# Popularity of outdoor Christmas lights **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popularity-of-outdoor-christmas-lights/772324 "2016-11-18T14:07:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popularity-of-outdoor-christmas-lights/772324/1 "2016-11-18T14:07:01Z")
When did outdoor Christmas lights become an item that John and Jane Public could purchase at the local hardware store? ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popularity-of-outdoor-christmas-lights/772324/2 "2016-11-18T14:21:49Z")
> [@](#): > > While Thomas Edison and Edward H. Johnson may have been the first to create electric strands of light in 1880/1882, it was Albert Sadacca who saw a future in selling electric Christmas lights. The Sadacca family owned a novelty lighting company and in 1917 Albert, a teenager at the time, suggested that its store offer brightly colored strands of Christmas lights to the public. By the 1920’s Albert and his brothers organized the National Outfit Manufacturers Association (NOMA), a trade association. NOMA soon became NOMA Electric Co., with its members cornering the Christmas light market until the 1960’ [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/christmaslights.html) It appears NOMA introduced a number of advances between 1940 and 1950 so I’d hazard a guess that the post war/early 1950s likely saw the real take off in lights.