You know those big colourful lights designed for the Christmas tree? My parents in the 70s and early 80s (80' and 81' were still part of the 70s culture) would decorate the tree with those chunky colourful lights. I haven't seen them in years, and I don't even know if they still sell them anymore. All they seem to have are "skinny" lights. I miss the old lights!

If I'm remembering the same lights that you are, they're still around; you just have to do some searching. I think the bulbs are type C7 and C9. (not 100% sure of that though)

My parents just got rid of theirs a couple of years ago (finally!) - they lasted decades!  Must have been some fire hazard though - the plug would always make a crackling noise when you pulled it out of the socket!   :o

Hi Boo,

I think you are talking about the C5 type.  They're about 5 cm long with a chandelier base, available in indoor and outdoor versions.  They're a bit smaller than it's larger brother the C7's, the most popular one used outdoors.

The C5's are still pretty popular out here.  I still have 5 strings of them on my tree, although I am now just starting to convert over to the LED lights.  I don't particularly care for those "skinny" bulbs (they're commonly referred to as mini-lights) that are used on those Icicle lights, however I do have 2 strings on my tree because I like to mix them with the C5's for contrast.

I used to work in a hardware store and did the ordering for x-mas lights each summer.  The store I worked at, we've noticed a rapidly growing trend towards frosted solid colour bulbs that were very popular in the 70's, mostly outdoor and some indoor.  About 90% of the customers were buying them again for sentimental reasons.  :)

This season we didn't get any of the C5 replacement bulbs and strings, and only about half our LED light order.  And we've also had customers who were driving over 120 km trying to find them.  Almost reminds me of x-mas '97 when the container ship carrying all the x-mas lights for most of Canada, sank in a Pacific storm.  We got nothing that year.  You should have seen the looks on the customer's faces when we told them the ship sank with all our lights!  ;D

    If you're talking about the old screw-in type that I guess were supposed to look like candlelights or something (or another way of putting it would be a "rounded triangle shape"), I know that last year I saw 12-packs of them at K-Mart.
    Yeah, I remember those too, buddy. This is just another one of the things of the 70's & 80's that I wish didn't get pushed out of the way for something else. But I'm glad to know that, just like new records, there are still this kind of Christmas tree lights being made, even though it's in limited quantities.

I went to the Dollar General Store today, and they have earrings in the shape of those lights for $1 a pair! Some even have that screw-in design at the bottom for a realistic look! The ones I saw weren't solid colors, though. They had these designs on them as well.

I still have four sets of those lights.  ;D
They were great because if one bulb went out, you knew which one it was. Now the lights are the ones that if one goes out, you spend an hour testing each bulb!!!!

My lights are so old that half have lost the color, but they keep working.

We have them still; they are C7 lites.  We use them depending on the decor.  Some 2 of the strings are from the '50s or earlier (my gramma's); mom can't remember how old they are exactly.  Their cords are fabric-covered.  But we also have later-date strings (they are not as good quality, guaranteed!).

I love them too - would never get rid of them!  Just as I prefer the same-style C9s for outside - the giant lites you can see individually for a mile!  (Yes, we use them all the time too.)

How about the "lightless trees" they were Aluminum or silver coated and you had a lit color wheel on the floor that rotated and lit the tree different colors.
I still think theyre tacky

Same with white coloured christmas lights.  How plain can you get?  :P

I saw a 25-pack of clear ones at Dollar General yesterday. They are strung on a cord, and the box says they conform to new safety standards.

ANOTHER 70'S CHRISTMAS LIGHT SIGHTING
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I found 8-packs of C7 lights, as well as 6-packs of C9's - assorted colors - at the Dollar Tree today! I bought 3 of the 8-packs there, and I also found a set of 25 clear lights with the string & sockets at CVS Pharmacy for $6.99, a dollar cheaper than Dollar General. I hope to get that set of 25 for the string & sockets, take 24 of the clear ones out, and replace them with the colored ones I bought. Maybe I can find the strings by themselves somewhere so I won't have to go to the expense (Does anyone out there know if and where those are available?), but I'll most likely figure "What's 7 bucks?" and buy the light set anyway.

I just found out that the ones in Dollar General are not real C7 lights, but miniature lights with "C7 covers". The ones at CVS are real C7's.

Today I saw 25-packs of strung C7 and C9 lights in assorted colors at Super Wal-Mart for under 5 bucks each! This "retro" stuff seems to be bringing these lights back full circle now. I guess it's not a big thrill anymore to talk about these "sightings", since it's almost everywhere again! I think I'll take back what I said about "limited quantities".

hey, i've had the same fondness for those lights for over thirty years.  We had the same two strands in our family from 1963 to 1981.  They were brown wire with dark brown plastic sockets.  Each socket had a curved metal clip to fasten to tree branches.  The real magic of those lights however, were the bulbs.  There's no way nowadays to duplicate their magic colors.  Today you can still find bulbs and strands the same size, but the colors are just so lame, ultra-mass produced and characterless.  I don't know how else to describe them.  As a kid, to me each bulb held/had it's own lustre and glimmer while not being too bright.  Plug in a strand aof the full size lights available today and they'll light up the entire room with a light that looks like it should be on a hot dog stand.   Oh well,  things change and they always seem to get cheaper and less special.  I'll bet, if you look around thoroughly in thrift shops you might find something from the glory days, the '60s & the 1970s.

hey, i've had the same fondness for those lights for over thirty years.  We had the same two strands in our family from 1963 to 1981.  They were brown wire with dark brown plastic sockets.  Each socket had a curved metal clip to fasten to tree branches.  The real magic of those lights however, were the bulbs.  There's no way nowadays to duplicate their magic colors.  Today you can still find bulbs and strands the same size, but the colors are just so lame, ultra-mass produced and characterless.  I don't know how else to describe them.  As a kid, to me each bulb held/had it's own lustre and glimmer while not being too bright.  Plug in a strand aof the full size lights available today and they'll light up the entire room with a light that looks like it should be on a hot dog stand.   Oh well,  things change and they always seem to get cheaper and less special.  I'll bet, if you look around thoroughly in thrift shops you might find something from the glory days, the '60s & the 1970s.