It's About Time!
Welcome to your August 2008 edition of the
PlanetChristmas newsletter! It is published regularly and covers
relative topics for the Christmas decorating professional and
enthusiast.
Here's what you can read about in this August 2008
newsletter:
Just read in the newspaper my electric company is going to bump the
rates up 20% starting in October... not exactly the best timing for
people putting out a lot of Christmas lights in December.
I've run out of places to put those energy saving compact florescent
bulbs around my house and now I'm experimenting with the LED (Light
Emitting Diode) equivalents. Paying $15 at Wal-Mart for an LED
based floodlight that consumes just 5 watts but only puts out as much
light as a 45 watt incandescent is a bit expensive... but I'm green!
I've now heard from multiple sources the days of buying incandescent
Christmas lights are almost over. It appears 2009 is the last year
China will be making them as they shift all of their resources to LEDs.
This is a not-so-subtle hint to buy incandescents now if you really like
them.
But... if you haven't investigated LED based Christmas lights, you
should really take a look at them this year. In most cases, the
bulbs are just as bright, and sometimes brighter than incandescents, the
colors never fade (how many shades of blue incandescents do you have?)
and you don't have to worry about breaking the glass bulbs because
they're made out of plastic. The best thing is they only use
10-20% of the energy of their high powered incandescent cousins.
This is all good news.
What's the bad news? LED replacement lights and LED based
Christmas strings do cost more... sometimes 2 to 10 times as much.
In many cases, the more you pay, the brighter the lights. The
manufacturers claim the bulbs last 10-40 times longer than
incandescents, which is probably true. What they don't mention is
the light strings are out in the sunshine during the day and the UV rays
are slowly degrading the wire insulation, meaning the wires will wear
out sooner than the bulbs and you'll have to replace the set.
Then there's the issue of C7/C9 replacement LED based bulbs and
dimming them through computer control. To put this in perspective,
an incandescent C7 bulb costs about 14 cents and typically draws 5 watts
of power. An equivalent LED version is about 98 cents and draws a
little less than 1 watt. Dimming incandescents is easy.
Dimming the standalone LED bulbs works... sorta. The manufacturers
say diming will shorten the lifespan of LED bulbs by about 50%, which
means a bulb should last 25,000 hours instead of 50,000 (there are 8760
hours in a year). In the computerized dimming world where there
are thousands of dimming cycles an evening, these LED based replacements
typically end up lasting only a few days. At 98 cents a bulb, that
gets expensive in a hurry.
Action Lighting
now has dimmable C7/C9 LED replacements but be sure to ask if they can
withstand the rigors of computerized displays.
Animated
Lighting has sequenced light shows without dimming just for the
C7/C9 LED replacement world.
LED based light strings, the ones with 25-100 LED's wired in series
appear to handle dimming just fine. Be sure and check out the
blues and purples... stunning!
Where's all this LED based lighting taking us? If you're an
over-the-top decorator you've probably had people point their finger at
you and say you're wasting electricity. Get ready to point back
and say "No I'm not!"
I've been busy pulling together the puzzle pieces to
create PlanetChristmas magazine. A bigger job than I anticipated.
This free publication will be aimed at the decorating enthusiast as well
as the professional. I'm thinking of it as a natural addition to
our community.
How can you make sure you receive PlanetChristmas
Magazine? If you've already registered your email address to
receive this newsletter, you're almost there. Goto the
PlanetChristmas newsletter page, enter your email address and follow
the directions to update your profile. If you haven't registered,
this is the place to do it. Remember: we need your physical
mailing address so we know where to mail the magazine. You can
also rest assured your information WILL NOT be shared with anyone else.
It's back! The PlanetChristmas World Wide Christmas Decorating
Contest for 2008 is returning bigger and better than ever before.
It had taken a year off because the judges had become overwhelmed with
all the entries. I got that fixed for 2008. Keep an eye on
the PlanetChristmas website for the entry rules. If your company
wants to donate to the growing prize list, just
drop me an email.
Lots of rumors swirling around out there. I usually ignore
them, but some just need to be shared.
It's official. PLUS is now an annual event. Mark your
calendars for late July, 2010 on the west coast.
Remember The Lights and Sounds of Christmas gizmo from 2007 that was
$99? It was a box that played 20 MIDI based Christmas tunes and
synchronized six light channel to the music.
