings tightly along the banner.

 

 

 

For alternative applications, consider these combinations:

Baby Shower:  White or Burlap banner with Pink, Blue or alternating yellow and green bulbs

Big Game: Burlap or white banner highlighted with bulbs your team colors

Just summer:  Linen fabric banner, fun patterned fabric banner accented with white, teal or yellow bulbs

Change of season, change of bulbs.

We’d love to see how you decorate for the 4th of July or summer.