Pumpkin String Lights for Halloween, Solar or Battery, 10 or 20 Bulbs

A string of small orange jack-o'-lanterns, each one a ribbed amber shell with a black grinning face and its own LED inside, so the whole shell glows while the face stays dark. Take the solar version for a porch rail, a fence or a gate with no outlet in reach, or the battery version for the mantel and the shelves. Either one comes with 10 or 20 bulbs.

No outlet to find. No cable out through a window. Just the face everybody already knows means Halloween.

The solar string goes where the outlets are not

The places that look best lit at the end of October are usually outside the front door: the porch rail, the fence along the path, the gate the trick-or-treaters come through. Hardly any of them has an outlet nearby. Running a cable out to one turns a quick decoration into an evening spent with an extension cord.

The solar version takes its power from a small black panel about two and a half inches across, which clips onto its own stake. Push the stake into a planter or the lawn where it catches the daylight, and the wire runs from there along the rail or the fence.

Indoors, the battery version does the same thing for the mantel. A clear box on the end of the wire holds two AA batteries and a slide switch. The lights go where they look right, not where the socket happens to be.

A jack-o'-lantern in every bulb, lit or not

Each bulb is a little pumpkin just over an inch tall, about the size of a walnut, molded in translucent orange plastic with ribs running down its back and sides. The face sits on the front: two slanted eyes, a small triangle of a nose, and a wide grin with a zigzag of pointed teeth. Ask anybody to draw a jack-o'-lantern and this is the face you get.

Switched on, the LED under the cap lights the whole shell a deep glowing orange, brightest just below the top, while the black face stays sharp against it. Switched off, the shells are still bright amber, so on an October afternoon the rail or the mantel reads as a row of tiny pumpkins rather than a bare wire.

Which one to pick

Pick solar for anywhere outside, where the panel can sit in daylight. Pick battery for a mantel, a windowsill, a bookshelf or the middle of a party table. The solar string runs on a dark green wire, while the battery string runs on a fine clear one that all but disappears against wood and paint.

Ten bulbs suit a single window, a short mantel or a garden gate. Twenty give a porch rail or a long shelf a proper row. Put them up at the start of the month, and the house has its jack-o'-lanterns lit before anybody has picked up a carving knife.

Specifications

Bulbs: 10 or 20 per string, chosen with the Size option

Bulb: Translucent orange plastic pumpkin, ribbed, with a black jack-o'-lantern face on the front and one LED inside

Bulb dimensions: 1.18 x 0.79 in (3 x 2 cm), height by width

String length: 78.7 in (2 m) or 118.1 in (3 m)

Light: LED, glowing orange through the shell

Power: Battery or solar, chosen with the Power option

Battery version: Clear battery box with a slide switch, takes 2 AA batteries (not included), opens with a small screwdriver

Solar version: Black solar panel, 2.36 in (6 cm) across, with a clip-on bracket and a two-part ground stake 4.72 in (12 cm) long

Wire: Fine clear twisted wire on the battery version, dark green wire on the solar version

Material: Plastic

Places: Porch rail, fence, gate, garden, mantel, shelf, window, party table

Package Includes

1x Pumpkin String Light, with 10 or 20 bulbs and the power end you choose

1x Two-Part Ground Stake with Panel Bracket (solar version)