Summerhouse with Lights
Yes, summer has come around again…
You’re setting up your brand new gazebo or blowing the cobwebs off your old one ready for those warm summer nights
Even though the days are longer, we just can’t get enough of the nights in the UK, we just enjoy spending time outdoors
whilst it’s warm.
The last thing you want is your night to end earlier than expected due to insufficient lighting, so, you’re going to want to know what the best gazebo lights are to buy to save your party?
Check out our favourites below.
Best Gazebo Lights – Quick View
In a rush and no time to read our reviews then check out the 2 products below on Amazon for yourself.
| Lights | Colours | Style | Waterproof | Mains | Score | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  1. BRIMAX Outdoor String Lights |
Warm white | String | ✔️ | ✔️ | ★★★★★ | View |
  2. USTELAR LED RGB Floodlight |
14 | Standing | ✔️ | ✔️ | ★★★★★ | View |
  3. Criacr Solar String Lights |
Warm white | String | ✔️ | ★★★★★ | View |
BRIMAX Hanging String Lights – Weatherproof & Waterproof
Click Image to view on Amazon
These are also a one time purchase as they are so durable and you can leave them out in almost any weather condition, saving you money in the long term rather than repeatedly buying cheaper alternatives.
You’ll be happy to hear that they also have a low energy consumption, operating at a rate of just 2 watts with low heat output to help conserve energy.
That gives you peace of mind on your energy bills whilst also being proud of the minimal environmental impact they have.
Features
- Huge 48ft (14.6m) Cable – This gives you the flexibility to easily surround your canopy and also assists with hanging them up as the extra length makes it easy to wrap around the support beams on your gazebo.
- UK Standard plug – Many on the market are made with EU/US plugs but this comes already with a UK plug.
- Female end to allow extension – Great if the massive length already isn’t enough for you. This also allows you to reach your mains plug socket if it’s not nearby as you can just attach the Brimax 3m extension lead.
- Low energy consumption – Perfect for forgetting the worries of your energy bill as this will have minimal impact on your pocket.
- Comforting warm white colour – We found this to be one of the best perks, it produced a wonderfully warm, relaxing glow around our canopy. It’s perfect for those romantic evenings with your loved one.
- IP65 Waterproofing – Tested under water jets for at least 15 minutes during the manufacturing process makes this suitable for any heavy rain. Just ensure they don’t get submerged in water (unlikely anyway if they are hanging).
- Weatherproof – A fantastic design to give you peace of mind if you happen to leave it out during bad weather. They work in temperatures ranging from -20c to 40c, and I don’t think we will be experiencing weather even close to that in the UK any time soon! We did happen to try them out in our freezer (a little silly I know but we was curious!) just as a test and they worked perfectly.
USTELLAR LED RGB Floodlights – Best Waterproof LED Floodlight
Click Image to view on Amazon
The best part about this standing light is being able to use it across a huge variety of occasions.
During the summer seasons it can give you a warm, soft light that can be adjusted to your liking. But once it’s over and winter is on the horizon, it works perfectly as a christmas light.
The customisation on this really makes it one of the best lights available on the market.
You can get it at 3 different power levels: 15W, 60W, 100W but 15W is plenty to light up your gazebo, any more and you need to make sure you use it a fair distance away or ensure it’s not pointing directly at your guests.
Features
- 16 Colours – With this wide range of colours it makes it suitable for all seasons and it’s ideal for events like Halloween and Christmas.
- UK plug – This comes with a UK plug already attached.
- Waterproof – Tested against powerful jets, this one will be sure to survive through harsh weather conditions. For a product to achieve this rating it needs to endure a 100 litres of water being blasted at it for at least a duration of 3 minutes.
- Versatile – Great for all environments, you can mount this on the wall should you wish, with ease. We simply had it placed on the ground and that worked perfectly for our needs.
- Portable – We was able to move this around with ease, that’s a great benefit to standing lights as you don’t need to attach them to anything, unlike string lights that need to be hung around your gazebo.
- Remote Control – A feature often missed out from gazebo lights, you don’t realise how handy it is until you need to change your lights. We found this particularly useful for controlling the ambience at family BBQ’s towards the latter stages of the nights due to the dimmable options provided on the control. It’s also great as you can easily turn it off from a distance.
- Various Modes – 4 different settings help you create the perfect lighting for your event. Flash and Strobe are two different settings (although we found flash to be a little harsh on our eyes) that are great for spontaneous dances when the night is coming to an end. The other two settings are fade and smooth, perfect if you want the colours to alternate gently throughout the night.
