Am I recommending you do it? No. Do I feel quite comfortable doing it myself? Yes.

Why? Well, couple of reasons.

First, these are LED lights, run off a little battery pack. That means they don’t get hot (they don’t even get warm) when they’re on, and they’re not hooked up to a plug. Next up, that right there is wool. Not polyester, not nylon, not a wool blend. Good old wool. That fiber that they used to use for fire blankets because not only is it hard to get going, but it actually puts itself out if you remove the source of ignition (no really, go fill your kitchen sink with water just to be safe, grab some 100% wool yarn, a box of matches, stand over the sink, and see what happens when you try to get wool to burn). And finally, things just sort of don’t burst into flames on their own, they really really don’t, and I’m using these while I can see them.

So I get it. I really really do. I know at least one of you is just itching to go ‘gah, are you not concerned you will go down in flames.’ To which I must say ‘well yes, actually, but not because of this.’

Someone is also wondering, so I will say I like this specific icord maker (it’s more expensive than most, but it feels more like a tool than a toy, and it’s cranked out yard after yard of icord without ever dropping a stitch) and these specific string lights (because they’re suited for outdoors and 66 feet long and the battery lasts longer than any other one I’ve ever tried).

And then I’ll say those are amazon affiliate links, and amazon is the absolute devil. But it’s also the best place for lots of people to find lots of things (especially stuff like string lights where it’s not like you’re going to go to your local artisanal small consumer electronics manufacturer…), and the most convenient place for me to point people to. And if I’m going to help them make a sale, I’m ok with them sending me a few cents. But I am also totally totally in favor of you finding things literally anywhere else, because again, they are absolutely a force for evil in the world and we should all try and wean ourselves off them as much as we’re able. And also capitalism sucks and we’re all stuck in it and sometimes you need some god damn twinkle lights to stave off despair, and you keeping your spirits up is more important than you perfectly avoiding a giant entity you should never have been asked to regulate in the first place.