At the end of 2016 I managed to purchase 20 "REALLY BIG LIGHTS", which is their actual name. These are giant plastic bulbs (~14.5" or almost 37cm tall) that look like old fashioned C9 lights. Inside each is an LED bulb. I bought only the white ones and was very impressed with the build quality. I took them apart, removed the original light and added WS2812 RGB LEDs (they can be individually controlled with each color separate and multiple can be linked together in a chain). These are all controlled by a Particle Photon in the first bulb.

The bulbs are daisy chained using waterproof 4 wire connectors. The WS2812s only need 3 but I found I could get the 4 wire version for almost no price difference and in quantity. They could come in handy for other projects in the future. After removing the wires and the original bulb the new cables barely fit through the original openings. They are so snug though that I do not need to worry about them shifting around inside. The WS2812 LED just hangs right in the center where the original C9 LED was.

I need to take some pictures and show what I have done. All 20 bulbs are hanging in our pine tree.