In the battle of gail vs removing the lights off of the pre-lit tree… we have a WINNER! A knock-out in round 10! It was a tough match, but the winner was gail!
Those of you who follow my tweets or keep up with me on facebook, you know I was having trouble with my pre-lit Christmas tree. The top portion would not stay lit. One row in the middle would not work. I shopped around for a tree on clearance but I couldn’t find anything as pretty as the tree I already have.
I really like the lights. They are medium sized lights. I prefer these to the mini’s.
There was only one solution. Remove the lights. I’ve seen a lot of people doing it. Rose curbed a tree and took the lights off. Thrifty Ba also did hers.
The top portion took the longest—almost an hour! Seriously, how do THEY get these lights on these trees? Do you think a human does it? Maybe a robot? You can see the tool I used in the bottom right of this picture. A small wire cutting tool. They worked like a charm.
This is the mess that was left over. I spread an old sheet out to help catch the “needles”. Yeah, you see right! I saved the lights. I see a couple of neat projects for next year!
All in all it took me about 3 hours to mangle the tree. I shopped around for some lights on Tuesday, but I was too late. They were already gone. Hopefully I can find some nice lights at a good price next year. I have old lights but I don’t want to go through what I went through this year.
Do you have a pre-lit tree? Has it mocked you and made fun of you like mine has? Have YOU mangled a tree?
gail
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You can reach me at gail@MyRepurposedLife.net
Oh how I feel your pain!It’s been 5 or 6 years ago when I bought my first artificial tree and it was pre-lit. I was so proud of myself for seemingly good deal I got on it ($20 for a 5ft pre-lit full tree at Big Lots). Once I got home and put it together it was another story altogether! It must have been a robot, as you suggested, that put the light on the tree. They looked awful and the tree looked even worse after I took the light off. The next year it became a garland >:)
Gail, we knew last yr. that we had at least 1 strand of lights on our pre-lit tree that wasn’t working so this yr. we bought the $20
light keeper at Walmart before we put the tree up. We were skeptical that it would work so we kept the receipt just in case. It worked like a
CHARM! We were giddy at how simply our tree was fixed my husband even wrote an e-mail at the Co. sight before we finished with the tree! He was even hoping that our icicle lights would go bad so he could fix them! Check out the video on the lightkeeper site if it’s still up…this thing is AMAZING!
You tickle me to no end. lol
My pre-lit Christmas tree flooded in hurricane Ike. I rescued the bottom 2/3. I made an angel to hide the lost top. Now this year the lights have started to go out. It is my striped tree. I don’t know what I will do next year.
Gail this is too funny because I was having the same thing with my prelit, tried everything. I saw YOUR earlier post about taking the lights off of yours. I kept that in my head and decided I would do that when I took mine down because I had already just put some strings of lights on it to cover the bare spots.
Well, I’m so glad to see that it was not just me and my tree because I was thinking…how the heck did she do hers? I used wire cutters too but it was taking FOREVER and I finally stopped and said I would finish it next year when I get it back out LOL
if the tree looks like that, what does gail look like? man, i hope you are ok! 🙂
if the tree looks like that, what does gail look like? man, i hope you are ok! 🙂
Hooray! Sweet Victory! I’ve not had the pleasure of dealing with a pre-lit tree – hubby prefers the real deal, which in and of itself is a nice mess to contend with. Mental note: stick with the real deal!
Wow, I would have pitched the tree… I have no patience for stuff like that. My prelit has little clips one yank and they are off, thank goodness.
Keep an eye open at garage sales and the thrift stores Gail, I always find lights there.
I have always wondered this about those prelit trees. It sounds like a real pain. How long do those light usually last? I think I’ll stick to my live trees and just clean up all the gazillion needles that fall off! It wasn’t too bad this year actually!
I looked again at your pictures, and it looks like wire. I wonder if someday I’ll think back fondly of those live trees that I thought were such a pain.
What a pain! Were they all wired on, or stapled? I’ve never looked that close at our tree to notice.
We have a pre-lit tree that’s fairly new. So far so good. But seeing how much work that must have been for you makes me really nervous.
