Recycling At It's Best!

Who Knew?

This year when I dismantled some Christmas decor at a clients, there was some discussion about the lights not working on the pre-lit garland and how the lights hadn't been working for some time.  What?  Lights not working?  Really?  What were they to do?  Who wants to look at greenery with burnt out lights?  Toss them?  Get new garland?  Well, did they call the right person or what?  It took some convincing but I know I am doing the right thing!

I am now in temporary possession of 12 - 12 ft pre-light garlands of which none of the twelve light up fully.  Two garlands are only half lit and the other 10 don't work at all.  Bummer!

Everyone is in agreement with me that Christmas lights are one of the most frustrating things EVER at Christmas time.  There are other frustrations at Christmas as we know but I won't go into that.  I'd need an hour or 10 and a vat of wine.  Just saying!!

Anyways......back to the lights.

Why don't they work?  Why does only half the string work?  Who has time to check every lightbulb?  How do you check every light bulb?  Can you even do that?  I paid a lot of money for these lights and why the (bleep) don't these (bleeping) things work!  (Bleep)

Well, that's my inner Elf coming out, sorry! 

It's frustrating.  I know.....I hate it when it happens.

So this is what I'm doing.

 Here is the garland with the lights that don't work

I start at one end and here is the zip tie that I will clip off

 I recommend a good pair of wire cutters - a lot of snipping ahead but totally worth it!!!

The zip tie has been clipped off and now the fun begins.  OK, you may not think it's fun but if you turn on some good music, grab a glass of your favourite beverage.....it is fun.  Just keep your fingers clear of the clippers!!

So to begin, after I have snipped off the zip tie I pull the cord of the lights straight up and it leads me to the first clip that holds the lights to he branch.

You can see it here.  It almost looks like a horse shoe.  You can see how it is securing the wire to a branch of the garland.  These are the clips you want to cut off.

 

I snip the the clip

 Here you can see the clip that's been snipped off

 Continue to pull the wire which should come free from the branch until the next clip is found

 Continue to snip off the clips.  I don't worry about the mess that I create and trust me, there is a mess.
Those little clips go flying!  Between the green needles, clips and wires....there is a mess.

 Pulling the wire as I go to find the next green clip.....

 When the wire gets long enough that it begins to get in the way, I cut the wire off and continue

 Just clip the wire at any spot.  I want to make sure I can see where to continue

I grab hold of the wire and pull until it leads me to the next clip

 Continue until all the lights are off

Here is the finished product.  A gorgeous garland.
One down, eleven to go...weeeeeeee!

With just the greenery, I'm now able to add lights and not worry about the look of burnt out strands of lights attached to the garland.   

Although there is some work involved in cutting off lights on pre-lit items such as garlands, wreaths and Christmas trees, you've spent good money on these items.   Why not take that extra bit of time and bring them back to life.  I can't wait to show my client how awesome these are going to look next Holiday Season.  It's much easier to buy new lights and feel good about how nice all the greenery is going to look lit up.  No burnt out bulbs.    Hallelujah!!!