I'll be following this thread. I love them, but have never had any good ones. I've bought cheap ones for a party or two, and they seemed like a seasonal purchase.

Jo

I think these look pretty, but I don't have any of them. If you find yourself in Kansas City MO you can see them in person. We have floodlights in our back yard and solar powered walk lights in the front. The solar powered lights don't put out a lot of light. We also have a fire pit in the back that we have not used. We might convert it to a smoker. I should look into getting some better lighting for our back yard, since we use it year 'round, and we would use it more in the winter if it were lit.

Lars

Front Gate has nice things. I searched for "tiki."

Here is a link that might be useful: Front Gate tiki

Sherry, If you find yourself in Kansas City, you'd better come and see me! I'll be happy to take you where you need to go...

We have metal ones I bought at Home Depot that attach to the deck rails or stick into the ground. I think they were about $10.00 ea., purchased about 7 years ago. We fill them with Citronella oil. We use them to help with the massive mosquitoes we have.
My neighbor bought some rattan looking cheapies at the Dollar store- they lasted less than a season (but they were really cheap:).

Thanks for the link, barnmom. I was looking at the bamboo ones (cheapy). I have not seen metal ones. That sounds like more what I want.
Lars those are solar powered tiki lamps aren't they? I actually want the ones that burn citronella because here In Michigan we have LOTS of mosquitoes.
I'll let you know what I decide on.
Calire-. if I come to Kansas City, I will definitely look you up!

Sherry, I have had the cheapo ones and they did ok for about three years. The secrect isin keeping the wick well imersed in the oil. After 3 years, the bamboo cracked and I pitched them.

Check HD, Lowes, Menards for metal ones, but some do rust out.

Mosquitos? What are those (darfc)?

Jessy, I have always envied Californians for the lack of mosquitoes. Then I remember those pesky earthquakes and mudslides and I smile and scratch my bites. :-)

I have the metal ones that we bought from Home Depot. They'll last a lifetime if you take good care of them. After using them, we empty the fuel from them and keep them stored in the garage.

Sherry, I had to quit using citronella in my outdoor lamps because the fumes made me sick. I needed to fight mosquitoes too, or never go outside, so I had a ceiling fan installed under the roof of a small pavilion we had built. Mosquitoes come out when the air is still, so if it's blowing around, there's no problem. I know it works; if I'm sitting outside the circle of air, I start getting bit. Before I had the ceiling fan, I just ran an extension and brought out an oscillating fan to move the air around. It might not be what you're after, but I highly recommend it for mosquito control.

Mosquito coils work too, but it was a similar problem for me so I quit using those as well.

Now I'm trying to attract bats, but that's been harder to do. I keep trying though...

I think we need to jar up some skeeters and send them west...then watch Jessy darfc!

Sherry, I had the cheapie bamboo tiki's a while back and they really don't last more than a couple of years and even then they start looking kinda gnarly after exposure to a few rainstorms.

I have some inexpensive metal tiki's now, that I have had for nearly 10 years. They are starting to look a bit weathered, but they still work great, and have even been left out during the winter a few times. I got them for about $5 each at the end of the season one year. I think I have 8 of them....Love 'em!

If you have Lowes, Menards or Home Depot in your area you should be able to find a wide assortment of styles, some even with glass so you can see how much oil is left in them.

Linda

Claire, we built a gazebo last year with a ceiling fan in it just off the patio, (it is also screened)but I wanted to have the tiki torches for the rest of the patio for when we have more company than will fit in the gazebo.
Linda, I went to home depot, but all the tiki torches are bamboo cheapos. However they are cheap enough that even if they only last a season they will get used well. I will still look for metal ones though.

I saw the metal torches yesterday at a new upscale garden center yesterday. If you are looking at metal, make sure you can replace the wick, it has an attached lid to extinguish the flame (attached - so you don't loose it :),and you can easily remove the torch part for filling. We leave ours outside all season, but bring in during the winter.

Another bonus - they are great for power outages as mine line our deck along the back of my house - we lose power everytime Mother Nature sneezes!

I suggest you shop around, and buy enough - look at True Value, Ace hardware. You will be surprised at how often you use them.

I am laughing at this thread because this has been an ongoing saga in our new house.

First let me say I am NOT a fan of tiki torches...I kinds think they look...well...cheap. Kinda along the lines of fake palm trees ect...
So I've always said no tiki torches in the new house.

But I have to say I've seen some really nice ones at HD and Lowes so I may become a convert.

Today at KMart I saw some that are small and look like nice red or blue tubes.

So I picked up 2 candles to go under the pergola. I also have a skeeter beater unit but I will only use that when we have a large gathering. It has the light lure as well as a chemical lure so I hope it works!!

I think outside lighting has come a long way...its really beautiful!!

Cheers!
Susie

I bought some copper torches at Lowes at few years ago. They still look nice, and stay out year round. I keep oil in mine (always) to keep condensation from rusting out the inside. (I had that happen with some vintage torches I used to own, so my lesson was learned.)

Here's a tip for whatever you find: Go to the hardware store and get some copper plumbing caps, the kind you cap the ends of your pipe with. I have those on all of mine; it keeps water from rain out of the torches. They are also handy for snuffing out the flames when it's time to put them out. I just put the cap off to the side of the wick at the top of the torch, and they live there just fine while your torch is in use.

Claire...my el cheapo metal torches have a metal cap that is attached by a chain to the "wick unit". Pop on the top whne it's time to turn out the "party lights"!

Linda

Send me some snow and really cold weather with those skeeters, will ya? Gets boring here in the winter

Just wanted to announce that I purchased some "torches" at AC Moore. They are LOVELY!! A red glass cone vessel which sits in a holder atop the rod. There are little rustic stars wrapped around the whole torch unit...very patriotic and not at all cheesy!!!
I would like to get more to put out next week however they were a tad costly so I will just live with these 2 for now.

Cheers!
Susie

Susi, send a picture. I have not seen any like that. I did find metal ones yesterday, but would like something more special if they are not too much. How much did you pay, if I may ask?

Sher, they were $15.00 each but I got one 50% off with a coupon. I will take a pic an post to my FB summer fun album!!

I got a new citronalla oil that has cedar oil in it...I hope it works!!

Cheers!
Susie

Just another option...I picked up a half dozen solar powered patio lights for about $3 each a couple of months ago at Wally World. Not bad for the price, but today I got 5 more on sale at Ace Hardware for $1.99 each!

Won't help with skeeters, but they give off a nice light!

Linda

UPDATE....pictures are up on FB!!!

Geez Louise I really need to letrn how to post pics here LOL!!!

I ended up with 3 red white and blue torches. They were a big hit and during the party the skeeters were not a problem.
I did use a outdoor fogger before the party started and I gave guests the option to use deep wood off if they wanted.

The party started at 2 and went on till about 11 and we only used about half the oil in each vessel so we have plenty leftover for everyday outdoor dining.

Happy Summer!!

Cheers!
Susie

Cool, Susie! Linda, I hve herd that those solar lights don't give off a lot of light. Am I wrong?

Sherrie, When I was at Tuesday Morning today I went searching for torches. They has some nice ones--metal poles, cap on a chain, nicely designed glass lamps in several colors. $10 @. Do you have any TMs? How about the neat store you took us to in Grand Rapids that had all kinds of garden stuff?