Lights, not bright.

[TrickyD]

Somewhere on here recently there was good information about what to look for when buying non-bright tree lights, but I cannot find it.
LED or not? Or what?
A couple of years ago I bought some which turned out to be very bright, I hated them, but it was too late to do anything about it as I didn't realise until the tree was decorated.

I always buy warm white lights instead of bright white lights, not sure if that's what you mean.

Warm

Yes i think what you’re describing is the harsh cold or cool white LED lights. I use warm white LED lights which are perfectly good for cosiness (or hygge, since I’m Danish).

I also have some lights described as warm white, but that seems to mean bright with a cream or yellowish tinge, still bright though.
And I hate to admit this as I know coloured lights are despised on MN, but for our 'traditional' tree I like them. Fear not, we have another 'tasteful' one.
So I am after coloured lights not visible from outer space.

Oh then I would buy some vintage ones from eBay! You can still get the old fashioned style with actual removable bulbs. And if you’re going traditional you could consider some of the vintage light covers (can’t remember what they’re called), maybe? Like lanterns, carriages, etc...

There was a thread last year on a 70s Christmas (or was it 80’s?) and the OP found lots of lovely things on eBay.

On the brightness level, I think that just depends on the specific string - mine are not too bright at all. I go for very small bulbs which helps. And I always test the lights on the tree if I buy new ones, to make sure I’m happy with them. I can’t stand the ultra bright ones either - who wants a constant headache for weeks and weeks of Christmas!

I was perhaps being rather pretentious, HollyandIvyandallthingsYule, to describe our tree as traditional. What I mean is lots of baubles and decorations which have been around here for years, some my late mum's from my childhood plus home made gifts from the DSs and now DGCs

But the light covers do sound appealing. Thanks.

@TrickyD we're having two trees this year- one subtle-ish, one rainbow themed with coloured lights- I think they're well overdue a comeback!

Not pretentious at all! That’s exactly what I envisaged.

I don’t think these will be quite what you’re looking for (for one thing it’s a very small number of lights but I’m just using them as a supplement on a tree that already has white lights, so it doesn’t matter to me), but your thread inspired me to have a quick look and I came upon these and had to have them for the dining room tree!🥰 I thought I’d show you just in case they are similar to what you want. I’ll let you know if they’re as bright as the sun or, fingers crossed, as mellow as the moon.

Multicoloured retro bulb lights

these are lovely traditional coloured lights. Traditional removable bulbs, not glaring bright LEDs!
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001Z0EP78/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

Konstsmide are a good shout - I’ve just bought a vintage candelabra by them on eBay and it’s in great condition & still going strong after many years.

I LOVE my LED multicolored lights, and I can make them flash in different patterns and colour orders. Previously had nice, non bright, warm white ones from Tesco which did us for a good 10 years but after they blew up a couple of years ago and al could get was these lights on short notice, I remembered how much I love coloured lights.

The trouble is we need a lot of lights for the tree and it is not just the cost but the need for places to plug them in. You can see the horrible brightness of some of the lights on the photo with the presents. The cat clearly prefers the others.

I saw on their website that B&M have ‘wire lights’ which are very small and might be fairly discreet. No colours though.

You can get the old fashioned ones on very long strings with lots of lights, it’s just a matter of finding them. Konstsmide probably do some, for example.

I have just bought some Konstamide wire lights from Amazon. Only 50, but only £5.60. However if you want 100 of the same type they cost over £27. The price also varies dramatically depending on the colour of the wire and bulbs.

What I did to great success a couple of years ago was take a set of standard warm white LEDs and colour in the bulbs with sharpies. This way you can mimic the gentle vintage coloured lights rather than the modern bright red/green/yellow/emergency services blue.

I think I used red, orange, pink (essential), a gentle blue and green for these to be more pastel. It's the orange and the pink that make it.

I've also got a set of NOMA fairy lights with the flower shades which are lovely, but there's only 40 of them.

I've got pastel colour lights from B&Q. They aren't as bright as the standard ones. I Like the colour light too but not blue because you didn't used to get blue in the traditional lights.