They can be garish, spiky bright, and tacky -- in a good way.

Bodegas love them in NYC, where they frame windows, stripe shelves, and animate thousands of "OPEN" and KENO signs.  

Teenagers fancy them so much they have acquired a new name: TikTok lights. Because they provide an instant bedroom background upgrade for a TikTok video.

So much better than posters. 

Recently they turned up as a cresting search term on Exploding Topics. Over the last two years internet searches for "tiktok lights" have increased 2600 percent. 

So when District Hall, where I am Maker-in-Residence, joined up with a neighborhood "Holiday Tree" campaign, something to attract weekend strollers, I knew our tree would feature TikTok lights. 

Here's an image:

And a video:

For a more detailed description of this project, visit Make: Projects. 

Or create your own TikTok light project. Start here.