- Safety – Reducing fire hazards is very important through the dry summer seasons. Technology in this qualified aluminium case helps dissipate the heat into the surrounding air and helps prolong the life of the light whilst also reducing the risk of it overheating. The glass is tempered so you don’t have to worry about dropping things on it accidentally.
- Low Energy Rating – A+ rating for energy consumption, keeping the bills low!
CRIACR Solar String Lights | Best Solar powered hanging lights
Click Image to view on Amazon
We were so hesitant to even bother trying these due to the very low price, coupled with the fact it’s powered by light so we didn’t expect much. But there were many happy customers with this light, so we gave it a go.
When we first ordered this product we thought it wouldn’t live up to the hype as solar powered lights tend to barely be able to light up a cupboard but this was definitely not the case here.
They provided a beautiful, calm ambience that twinkled through the night. That’s because there’s two settings available, “steady” and “twinkling”.
Another fantastic benefit to these is that once you’ve placed them wherever you want, you never have to think about them again.
They are completely automatic, they get power straight from sun light and then automatically turn on when it’s dusk.
Just make sure you turn them on before you let them start charging as this can damage the battery.
Features
- Automatic – This stood out most for us, the lights come on at the perfect time and you never have to go and manually turn them on.
- Solar Power – Another great aspect, no increases on your energy bills and it’s totally self sufficient.
- Cheap – We were so surprised how good these lights actually are because the price is so low.
- Length – 10m was plenty for our airwave gazebo
- Modes – The twinkle effect looks amazing and it really provides a relaxing ambience for your guests, it really did make the night quite magical.
- Various Modes – 4 different settings help you create the perfect lighting for your event. Flash and Strobe are two different settings (although we found flash to be a little harsh on our eyes) that are great for spontaneous dances when the night is coming to an end. The other two settings are fade and smooth, perfect if you want the colours to alternate gently throughout the night.
- Water resistant – Essential for these lights as they are supposed to be left outside all the time so they can charge.
- Copper Wires – This was both beneficial and a potential disaste, yes they allow for a lot of flexibility and they are easy to shape however you like. But, and it’s a big but, they felt like they were easy to snap. We checked if anyone else had noticed this problem and a few customers had already snapped their wires accidentally.
Gazebo lights – Buyer’s guide
Lighting for your gazebo is an absolute necessity in those summer months when the nights are warm.
If you’re wanting to keep your event well lit throughout then you need to know what features you should be looking for.
We’ve taken the time to find what we consider to be the most frequent facts people forget to consider when buying these.
Does your outdoor shelter have suitable hanging areas for lights?
You want to be looking for any sort of hole or fixture that you can attach the light or string to, the MCC@Home 2×2 Pop up gazebo is a great example of a good frame that allows you to hang them up easily around the border of the canopy.
However simple this may seem, many people overlook this and end up having to find a way around hanging them up.
Usually you can resort to just simply using tape, preferably duct tape as this will have plenty of strength to keep your lights secure.
You must ensure that you don’t cover the lights at all as this is a huge fire hazard, it will stop them from being able to keep cool and the last thing you want is your canopy to be alight.
Hanging or standing lights?
There’s two styles of lights you can choose from, standing or hanging.
Both types have their perks and drawbacks but it depends on what result you’re after.
- lights up a large area
- can position them anywhere
- very flexible
- Do not take up floorspace
- Requires hanging
- Can be quite dim
- Usually bright
- Easy to setup
- Directional light
- Requires floorspace
- Bulky/Heavy
How bright do you want your lights to be?
Ambience is key to holding a great night time event. Making your guests feel comfortable is partly down to keeping the lighting appropriate.
That’s right, just by hanging a set of lights you can add some cozy atmosphere to your gazebo, consider fitting some garden string lights to add a subtle glow of colour.
There’s plenty of different lights available and some even come with a dimmer switch so you can set as you like.
Fairy lights tend to be ideal for setting a relaxed atmosphere as they provide the perfect amount of light to make you feel relaxed.
If you’re hosting a summer party then of course your gazebo would not be complete without a disco light!
These can come with regular lighting options too, making them multi functional.
Do you have access to electricity?
The most vital point when considering which lights to purchase is electricity, again, often overlooked.
Battery/solar powered gazebo lights are always an option if you have no access to the mains power, these are ideal if your event is in the middle of a field or somewhere slightly more remote.
With the long days in summer, the solar option tends to be pretty reliable and you don’t have to worry about replacing the batteries in the middle of your event.
