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Are you leaving fairy lights up?

(75 Posts)
keepcalmandcavachon Mon 01-Jan-24 20:14:32

Do you plan to leave a few fairy lights up after Christmas? I shall keep a little twinkle in the kitchen and a little sparkle in the dining room, maybe more!
Someone posted a lovely pic of their beautiful houseplant festooned with lights a few weeks ago and it looked so pretty and inspiring. I can do with a bit of cosy this time of yearsmile

Auntieflo Mon 01-Jan-24 23:00:33

We have had a long string of lights up since last year and I love them.

Grantanow Mon 01-Jan-24 23:00:56

Until 12th Night.

Starof1972 Mon 01-Jan-24 23:04:40

We only ever use candles for lighting after 8pm. No lamps at all, but the thought of using fairy lights does appeal!

henetha Mon 01-Jan-24 23:35:42

I always leave one set of lights up all year, along the mantlepiece. They look so pretty and cheer up the room.

Maggiemaybe Tue 02-Jan-24 00:02:46

We don’t take a single decoration down till Twelfth Night, but yes, after that there’ll be a few lights left up. January in particular needs all the help it can get!

Georgesgran Tue 02-Jan-24 00:09:58

Fairy lights twinkling amongst fir cones in the wood burner during the Summer months.

toscalily Tue 02-Jan-24 09:44:08

I have some permanently in the kitchen, turn them on as and when I feel the need but am tempted to use some elsewhere in or around a pot plant as others suggest, at least till Spring. I also have some of the LED candles, bought for safety of grandchildren but use normal candles quite a lot to in the winter months when it is just us two. I find January/February a bit depressing and find lighting and using the candles gives me a little lift when it is dark and dreary.

PinkCosmos Tue 02-Jan-24 09:48:05

I love fairy lights and am pleased that they seem to be an all year round thing now.

I have them around plants - the tiny seed lights in warm white. They look lovely.

I also have lots of solar fairy lights in the garden. They are there all year round but don't light up much during the darker days. Also, they don't seem to last very long either. I usually end up replacing them every year.

MiniMoon Tue 02-Jan-24 10:57:06

I take down the decorations and tinsel in my hall, but I leave the fairy lights down the stairs and in the vase on the table as I have a rather dark hall. Everything else goes back into the boxes for next year.

Purplepixie Tue 02-Jan-24 11:01:22

Just taken all of the christmas decorations down and they are packed away in the loft. Hoovered and dusted and feel better already. An afternoon of knitting looms!

Farmor15 Tue 02-Jan-24 18:15:56

I have a string of lights which act as like a guide wire for a climbing plant. The lights are there all the time but only on at Christmas, birthdays or other celebrations- or if I feel like a bit of cheering up!

NanaTuesday Tue 02-Jan-24 18:31:15

Oh I love a fairy light & have them up on a kitchen shelf & festooned over some artwork in my lounge ,where they’ve been since last Christmas 🤶 xx
Twinkle Twinkle

Oldnproud Tue 02-Jan-24 18:45:47

For a few years now I have had some artificial twigs with lights on them in a large vase in the corner of our tiny living room.
Over Christmas, they are replaced by our small Christmas tree, but when that is taken down, they will be back in place and
the lights cheerfully twinkling away in that corner again until next Christmas.

Pittcity Tue 02-Jan-24 18:52:54

Here are mine.

flappergirl Tue 02-Jan-24 20:10:20

I've always left the decorations up until (almost) the last minute! I love to see twinkling fairy lights, it's like the suspension of reality amid the bleak mid winter. My mother always took them down on 6th January although I know this is highly disputed. She was Roman Catholic and other Catholic friends and relatives say 6th Jan is Twelfth Night so I stick with that.

Urmstongran Tue 02-Jan-24 20:16:13

Will leave my candle bridge up until Candlemas. 2nd February I think? 40 days after Christmas.
(Thanks to grandMattie a couple of years ago).

Redhead56 Tue 02-Jan-24 20:32:48

I have some in the living room dining room and conservatory all year around as they are so pretty.

Ziplok Tue 02-Jan-24 20:42:38

Yes, I’ve got some fairy lights that stay up all year. They really come into their own on dark, grey, dismal days (of which we seem to have many, all year round).

Norah Tue 02-Jan-24 20:45:46

Yes, lots of white lights in the garden, some in trees.

No, coloured Santa lights - they'll be down soon.

Witzend Tue 02-Jan-24 20:47:55

Two or three Christmases ago I put warm white fairy lights in a huge house plant, more of a mini tree really, and left them when all the other decorations came down on 6th Jan, telling myself I’d leave them until the clocks changed in March.

I never did take them down. They’re still going strong.

Ilovedragonflies Wed 03-Jan-24 11:12:56

I have this beautiful, battery run lamp my eldest bought for my birthday
which is just before Christmas. It casts a pretty glow and I love it.

Lexisgranny Wed 03-Jan-24 11:23:16

Yes, but actually by default. Like any other year, when all the decorations are safely packed into their boxes and stored in the loft, one rogue set it discovered twinkling away… forgotten. As per usual it is left there ‘until the next time we have to go up to the loft’, and only taken up when we start thinking about garden furniture,

nanna8 Wed 03-Jan-24 11:35:45

We’ve had them round the edge of our garage for years now. Cheered us up during Covid, can’t bear to take them down. I also have some entwined round a candelabra in our family room.

Dempie55 Wed 03-Jan-24 11:56:16

Funny you should ask! I’ve just been wondering whether to leave up the string of fairy lights I put across the mantelpiece - I will now!

Esmay Wed 03-Jan-24 12:05:40

I'm tempted - they are so pretty in this dull , wet windy climate !
A nice welcome home .