Light-O-Rama has
the next generation version that uses real music, starts at eight light
channels and is expandable to about a zillion channels.
Coooooooooool. I'm going to have to get one of these since my 2007
Lights and Sounds of Christmas shorted out.
Think you're going to get a really good deal with the vendors this
Christmas? You might have waited too late. The season kicks
off right after Labor Day and continues through Pearl Harbor Day.
Some might offer a discount if you drop the PlanetChristmas name, but
don't get greedy.
Got any juicy bits of gossip you want to share with the
PlanetChristmas community? Send a tip to
csmith@PlanetChristmas.com
Behind the scenes planning continues for our
bi-annual gathering, an event we call PlanetChristmas Lights Up
Symposium or PLUS. We're emphasizing community building, education
and vendor relations. I call it the stool. All three legs
are important. Drop one and you don't have a place to sit.
Mark your PLUS2009 calendars for July 29 through
August 1, 2009 in Louisville, Kentucky. PLUS2009 registration
begins January 1, 2009.
We've rented a large section of the
Kentucky
International Convention Center in downtown Louisville. This
is truly a first class facility that can live up to the high standards
required for a PLUS event. Parking is easy (though not free),
there are hotels right across the street and almost way too much to do
right in the downtown area. The Ohio River is just a few blocks
away for those floating in by kayak or barge. Three interstates
all merge close to the KICC for easy access. The
airport is
twelve minutes away and is served by Southwest.
Six
Flags is just 15 minutes from our gathering and then there's
Churchill Downs
for those into horses (though no racing is scheduled late in July.)
You'll
also note PLUS2009 is now 3.5 days of nonstop activities. We start
Wednesday right after lunch and go through Saturday night and our gala
banquet.
Want an easy way to keep up with PLUS information? Go to the
new website at www.gotoPLUS.com.
It's the first place official PLUS information is shared with others.
The
PlanetChristmas forums are constantly changing. Bookmark
http://forums.planetchristmas.com. The look and feel has
changed over the last couple of weeks as we get ready for the Christmas
rush and feature our sponsors a bit more.
Never forget PlanetChristmas believes strongly in protecting your
privacy so personal information about your account is never sold or
shared with anyone.
With our PlanetChristmas forums, did you know there's a section where
you can go down to the state level and post information about what's
going on. Use this to let your community know about events and
also remember to place
important dates on our public calendar. Want a shortcut to the
PlanetChristmas forums?
http://forums.planetchristmas.com
Can't wait to buy some Christmas lights? They're starting to
show up at Hobby Lobby, Big Lots and a few drugstore chains. Get
out there now for the best selections!
The official 2008 PlanetChristmas caps and shirts have arrived.
See all the details at the
PlanetChristmas Store. Money collected from these sales
goes toward PlanetChristmas and PLUS. Also keep an eye out for the
official PlanetChristmas jacket to be introduced soon.
The PlanetChristmas community has experienced tremendous growth.
Our three fundamental rules of family friendly, positive and Christmas
centric guide what we say and do. The real key to our community is
a willingness to exchange information so others can have better
displays. Come join us!
http://forums.planetchristmas.com
The PlanetChristmas radio station is still on-line and available to
anyone with a fast Internet connection to tap into. Find the
details at
http://www.planetchristmas.com/PCRadio.htm
I'm working with a company called Constant Contact to handle the
PlanetChristmas email distribution. There's a new way to register
for the newsletter that complies with all government rules and
regulations. If you want to remove your name from the list, go to
http://www.planetchristmas.com/Newsletters.htm and enter your email
address. You'll be given an option to "opt-out" of future
mailings. Likewise you'll also be able to remove your address from
any future emailings by simply clicking a link at the bottom of the
PlanetChristmas emails you receive in the future.
For the record, PlanetChristmas values your privacy and does not
share your email address with anyone.
Have a suggestion for a main topic or want to write an article for a
future PlanetChristmas newsletter? Send me an email: csmith@planetchristmas.com
If you know someone that really should subscribe to your newsletter,
send them to
http://www.planetchristmas.com/Newsletters.htm
If ever there's a time to have a great Christmas display, this is the
year. Economic times are tough and people want to believe things
are getting better. Christmas is the perfect time of year to bring
people together and your decorations are just what the doctored ordered!
Next time: look forward to more Christmas
decorating tips.
Chuck Smith of
PlanetChristmas
