If you have an open air patio in your house, you have an advantage over most other home owners there. Doing something with your patio to make it more beautiful is a good idea, but there is always the expense that has to be factored in. If you want to do something yet spend the barest minimum necessary, it is still possible. Just installing a couple of patio lights and putting in a patio umbrella would liven up the place significantly.
Patio umbrellas come in different forms, starting from the ones that are easily dismantled to the more permanent ones. These can range in materials from ordinary or canvas cloth, to thatch or shingles or tiles or anything else that you want. The only thing to remember would be to put in a sufficiently large one so that it will provide some protection from the elements; a beach umbrella sized one is probably not enough.
When doing this, looking for a few good patio umbrella lights are a good idea. Putting in a really powerful light mounted on the wall may not be what you want, and will in fact spoil the entire effect of making it a relaxing outdoor spot. Putting in floor mounted low intensity patio light will definitely help, but will be a mite expensive. The best thing in this case would be to install patio umbrella lights. These lights are manufactured specifically for installation in patio umbrellas and come in different designs and colors. You get simple ones that are mounted on the umbrella stand and have four small bulbs that give off light in four directions to more elaborate ones that follow the edges of the umbrella, or even the inside canopy.
The color and size of the lamps that you want to install are purely a matter of choice; there is no one thing that is better than the other. Most of these lamps give off a very subdued glow or give you the option of turning on a certain number so that you get the quantity of light that you desire. Most households would rather go for the plain white or the orangish ones, but there are a variety of colors to choose from, starting from bold single colors to multi colors with a multi-selector switch to choose the pattern that you want. If you organize parties quite often it might be a good idea to go with these because they give you the choice of either going with a subdued blue or orange glow when you want to relax, and also upping the tempo when you want things a little more lively.
Using a combination of different patio umbrella lights is also a good idea; putting in a few small lantern shaped ones on the periphery with colored ones that follow the ribs in the canopy will be very nice to look at and will also not cost too much more. You also have the option of choosing to switch on either one or both of them depending on your mood.
Patio umbrella lights are not too expensive and can be purchased starting from a low $10 to $15 for the really simple ones. You get slightly better quality ones at between the $30 and $50 range and these are usually more than sufficient for most needs. Going in for the really expensive ones is usually not needed unless you want to make an impression with your lights. Search on the internet for all the different varieties out there so that you can do the window shopping from the comfort of your home. It will also give you an idea of the cost of the different products, so that you can compare prices with the in-store ones to find out whether the discount offered at most online stores is really worth paying your money upfront and waiting three or four days to get a look at your purchase.