Why don't people use coloured lights anymore?!

[80sColourfulChristmas]

I was born in the early eighties and I have fond memories of colour, colour & more colour at Christmas! We even had those god-awful foil decorations criss-crossing the ceiling of the living room. Foil honeycomb balls dangling and giant unfolded foil stars.

The foil I don't miss particularly, but what has happened to colourful lights?!

I realise that with the (much needed) switch to LED, the new multi coloured lights aren't quite as pretty as they used to be (why is that?!) but why has this meant that seemingly the majority of people have defaulted to a simple set of boring white lights with just a handful of plain, boring ornaments on their tree?! (Still looks pretty of course it just isn't Christmas as I know it!)

I remember looking admirably at our beautiful tree as a child, stuffed full of all kinds of colourful glass ornaments which had been passed down through my Mum's family from the 1800s. The prettiest tinsel you've ever seen, lametta, beads, bells on beads, the lights had lovely cone shaped 'petals' round them so they glowed beautifully, reflecting off the glass, lametta and tinsel. It was stunning. Fond memories.

Can't have just been us, surely? Anyone else still go for the overloaded, 80s style multicolored Christmas look?!

This year I've ordered LED multi coloured cluster lights for the first time, but still have some traditional style lights for the tree and have used them every year until now. Not sure how pretty our tree is going to look....

We have only coloured lights, but they are route ones now as last year our kittens ate through the cable on our tree lights. Coloured lights on the wall too.
But oh bit, I'm an 8os child and I am so tacky at Christmas, it's glorious. All my teatowels get swapped out for Christmas ones, Christmas decorations on every shelf /surface /wall. My husband is 6ft 2 so I can only have the big foil star things or giant paper snowflakes in the windows.
This year we shall see what survives the cats 😂
My tree is going up tonight.

Lots of bright LEDs here, I like them better than the old fashioned gentle colours and I would never have white, far too dull. I love blue lights on the outside of houses too, especially when combined with green.

*rope lights

I’ve come back to coloured lights. We cover the tree outside the house with them and it’s so lovely to see them in the distance when we drive back towards the house in the evening.

I prefer white lights on the indoor tree though.

We have coloured lights. It's a tradition to have a different colour up the angel's bottom each year. Also have at least one set of coloured lights up outside.

I have coloured lights in my window. I think they're super pretty plus my kids fiber optic tree is super colourful too

We go full-on tacky with flashing coloured lights. Love them.

I'm also an early 80's child and I remember the exact lights you mean, all different colours with unnecessarily large plasric casing (we had really fetching chunky diamond type shaped ones) and they were amazing! We have some coloured ones but they're not the same they're very trendy.

At least they don't do Christmas lights that play a really high pitched tune anymore, as kids we loved them, my poor parents must have been going out of their minds 🤣

@AlexisIsMySpiritAnimal

We have coloured lights! I went through a classy, white only stage but I've found my way back

ooohhh stunning ⭐️🎵🎶

Because people decided Christmas needed to be 'classy'. Not realising that anyone who uses the term 'classy' is automatically not so.

I can't find any that are as nice as the set my parents used to have on their tree in the 70s and 80s. They were star (possibly 'snowflake') shaped, glass, and frosted to look as though coated in ice. They came in beautiful soft pastelly pinks, yellows, greens and blues. Today's coloured lights seem to be harsh blue, red orange and green.
If I could find some like they had, without breaking the bank (have seen on ebay at £70+) then I would go back to coloured.

I do have a string of pink lights which go on the tree every few years, depending on the "look" that I'm going for!

We have decorated early this year. I had a pang of nostalgia as I remember vividly the ‘smell’ on opening the Xmas decorations boxes when I was young. The tinsel and foil decorations and plastic holly etc. Our decorations now don’t have that Christmassy smell
We too used to have coloured lights growing up - I recall what another poster mentioned re the tutu tinsel skirts on them!
We had the foil stretchy decorations that went diagonally from one corner of the room to another too! And the multicoloured tinsel was hung everywhere even across picture frames! Nothing matched and I’m sure today would look positively garish but it brings back fond memories. I wonder if my kids will think back on our very modern and tasteful decorations with such sentiment...

We still have coloured lights - old-style incandescent bulbs. I have mooted the idea of just warm white lights a couple of times but DS is having none of it.

I have 2 boxes or Woolworth multicoloured lights with the crappy plastic 'flower' thingy. I can't get bulbs for them anymore so once they all fuse that'll be it.

@NaturalBlondeYeahRight

Id rather warm white but outvoted by family every year - they do look lovely I’ll admit.

this is beautiful ⭐️

These are the ones we had in the 1980s - 6 colours, plastic shades, glitter...perfect. They looked magical reflected in the silver tinsel. Good taste is so drab.

I went on one of those German market coach trips in the 80's, everywhere was covered in white lights, nothing like England at that time. It looked very nice, but so cold and a bit boring, lovely to get back to London, all the cranes that year were covered in coloured lights for some reason, so festive and cheerful.

For the past few years ive had the warm white lights with bronze and gold decorations.

This year I've brought multi coloured lights and decorations as I wanted a Christmas like my childhood - 80's child here too!

Since buying them I've mentioned the change I'm making this year to quite a few people, who have all said they had decided to go multi colour this year too. Maybe it's a common theme with the way this year has been so far - everyone wants a bit of nostalgia to feel happier!

I detest coloured lights, I also don't like the variation of white lights, only the soft white lights should be allowed! COmes of living in Germany I think, I still have a few sets of soft candle lights.
I also buy white poinsettias, can't stand red though one year I managed to get a very pretty pink one.

We had the Pifco London lights and I adored them. Adored the huge variety of coloured baubles, with glittery patterns, disco-ball effects, shiny thread; the tinsel and the tacky star for the top and the various little figures that had accumulated over the years.

Now we have white lights (must change that this year) but a lovely and very un-matchy-matchy assortment of decorations acquired over the years or handmade by the children.

For me the white lights just symbolise leaving home and getting to do my own Christmas. The age I left home just coincided with that big treat for white and all of those twee cinnamon sticks/snowflakes/icicles. And the dried orange slices, which I am sure will be the avocado bathroom suite of Christmases past.

I know they're going out of fashion and I know the all-white, slightly pretentious 'we're being so classy because it's matching' look is getting dated. But for me, those Quality Street colour lights and so on just remind me of bloody miserable 1980s/90s Christmases as I was growing up. It was the best thing in the world when I got to be the age where I could have Christmas with my own little family and side-step all of that!

@Clockstop

Because people decided Christmas needed to be 'classy'. Not realising that anyone who uses the term 'classy' is automatically not so.

Says the only person who’s used the word ‘classy’ on the thread.

• big treat = big trend.

keeprocking, I'm with you about poinsettias, really hoping to get my usual pink this year.

Every year I feel tempted to buy up a 70s/80s (didn't change for us) retro theme from ebay, but I just don't have the balls...

I like coloured lights. But I dislike flashing lights, any colour. Twinkling at a push, but that's it.