Wedding Blog
Crazy cheap budget-conscious Miss Tiramisu here, back with some hard-earned research for you all! I posted a while back on the possibility of lighting our paper lanterns with homemade LED throwies. Well we’ve finally gotten around to putting these suckers together. As I said in my last post, I ordered the supplies on ebay. My first mistake was not paying attention to the difference between “diffuse” and “bright” LED lights.
Here are the trial pictures so that you can see for yourself:
Mr. Tiramisu modeling our lovely 14″ white lantern lit with 3 diffuse white LEDs, all attached to their own battery.
Again, with our not-so lovely lantern lit with 3 bright white LEDs.
Are you feeling the polka-dot lantern look? I wasn’t. If you’re going for the warm glow seen in the first photo, you will definitely need the diffuse white LEDs. The bright LEDs, while they may throw more light, will give you that spotted look you see in the second photo.
Another word of caution: these are white lanterns. WHITE WHITE WHITE. With WHITE LEDs. Although the pictures make them seem a little more blue than they are in real life, they do in fact appear blue when lit. I have no idea if there is any way to avoid this. I will say that we ordered a few LEDs from another website before we found them at a lower price on ebay, and those cast a slightly less blue glow than the ebay ones. If you’re set on the white look, it may be worth it to experiment with different types of white LEDs. There are other colors available though- I found red, green, blue, and yellow easily. Our wedding colors are light blue, dark blue, and any blue in between, so we’re going to pretend like we wanted blue lanterns as well 
On to the assembly… we used the instructions from this website, adding the on/off switch as shown (but you don’t need the magnet). This way, we’re able to make up the throwies ahead of time, attach them to the wire frames of our lanterns, and only have to pull the switch to turn them on the day before our wedding.
Supplies: cardstock (for the on/off switch), LEDs, batteries, strapping tape, and fishing line.
Here is the on/off switch in action.
Are these totally tedious to make? Do I have to remind myself often of how much money we’re saving while making them? (it’s a LOT.) Does Mr. Tiramisu sort of want to kill me for going through with this crazy idea? Yes, yes, and yes.
But am I totally excited about seeing 150 of these in action on our wedding day and knowing that I didn’t pay a 4-figure pricetag for it? That’s a - heck yes.We’re hoping that with these and the perimeter lighting that we have planned, there will be enough light in the tent after sundown.
Does anyone have any suggestions about tent lighting? Ever been to a wedding where the tent being too dark was an issue? Help me put my nightmares about a pitch-black wedding reception to an end!
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150?? 150!!?? Wow, ambitious! But I’m sure it will look awesome!!
Has anyone tested the white diffused LED throwies with cream or light yellow lanterns? Would they give a more golden glow then or would it just turn green? Just curious, because we’re planning on going this path, too and are about to buy our lanterns. and blue isn’t in our color scheme:)
Thanks for the info. I’ll be putting up some lanterns in three colors as a touch of fun at the reception. This is very helpful to know for the LEDs!
After reading your initial post a few months back, we also began to explore using LEDs to light our lanterns. It required MULTIPLE trips to Radio Shack and lots of online ordering (the cheapest LEDs I found actually came from Japan). It took us a really long time to figure out exactly what specs we were looking for. A few hints:
When ordering, you want the highest mcd number you can find COMBINED with the greatest degree viewing angle.
The mcd value measures the brightness of the LED light, while the angle measures how diffuse it is.
I found it really difficult to compare different LED specs, but just found this niffty little calculator (second on the right):
http://www.gizmology.net/LEDs.htm
Punch in the mcd value and the angle and it will perform some magic calculations to give you a third value, called lumens (1700 lumens is the amount of light put out by an average 100 watt bulb). You can use the lumens value to directly compare LEDs with different mcd and angle specs.
Wow, way too much physics. Anyway, from our trials, you want as high a lumen value as possible, or you’ll get the spotlight effect . . .
Just a note to any bees trying this out in the future: you should expect that all white LEDs will have at least a slight blue tint. The “white” LEDs are made by putting a yellow chip in a blue LED to cancel out the blue color.
