Many of us work during the day, and the patio is a great place for us to escape and be outdoors. Sometimes, it's difficult to see while outside on the patio without the proper lighting. Patio lights can provide a colorful, welcoming glow to our outdoor oasis. Some of the most popular patio lights are called string lights.

These lights resemble small Christmas lights on a string, but are covered in different colored plastic shapes. This version of patio lights can come in any shape from chili peppers, flamingos, teddy bears, tropical flowers, cocktail drinks, and many more. String lights are usually fairly inexpensive and can add lots of spice to your patio. The best part about these lights is because of the price; you can mix, match, or change them to fit just about mood, occasion, or season.

Another great form of patio lights are solar-powered walkway lights. This type of lighting is terrific because you never need to change a light bulb or use expensive energy. The solar-powered lights are recharged during the day by the sun's rays. Then as evening approaches, they start to light up and provide beautiful illumination for your walkway or around the patio. Most of these types of patio lights are placed on posts or hang from a rod. There are also torch style patio lights, which are powered from gas and are lit on fire. These types of patio lights give the area an exotic glow and are also terrific for keeping pesky bugs away. If you decide to use this type of lighting, be sure they are placed in an area where children cannot reach them, and never leave these lights unsupervised. Most of these patio lights run off of a propane tank and can provide many hours of light before the tank needs to be refilled. These are just a few of the wonderful types of patio lights that will allow you to enjoy the great outdoors any time of the night.