Wow, so I guess “pre-lit” trees are not a good idea. The only battle I had with mine this year was a 3am a few days after Christmas when it decided to fall over……I picked it up and put it out in the garage, swept up the broken stuff, wiped up the water and went back to bed. Wonder what you are going to do with the lights……
oh MY GOSH GAIL! You are living my nightmare. I have wondered what would happen if the lights on my much coveted and FOUGHT FOR TREE (and long sought after)…were to rebel and go on strike and not work. I keep thinking (I’ve only had it 2 years) …what would I do? Honey, did NOT want me buying one and finally gave into it.
I hope and pray my Christmas tree Lives FOREVER! He’ll never let me live it down.
Bless your heart– that is all I can say.
Wow. That’s a lot of work! But if you like your tree then it was worth it! Can’t wait to see what you do with the lights!
Carmen and the Primcats
Yes I have mangled our tree! It went in the trash. We have used our card tree for our tree for 3 years now. This year I added my Charlie Brown branch to the decor. Also I heardNate Berkus say live outside the box and don’t have a tree. I’ve been living outside the box and didn’t know it:)
WOW! 🙂 Congrats on getting that monster tackled! I’m looking to get a pre lit because I’m tired of fluffing each branch of my tree and putting it in it’s little hole. Takes forever, and I think we have the fattest tree ever because those branches are never ending. haha Your post has helped me make my decision now that I know it is possible to remove the lights that quit working!
I agree about getting the LED lights, they are so much brighter, and use less power! 🙂 Amazon still has them if you wanted to get them now instead of wait til December!
Beth 🙂
I too have a pre-lit tree. We’ve had it for about 4-5 years now and so far no trouble. The last few years, we’ve just been putting up the 2 top sections on top of an end table that we made a mounting board for. That way it is more out of reach for toddlers and there is room to put presents under with out crawling under the tree. When the lights do burn out, I plan to replace them with LED lights.
I have thrown a tree out the second story window, lights and all, one Christmas!!!! I have no patience when it comes to X-mas trees. LOL! 8>)
Pattie @ On Hollyhock Farm
Good job Gail, that IS a pain to do. I picked up a pre-lit @Goodwill that was the perfect size and a burlap wrapped base for $4.99. It worked at the store. Got it home, it worked. Decorated it, then only the left side worked. Used one of those red light fixer gun thingys and got all the lights working. Then, while having all the doors open, the wind knocked it over. Nothing broke but all the lights on the right side went off again. I was MAD. Took all the decorations off and sat on the kitchen floor cutting strands off the tree. Went and bought a $3 strand of white lights. Re-strung the tree. Re-decorated it. It looked just as good, kinda. At least I didn’t have to worry bout’ fixing any light : )
I have a pre-lit Christmas tree, which I though was great while it worked. When I put it up this year, over half of the tree would not light. Traipsed all over town tracking down a “light-Keeper Pro” (save your money!) and spent three frustrating days trying to fix the lights. At that point. I gave up & just strung another bunch of lights in the areas that weren’t working. A week after Christmas, those strands quit working too! I will be following your example and removing the lights. I have decided that stringing the lights up each year is much easier!
Yayyyy! Gail wins! I can’t believe you’re saving the light, lol. Even I didn’t do that, but I have a feeling you are gonna make me want to kick myself for not, aren’t you?
Told ya it wasn’t a fun job, but I really feel it’s worth it if the tree is a good looking one. Word to the wise, get LEDs for next year. They are a little more expensive but last for years and save energy. I loved how bright mine were, so now I’m hooked on them.
My Christmas tree is only 3 years old. It is an upside down prelit Christmas tree. (I like unique because it makes my grandsons giggle) When I put it up this year, it had a string of lights that wouldn’t light. I just left them (wasn’t in the mood to mess with them this year)and will tackle that job next year when I put it up.
we have one huge…huge prelit tree my hubby just had to have…never mind that he or my son barely even look at them let alone help decorate one. it cost a fortune and is too heavy for me to handle on my own. i put it up 2 years and it has not been up since. by the time i would finish getting it “fluffed” i had scratches up and down my arms and on my face,looked like i had been in a cat fight. it has been in the basement in plastic bags for 4 years now while i use an silver aluminum tree from the 50’s and recently a Charlie Brown twig tree i trade out for a 3ft pre lit on Christmas morning. it stays decorated all year and in a corner of my bathroom…sooooooeasy.