I never thought my knowledge of solid-state chemistry would be helpful in wedding planning! 
Where did you buy the diffuse LEDs? We are going to do this project as well, and your suggestions have been really helpful!
We wanted white lanterns for my daughter’s evening outdoor wedding in August and have found battery operated ones at the Dollar Tree stores for $1 each. They run on two aaa batteries.
I tried the “natural” lanterns and they looked very orange. So back to white it is. I found that some of the lights flickered with the on/off switch, so I used a binder clip to keep the throwie tight.
http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/throwie-tips
I purchased my LEDs from Robert at http://www.buy-leds-online.com . They were only a few cents more but they are based in the US. I just picked up the phone and told him what I was trying to do and he was very helpful. I also had my lights in two days.
I just had a wedding this weekend where we had some lanterns and you know…the lighting wasn’t even necessary. The tent was outside on the lawn and the cake and DJ was on the inside of the building, so basically after dinner, everyone just went into the building. Well since the sun sets around 9:00pm, the 4:00 pm wedding didn’t even really need them lit. The lanterns looked great though.
@Lindentree: wow! thanks for the info!
@Kristi: ebay seller led-hk had the best prices we could find
@MissRojoOso: I can’t believe it- we did the same EXACT thing! The binder clips are the easiest solution to the flicker problem- we only had to use them on some of the leds, not all. We also found that putting the switch on the short (-) side worked better than the (+) side, but we have no idea why 
you can buy ‘warm white’ led’s which have the more traditional yellowish lamplight glow. They recently switched the christmas lights in my city (Calgary Alberta Canada) to warm white LEDs, and it’s nice that we no longer have blue christmases
If you don’t need a lot of them and you’re lazy like me, you can buy wireless led lights here for a little over $2 each.
@Kristi: For cheap and reliable, and not mention bright, LEDs you should check out these people http://evilmadscience.com they’re based in the US, but will ship anywhere. Scroll to the bottom of this page for all the LED options http://evilmadscience.com/tinykitlist/35-tinykitcat/75-peggy2
There are a few ways they produce ‘White’ LEDs
a) As Miss Grad said, they take a blue LED and put another color phosphor to mask some of the blueishness.
b) RGB LED - there are actually 3 separate semiconductors of each primary color and the light is blended to produce white (this can also be used to produce nearly any color LED one could want)
c) A Ultraviolet LED is coated in 3 phosphors to produce red/green/blue light that is blended to white. These operate similarly to a fluorescent bulb, but the UV is from a semiconductor not an excited gas.
The second will produce the “truest” white, but they are also the most expensive.
Ooh, good timing.
I rigged up a similar throwie nearly a fortnight ago and it lasted at full brightness for a full week, and it’s still glowing (albeit faintly) today. No heat is produced at all.
I’m looking at diy tealights because my reception venue is heritage and therefore permits no open flames (and I can’t justify the cost of bought electric tealights).
Big tip: Applying hot glue from a glue gun to your led ‘bulb’ can A) make the led look a more like a real flame if it’s exposed and B) turn a non-diffuse led into a diffuse led.
Another comparably cheap but less time-intensive option is to *rent* battery operated LEDs. I was considering going the throwie route until I found out that http://www.infusecreativity.com rents 3-bulb white LEDs for $0.91 apiece (they also rent lanterns at a very reasonable price)! Then you don’t have to throw away your throwies! The lights are supposed to light up to a 16in lantern.
@shellstarr: Wow that is a great website! I had never heard of that company- and I wish I had found them sooner! DIY will be just a tiny bit cheaper, but I think I would have rented had I known about that option! What are the shipping costs like?
Is there a reason you use 3 throwies per lantern? Would 1 absolutely just be not enough light?
This beats the heck out of $25 a lanterns quoted by our rental company. But, I am not grasping how the on-off switch works.
ok. but here’s my fear: how are you going to turn on all of the lanterns on the day of? will the DOC or your family turn then on when they are hung the day before and just bank on them not burning out (which i believe they won’t based on the experiments here in the hive)? i’m debating this DIY project, and this seems to be the only obstacle. thanks all!
