Celebrating 20 years of Lights4fun

It's a special week here at Lights4fun, as we are celebrating our 20th birthday! Two decades of hard work, creativity, and unmatched service has led us to where we are today. From twinkling fairy lights to showstopping Christmas figures, we've expanded our product range, inspiring our customers to make magical moments along the way. Join us as we celebrate this momentous birthday, taking you on the journey of innovation that has made Lights4fun the company it is today.

Back in 2003 in a home in Harrogate, the journey of Lights4fun began with the vision to provide quality products and outstanding customer service. Whilst a lot has changed in 20 years, our vision remains the same today, inspiring our customers to create their own moments of magic.

We sat down with the Lights4fun team to take a trip down memory line as we celebrate our 20th birthday.

The story of Lights4fun started around a kitchen table as our founders, Jo and Tim Naughton, were on their 3^rd set of broken garden centre Christmas lights and recognised a gap in the market. Their aim in setting up the business was to provide high quality lights that would provide both families and businesses many years of joyous moments, and so they launched the very first range of connectable lights under the name ‘The Christmas Lights Company.’

After 4 years, the ‘Christmas Lights Company’ had grown and had a small number of employees. Having expanded into more than just seasonal Christmas lights, in May 2007 the business name was officially changed to Lights4fun Ltd.

Between the years of 2008 to 2016, the UK website had grown and succeeded to the point where we wanted to share our incredible products with more of the world. We entered the Amazon Marketplace with a French storefront in 2008 and in Germany in 2010. The German website was later launched in 2012 and the French in 2016. A big year for the company, in 2016 we also expanded across the pond into Amazon USA.

In 2017, we launched the first of our exclusive light up reindeer, which soon became our most recognised range of Christmas decorations, and the ultimate seasonal showstopper for the festive season. Our product team go above and beyond, studying real reindeer in order to to create the most realistic and elegant figures, which are high quality and can be enjoyed year after year. To discover the story behind the design, read our blog about the making of our reindeer collection.

Our TruGlow® candle range was launched in 2018 and soon became one of our most loved ranges. Crafted from hand poured real wax and featuring a "just lit" appearance, our realistic candles have become a favourite for our customers, as a safe and reusable alternative to real candles. We have now created 134 different styles of TruGlow® candles, all in different shapes, sizes and colours. Each candle still features the soft flickering LED flame that was internally dubbed ‘Tim’s Flame’ due to his personal involvement in ensuring it reflects a real flame's flicker and glow.

Conscious of the changing environment around us, in 2020 we introduced new packaging to be more sustainable. We swapped to recyclable brown boxes and mono print in order to remove unnecessary ink and alcohol from the printing process. We also replaced polyfoam with EPE foam, which can be recycled, and are continuously working towards reducing and improving our packaging wherever we can.

After 17 years, our founders decided to pass the torch onto a new management team, in order to enjoy their well-earned retirement with their family. In the 3 years that have followed, we've worked in partnership with Harewood House to decorate the house and grounds at Christmas, ventured into licensing products such as Shaun the Sheep with Aardman Animations, created our own smart reindeer and sleigh in collaboration with Twinkly, and introduced many more core and seasonal products to be loved and enjoyed for many years to come.