# Purple Christmas lights **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 22, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245 "2004-12-22T23:41:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/1 "2004-12-22T23:41:44Z")
Why are purple Christmas lights such a rarity? I’ve seen them, but not very often. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/2 "2004-12-22T23:53:42Z")
Too Lenten? Not easily seen from a distance? Incompatible with other colors? There, that should get the ball rolling. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/3 "2004-12-22T23:55:18Z")
Purple Christmas lights are a Satanic invention of the Great Gay Conspiracy and thus are avoided by all right-thinking Christians. Either that or they’re just damn ugly. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/4 "2004-12-23T00:48:04Z")
I think incandescent violet bulbs wouldn’t be bright enough to be seen at night, so you would need to go with an LED. As far as I know, it is very difficult to make a violet LED of appreciable brightness out of InGaAs (the usual material). A company called Cree is now very bright blue and violet LED’s out of SiC but they are relatively expensive. IANA materials engineer. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/5 "2004-12-23T01:28:45Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Purple Christmas lights are a Satanic invention of the Great Gay Conspiracy and thus are avoided by all right-thinking Christians. > > Either that or they’re just damn ugly. Prince buys them all. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/6 "2004-12-23T01:38:20Z")
Probably because the brightness is underwhelming. I searched goole for ‘purple christmas lights’ (not the phrase) and while perhaps less common, their certainly not impossible to find. Maybe its like purple cars: available, just not popular. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/7 "2004-12-23T02:17:34Z")
Blech. I’d rather see purple ones than those damn banana yellow ones. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/8 "2004-12-23T02:23:53Z")
I had an all purple tree last year and it was hard to find enough purple stuff then. This year, purple seems more popular if not quite abundant. I also saw some hot-pink lights and stuff I’m interested in collecting for next year. This year is red and green. At work, we have a very large tree that is orange. I know it doesn’t seem possible, but it is actually very nice looking. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/9 "2004-12-23T02:55:09Z")
I have purple icicle lights hanging from my gutters. I added some clear lights across the top for a bit of an accent. I tried all orange a couple years ago, it made the house look like it was Halloween. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/10 "2004-12-23T06:30:22Z")
Purple and blue tend to be “dark”. I have seen purple before but it’s not common. Even blue is now just becoming popular (at least here). A friend of mine gave me a tip when using blue lights on a tree… mix in white christmas lights and it helps the blue to stand out more. So I think when I can make my own tree, i’ll do a blue and silver theme and use that tip. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/11 "2004-12-23T06:39:00Z")
I have a bunch of strings of purple Christmas lights. I bought them in Oct when they were called “Halloween” lights. They are supposed to be black lights, but they aren’t. They’re just purple. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/12 "2004-12-23T08:40:05Z")
I’ve never seen a purple Christmas light And hope to never see one But if I had my choice, I’d rather see than be one. * * * I like the all-blue light decorations. They give off an other-wordly glow. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/13 "2004-12-23T09:05:33Z")
There’s a house up the street that has all red lights, including roof line lights and icicle lights on all the eaves. I swear it looks like the house is bleeding. Especially if all the house lights are off. Gothic. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/14 "2004-12-23T09:14:13Z")
> [@Doobieous](#): > > A friend of mine gave me a tip when using blue lights on a tree… mix in white christmas lights and it helps the blue to stand out more. So I think when I can make my own tree, i’ll do a blue and silver theme and use that tip. I agree; the next village over from where I live has a large tree in the square with strings of intense blue LED lights on it - it’s a lovely colour, but on its own, it’s just… meh. If they’d dotted in a few white incandescent lights, it would have been fantastic. Blue LEDs are nice and as I said, it is a nice colour, but it seems like we’re making up for all those years when LEDs only came in red yellow and green; anything you buy now has a blue LED in it. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/15 "2004-12-23T11:04:09Z")
I have purple Xmas lights around the door and window of my bedroom, as well as a spare strand. And there are purple lights in the multicolored strands near the ceiling. My question is: Where did all the blue lights go? I’ve been trying to stock up on them, since I like having blue lights on my patio all year long (hey, makes it easy to find the place). Well, the strand I have up now is kind of sad, faded to kinda greenish. So, I need, oh, 2 100 light strings, what I have now. HEB had NONE, and they had the purple lights and multicolored on white wires, and CHILI lights, for god’s sake. But no blue. Then I go to Target a few weeks ago, and the only blue lights I find are 1 strand of 100 and 2 50’s. Bleh. I bought them anyway. Tip: Alternating white/colored strands that you mix by hand (“Oh, look, I have a strand of blue and white, I shall make two strands of blue/white/blue/white!”) burn out real quick-like. Happened to my sister, too. They’d last a few weeks, then half a strand would blow out all at once (like, 50 lightbulbs of 100 would blow out and need replacing, ha!). Just so you know. Because knowledge is power! ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/16 "2004-12-23T16:29:40Z")
I have several strands of the small Christmas lights in purple. I was surprise to find that after just several weeks of nightly use, most of the purple was fading badly, and becoming a purplish pink. I actually kind of like the effect, especially with lots of gold on the tree, but they just don’t stay purple. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/17 "2004-12-23T16:34:26Z")
I cover our blue spruce with blue lights each year. Looks great. Damn things are hard to find, though, so I buy them whenever I see them to make sure I have enough on hand to replace bad strings. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/18 "2004-12-23T19:17:31Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > There’s a house up the street that has all red lights, including roof line lights and icicle lights on all the eaves. > > I swear it looks like the house is bleeding. Especially if all the house lights are off. Gothic. That’s hysterical. My parents-in-law until very recently decorated their house for X-mas in all red. Mom-in-law would get really angry whenever she saw another house that was all red - “They’re copying us!” I think it looks much better now since Mr. Snicks persuaded them to add some green and white for more color. But I still really want to say “the house is bleeding!” when we drive up on Christmas Eve. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/19 "2004-12-24T01:43:45Z")
> [@Silver Serpentine](#): > > My question is: Where did all the blue lights go? I went to pick up a gift certificate today at a hip new restaurant in town called “Blue Canyon” They had about 10 huge pines and the entire outline of the building done in blue lights. I suspect they either started collecting these lights back in the summer when they were building the place, or they went to Austin and other places around the US and bought up ALL of the blue lights. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-christmas-lights/281245/20 "2004-12-24T02:01:11Z")
> [@Silver Serpentine](#): > > Where did all the blue lights go? \o/` *Vhere haf all dir bwue wights gone?* o/`\