Unfortunately I have found http://www.buy-leds-online.com to be COMPLETELY unreliable to the point they will not ship your order and not even tell you about it. They will be understocked and not tell you before you place the order, they will claim they are waiting on shipment from China for months, etc. NOT an option for weddding unless you are at least 2-3 months out.
I have the same question as marymcpike…
I’m not sure of the logistics of turning these on. Since we’d be hanging them the day before, could we just turn them on at that time and let them burn for 24+ hours? Will they last? Or do we have to hang them the day before, then climb back up and down a ladder on wedding day to turn each one on?
@Dave: Hi Dave. I’ve ordered 5 more times from http://www.buy-leds-online.com and have outstanding service. I’ve had my order within a few days.
@MissMelissa: @MissMelissa: My lights lasted 4 days before they started to dim. Take them off a day or two before.
I need help - I’m looking at ebay seller’s led-hk ebay store and I have no idea which LEDs to buy. I did a search for “diffuse” and there was nothing. Is it called something different?
Thank you for your help!
[...] cocktail napkins, purchase remaining dessert plates, wine glasses, water glasses, silverware make throwies for lanterns find supplier for bottles of soda for reception connect with beer/wine vendor visit [...]
@runrunrun: I’d recommend contacting the seller directly- he was able to answer all of our questions for us. Good luck!
Also- I’ve gotten a few questions about this so I wanted to add- 1. We got the best results (brightest) with each LED attached to its own battery. 2. As others have mentioned, they last a long time- definitely 3-4 days until they start to dim at all. And believe it or not, we still have some floating around in storage with the rest of our wedding leftovers and some are still faintly glowing months later!
[...] an on/off switch (just a tiny piece of cardstock) to our throwies when we assembled them (details here). You just pull the piece of cardstock off in order to let the battery touch the LED and turn it [...]
I’m a bit lost on trying to find the TRUEST WHITE light for my WHITE paper laterns. I went to Radio Shack and the employee was nice enough to open a few and test them out, but had no luck. The yellow looked orange and the white had a bluish tint. Plus I couldn’t find any that said “diffused” on the package.
I really don’t want blue laterns!!!!Way outside our color scheme. Has anyone purchased WHITE LEDs and were happy with them? Did they turn out white with your white laterns???
HELP!
I made ours a month or so ago. Radio Shack was no help at all. Go on ebay and search for 10mm diffused white LED. I bought ours from ebay seller “auspicious.e” and they’re perfect:
http://cgi.ebay.com/white-10-mm-diffused-led-150pcs_W0QQitemZ260403580764QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca1434f5c&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50
Runningbee-
Thank you for your post. I actually just emailed that same ebay user earlier today on if their lights have a bluish tint to them.
So I take it your white laterns stayed white and didn’t turn out blue at all. Any pictures?
Wow you are a saint! Thank you…I think I might be purchasing them very shortly.
Hi Cravinwaves -
We tested them in one white lantern and it looked like a normal light. I made a little video of photos of us making the throwies and it includes a photo of the lantern with one throwie in it. We’re planning to use 3 throwies per lantern. The video is on my blog, here:
http://engaged2009.blogspot.com/2009/04/making-throwies.html
Good luck with your project!
Thank you again for your post and I’m buying them today! I liked your website. I too, am doing everything DIY except the cake/food. I found you can find great deals by putting ads on Craigslist.
Thanks again
Crainwaves: Did you get your LED lights from auspicious.e yet? I’m thinking about ordering from them too and wanted to be 100% positive that they do make the white lanterns glow white! Thank you!
Yes, I bought them from Auspicious. I actually tried them out again a few days ago. They are a WHITE glow, but I feel there is a small blue tint from them. Not enough of a “blue” to make the lantern look that color. I am happy with them. I’m thinking that all the “white” Led’s have a slight bluish tint to them, some better then others, but as I said I am happy. I should try and take a picture.
Well, thanks for the update!! I think I’m going to bite the bullet and order them… I’m waiting for him to get back to me first though, just to see what he has to say about it. If you do get a chance, post a picture. Thank you so much to everyone for all of this valuable, time-saving information!
