Candy Cane Lane has become a beloved annual holiday tradition in San Marcos, Ca. With the help of several Dads each year, a quiet suburban street is transformed into a winter wonderland. The event includes an FM radio-synched light show with music, dazzling displays, over a thousand candy canes lining the streets and even snow showers for kids to play in. Hundreds of families come from all over to enjoy this event each year.

In order to run this annual event, hundreds of extension cords are required to connect Christmas lights across many homes. For many years, homeowners on Candy Cane Lane had their outdoor GFCIs getting tripped because rain was getting into the extension cord plug connections. As a result, the lights turned off in the middle of the show, disappointing our own kids and those visitors watching the show.

It was painful for homeowners to go outside in the dark during the cold and rain, hunt down with a flashlight which plug had the moisture in it, try and dry it out all while it is wet out only to find out that a fuse may have also been blown in the string of lights. Then, trying to reset the GFCI outlet multiple times only to see it get tripped again or not even reset was the worst!

Homeowners also tried using electrical tape (or even electrical tape plus plastic bags) around the plug connections only to find that this kept moisture in the plug or allowed rainwater to still enter into the plug, causing a GFCI to trip. Then, trying to take off the wet tape to be replaced with dry tape was an extremely inconvenient task and still did not work. When it came to taking down the lights for storage, the tape had to be removed in order to unplug the lights and this was just too much work with little or no return.

Some homeowners also tried those large, bulky green plug cover tubes but those were so expensive (~$6 each to just cover a single plug) and they were also very bulky and difficult to close or seal properly with large or multiple plugs connected.

It was so frustrating and there had to be a better way to easily keep water out!

PlugShields was launched to specifically address the problems described above. PlugShields will protect your plugs no matter what the weather. They are small, flexible, discreet and fit easily in between outdoor holiday light string plug connections or outdoor extension cord plug connections. They can be used again and again and can easily be stored with your extension cords or holiday light strings just by leaving them attached to the male plug. Thay are also intended to be affordable for all households.

Today, Candy Cane Lane is still going strong and with no GFCIs getting tripped, and PlugShields are now used by homeowners all over the country to protect their plug connections. It just goes to show that with a little ingenuity and creativity, even the smallest problem can lead to a big success story.

We hope you truly enjoy this innovative solution for years to come.