December 1st has come and gone. That means it is reasonably safe to start talking about Christmas without someone composing a furious email about how it is too early and can we just wait until we see the back of November, please?
As for putting up Christmas trees – well, that’s a contentious subject all of its own. Mention it in the wrong company and you mark yourself out as one of those people who has a Christmas tree cluttering up the corner of the livingroom, shedding pine needles all over the place before the Halloween decorations are even packed back into the attic.
But we do need to talk about the tree. Specifically, what goes on top of yours.
There is a rotating system in this house – one year, it’s an angel; another it’s a red star I picked up in a sale. The younger members of the family decide each year which one they we’ll use and, aside from the year when I mistakenly bought a glitter-encrusted star that shed everywhere and over everyone for the entire Christmas period, we don’t deviate.
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But this year, there will be something a little different on top of the tree: the Twinkly Tree Topper.
At first glance, it looks just like a regular star, with a bit of design flair. But look closer and you will notice there is an LED strip on the inside of the star. Not only does it light up, but you can control different lighting effects, transforming its look in seconds.
At its simplest, you can change the colour of the star, from a silvery white to magenta or blue. If you are a fan of colour schemes, this could be the ultimate chameleon decoration.
This is all done through the accompanying Twinkly app, and the list of different effects is quite lengthy.
This isn’t the only device in Twinkly’s range. The company does everything from simple strings of lights to mini candles for the Christmas tree, festoons for indoor and out, and gaming lights that can extend your screen to the wall of the room.
We had already fully bought into the Twinkly system for the past few years; they were an impulse purchase just to see how they would go, and were quickly followed by two more sets of lights. When they are all connected to the app, you can group them into a single collection, and then map the tree with the lights turned on. That allows you to set specific patterns for the lights, so you can recreate candy cane stripes, for example, or turn your entire tree into a flag, if that’s what takes your fancy.
The Tree Topper can play its part here too, becoming part of the group effect. It’s easier than you might think. Out of the box – which doesn’t include a USB C plug, by the way – you plug in the light, turn it on and add it to your Twinkly app. You can then group all your lights plus the topper together, so the lighting effects are shared across the entire tree. Mapping them takes only a few minutes, using your smartphone camera.
Breaking it to the children that we would be retiring the angel was a more difficult task, but the idea that they could pick the day’s theme for the tree mollified them a little. We have had a tropical theme, something called unicorn sunset and Kit from Knightrider – and we are only a few days into the season.
There is another benefit to the Twinkly lights. You can turn the tree lights on and off remotely, or set them to a schedule, without having to add in a wifi plug or any extra technology.
Yes, it is unnecessary. Yes, it is probably tech for tech’s sake. But I love it.
Good
Your tree doesn’t have to look the same two days running, never mind two years running. You can even build your own looks if the preloaded ones don’t grab your fancy. Plus you get some remote control options.
Bad
Doesn’t include the USB C power supply, so make sure you have a compatible plug handy. Expensive for a tree topper if you aren’t going to make full use of its capabilities.
Everything else
The lights can be controlled with their individual controllers, like traditional lights. You just can’t access the extra effects.
Verdict
Christmas trees just got levelled up.