Crainwaves (and or Mrs. Tiramisu): This is what I wrote to auspicious.e: “I am looking for LED lights that cast a white light in and make a white paper lantern look WHITE, as opposed to blueish or pinkish, or any other color than white. Are these what I am looking for?”
He just responded, “Sorry, the leds are not the one you want. Please tell me the quantity you want to order. The leds can be customized. Best regards.”
Do you think he’s just confused that I’m going to make my own battery packs, or are these really not the right kind. They are the white 10 mm diffused led (150pcs).
Emily -
Just to chime in - so far I have bought three orders of these LEDs from Auspicious.e for a total of 500 - diffused white 10mm. The throwies light the lanterns with a white light. They are what you are looking for.
I also contacted this seller before my first order. I got the impression that English is not his first language, and he does not know what a “throwie” is. Check out the photo/video on my blog of the throwies we made. PM me and I would be happy to send you a single throwie of ours to ease your mind.
http://engaged2009.blogspot.com/2009/04/making-throwies.html
Thanks runningbee!!! You all are so ridiculously kind. I sort of got the impression that he’s not a big english speaker too, hence the chinese characters in the ebay posting. You know, if you wouldn’t mind just sending one throwie to me, that would be so amazing! (Also for the purpose of seeing in person how the heck these things go together and work.) I can pay for shipping and the cost of the materials as well. My email address is emilyrobinson08@gmail.com. Just contact me here and we can make some arrangements.
buy-leds-online is now advertising a new type of 10mm LED that it claims does not produce the bluish light. See:
http://www.buy-leds-online.com/new.html
Has anyone tried these?
Interesting find 2dBride. Shame they aren’t selling until August 2009 since my wedding is early October. If it was any later on I’d give them a try.
We’ve actually tried two places. Our first attempt was a set of 100 from Auspicious.e, the diffuse white others discussed here. Unfortunately we felt that while bright, they were a bit too blue for our preference. We have an earth-tone theme so the pre-wife wanted less blue.
We then tried “MegaBright Warm White LED 10mm 100,000 mcd F/R” from the seller topbright88 on ebay. They were twice the price ($20 for 50 instead of 100 from Auspicious.e), and they are less bright than the above. But they have less of that blue tint so I’ll probably order another batch or two of them.
ts84, we actually got the regular diffuse white LEDs from buy-leds-online. We didn’t want the blue, either. However, what we did was to get some of the paper lanterns in the “natural” color. This is slightly off-white in the direction of brown. When those were lit by white LEDs, the blue tinge of the lights was offset by the slightly brown tinge of the lantern.
For other lanterns, we got the white lanterns, but used either amber LEDs or a mixture of white and red LEDs. With the amber ones, the lantern ended up looking amber. With the mixture of red and white, the lantern ended up looking pink.
A third option we used was to light the lanterns with the stick-up light bulbs you see on TV. (Or at least I hear you see them on TV–I have not personally turned on my TV in years.) I found a deal from an Amazon seller to get fourteen of those for a total of $44.85 including the shipping, and then bought the AA batteries for them in bulk from an eBay seller at $24.99 for 100 of them, including the shipping. Those produced a bright light with no blue tinge. However, I bought out the Amazon seller’s entire supply, and I have not seen them anywhere else for that low a price.
I have pictures of how each of these alternatives came out at http://sites.google.com/site/2dbride/decor/lighting
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Mrs. Tiramisu, Annapolis, MD/Maine
Age and Occupation: 26, Eye Doctor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Project Manager/Real Estate Management grad student
Engagement Date: May 15, 2007
Wedding Date: July, 2008
Blogging Since: March 4, 2008
Venue: Oceanfront lawn and tent
About Me: I was born and raised in Maine, now living in Annapolis, Maryland and planning a hometown wedding from afar. I’m nothing short of obsessed with wedding planning, and am loving the do-it-yourself madness that has now taken over my life! As for me, I’m a craft-loving, martini-drinking, girly-girl who loves traveling, photography, my schnauzer, and above all, spending time with Mr. Tiramisu.
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