Purple Tone Mix Cotton Ball Patio Party String Lights (20/set)

I bought these purple tone cotton ball string lights since I have another string of cotton ball lights in pink tones that I really like that I bought a few years ago from off Amazon. However, you apparently have to assemble these (which, at the time of this review, is not stated on the product page anywhere). They come in little half cups that you have to poke a stick through (not provided, but I used a chopstick) and wiggle it around until they fully pop out. And the balls all came out reeeally lumpy. To put them on the string lights, you have to make a tiny cut near the holes on the balls and press the bulb through.The balls themselves are all kind of mushy instead of being rigid like they should be. They kind of started collapsing back in on themselves. Many have crusty glue all over them and loose threads. Some of the holes are way off center, which made them even harder to pop out. I may not have minded this so much had I not had to sit here and spend an hour trying to pop them all out. When lit, the color is more purple than the product picture, though I don't mind that. They also don't put out much light. With my original set, I can dimly light my bedroom, but these mostly just seem decorative.My package included 20 of the collapsed balls (pink, light purple, dark purple, and two different hues of white [cream and a greyish-white color] - which also irks me, but the difference is subtle enough that it's not terribly noticeable), a strand of lights with a basic two-pronged plug, and a few spare bulbs. Instructions for assembly are NOT included - I had to dig around on another product page.All in all, I would not have bought these had I known that I would have to assemble them. I'm going to try to make them work, but I really don't like how misshapen they all are.

The lights came much earlier than expected which was great because they were for my wedding. But there were quite a few of them - 4-5 out of the 20 - that were damaged. And after the wedding 2-4 had fallen off. All in all, they were a nice touch to the decor but it would have been nice to have them in better condition.

Not working...1/ Requires assembly - I knew this because of another comment but it is not said in the description.2/ Colors are different shades of purple and white, which is not reflected in the photo. There are three shades of purple (light medium and dark) and two shades of white. Maybe when lighted the colors are like in the photo, but I could not say since the light is not working.3/ Spare cotton ball not present (it says 20 + spare in the description)My experience: I spent one hour assembling the balls, which is not that easy. At the end they are not perfectly round. I had to glue some of them on the cord, but most of them just stay on it without glue. And yes, I did not test the light before, which was a mistake. But after assembling all of it, I pluged it and it was very disappointing to see that it was not working at all. Bad experience, I am afraid.

They arrived fast and they look really nice. So far I've had them for three weeks and all the lights work well.

Love it, looks exactly like the picture.

Love the lights