Festoon Lights: Buy or Hire in Brisbane? (2026 Cost Comparison)
Written by the Brisbane Marquee Sales team · Last updated September 2026
Hiring festoon lights in Brisbane runs about $22 to $44 per 10m to 25m run for a weekend, before poles, weights, delivery and installation. Buying outright starts at $99 for a 20m run you keep. The crossover is roughly three events: hire for a genuine one-off, buy if you will light the yard more than about three times.
Written by the Brisbane Marquee Sales team · Last updated September 2026
The short version
- Hire suits a single event where you want it installed for you and nothing left to store.
- Buying wins on cost from roughly the third event, and there is no bump-out, no return deadline and no damage or loss fees.
- Hire pricing is quoted per run. Poles, weight bags, dimmers, delivery and installation are usually charged on top, so the advertised figure is rarely the final one.
- Hire companies work a delivery radius. If you are outside a capital city, buying is often the only option available to you.
What does it cost to hire festoon lights in Brisbane?
Published Brisbane hire rates in September 2026 sit around $22 for a 10m run, $33 for 20m and $44 for a 25m connectable run, per event. Add-ons are separate: festoon poles from about $16.50 each, weight bags around $5.50, a dimmer around $5.50, plus delivery and, if you want it, installation and collection. A modest backyard setup of 40m on four poles lands well north of the headline number once the extras are counted.
What does it cost to buy festoon lights?
Weatherproof connectable LED festoon sets sell for roughly $80 to $200 for a 15m to 20m run in Australia. Our own range runs from $99 for 20m up to $499 for 120m, with one warm white bulb per metre, IP65 weather rating and a standard Australian plug. You own it, so the second event costs nothing.
Buy vs hire, side by side
| What matters | Hiring | Buying |
|---|---|---|
| Cost, 20m, one event | About $33 plus extras | $99 once |
| Cost, 20m, three events | About $99 plus extras each time | $99 total |
| Poles and weights | Charged per item, per event | Yours, or use existing structures |
| Delivery | Charged, within a service radius | Free Australia-wide |
| Installation | Available, charged | Do it yourself, plugs into a normal power point |
| Return deadline | Yes, bump-out is on their schedule | None |
| Damage or loss fees | Yes | None |
| Available outside your capital city | Usually not | Yes, we ship nationwide |
At how many events does buying become cheaper?
Three, near enough. A 20m run hired at about $33 reaches $99 on the third booking, which is what the same length costs to buy outright. Every event after that is free if you own them, and still $33 plus extras if you do not. If you are lighting a wedding and then never again, hire is genuinely the cheaper call and we would say so.
When hiring is the better choice
We sell these lights, so take this in the spirit it is meant: hire is the right answer for some jobs. Choose hire if it is a true one-off, if you want a professional crew to hang and remove everything on the day, if you need commercial-grade gear tested and certified for a licensed venue, or if you have nowhere to store 40m of cable. A hire company also carries the risk if a run fails mid-event.
How many metres do I actually need?
Measure the perimeter you want lit and add about 20 percent for droop and the run back to the power point. As a rough guide: a small courtyard or pergola takes 20m, a typical backyard party 40m, a marquee interior plus an entry path 50m, and a larger yard with a defined dance floor 70m or more. Bulbs sit one per metre, so a 40m run gives 40 bulbs.
| Setting | Suggested run | Bulbs |
|---|---|---|
| Courtyard or pergola | 20m | 20 |
| Typical backyard party | 40m | 40 |
| Marquee plus entry path | 50m | 50 |
| Large yard with dance floor | 70m | 70 |
Are the lights safe to leave out in the rain?
Ours are IP65 rated, which means they are sealed against dust and protected against water jets from any direction, so ordinary Queensland rain is not a problem. The bulbs are LED in shatter-resistant polycarbonate rather than glass, which matters if they are hanging over a table. They plug into a normal Australian power point on an approved plug. Bring the transformer end in out of standing water and they are fine left up between events.
Can I join runs together?
Yes. The runs are connectable end to end, so two 40m lengths cover 80m from a single power point. That is the practical reason buying scales better than hiring: adding another 20m to a set you own costs $99 once, where hiring the same extra run costs again at every event.
Can I hire festoon lights outside Brisbane?
Often not. Festoon hire is a logistics business built on a delivery and collection radius, which is why the operators are named for their city. If you are in regional Queensland, or in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia or Western Australia outside the metro fringe, the hire options thin out fast. Buying removes the radius problem entirely: we deliver free Australia-wide and dispatch in about 2 business days.
What we recommend
One event in a capital city with a crew doing the work: hire it. Anything you will repeat, anywhere outside a hire company's radius, or any yard you want lit on a whim through summer: buy it, because you pass the break-even in about three uses and then it is free forever. Our festoon lights run from 20m at $99 to 120m at $499, with free delivery Australia-wide. See the festoon light range and lengths, or pair them with a marquee using the marquee size calculator.