A lot of the time we assume that decoration sometimes has little meaning and is just for aesthetics, but usually when you do more research you can discover that there is much more to what you see around you than you would originally assume.
A common example of this are the different colors of porch lights. Since colored lighting is becoming more and more popular, you will find yourself seeing a wide variety of different colors in porch lighting.
Something which not everyone knows is that different colors of porch lighting have different meanings.
Some of these meanings can be incredibly deep and you will want to know what you are representing, while others are a lot more casual, or just part of seasonal decoration.
While some people might overlook this, we think it is worth knowing what different porch light colors mean.
This way you can know what the people around you are trying to represent, and if there is anything you can do to represent something meaningful to you, or maybe you just want to express yourself through the lighting that you are using!
Quick Breakdown
While we can go into great detail, and this is what we intend to do in this guide, we will give you a quick overview so you have all the basic information if you want something quick before we go into much more detail.
Firstly, a green porch light will usually be in support of veterans, in support of the military, for St Patrick’s Day, or to support awareness of Lyme disease.
If you have blue porch lighting, this could represent support for the law enforcement, or for awareness of autism, it can also be part of alopecia areata as well!
If you are using red porch lighting this is often in support of the American Heart Association, however, it can also be in support of firefighters, or for Valentine's Day, however, red lighting is also sometimes connected to brothels as well.
You will find that purple porch lighting is usually used for personal taste, however, it can often be used as a way of showing support for victims of domestic violence.
You can find that orange porch lighting is commonly used to represent Justice, but can also commonly be found in October as decoration for Halloween as well.
While there are some common associations with yellow porch lighting, this is more often used to reduce bugs on the porch. Finally, pink porch lighting is used to bring awareness to breast cancer.
Before we get into the more in-depth descriptions, one of the best pieces of advice we can give if you want to start using colored porch lighting is to invest in a porch light bulb that can change to different colors.
These will usually cost more than a standard light bulb, however, they will save you from buying multiple colored bulbs and are perfect if you like changing up the color often, for example seasonally.
These lightbulbs can also have very aesthetically pleasing effects like changing between different colors for a rainbow effect, which would be perfect for Pride in June.
All Porch Light Color Meaning In Detail
This section of the guide will go into each of the main colors that are used in porch lighting to have different meanings.
There are different colors which can have different meanings, and some of the meanings can be wildly different, for example, blue could mean in support of police officers or supporting autism awareness which are wildly different meanings.
This is why we warn to be careful when choosing colors. For example, with something like blue, you can use extra decoration or signs if you want to make your specific meaning more clear!
The first color we will be going over is green porch lighting which surprisingly has some of the most meanings when it comes to porch lighting colors.
The main use of this lighting color is to show appreciation for veterans in the US as well as active members of the military as well.
Because of this, you are much more likely to find this color being used commonly around Veterans Day, and in times of military celebration.
So, if you want to show some support for the military, using green lighting on your porch is a good way to do this!
One of the other most common uses of green lighting you will find is for St Patrick’s Day. This will tend to be a lot more obvious and it will usually be accompanied by other decorations as well to make this meaning obvious, but if you are noticing more green lighting around this time of year, this is probably why.
For another seasonal meaning for green porch lighting, you can also find it being used for Memorial Day as well. It can also be used to bring awareness to Lyme disease as well.
There are some people who choose to keep green lighting around their house for the whole year, and there are some specific reasons for this.
The most common explanation for this is that the people who have green lighting throughout the whole year are doing so to show consistent support to the military.
For example, this can be done to show support to the local veterans, especially if you are living in a community that has a lot of veterans, it can be a great way to make these people feel more welcome in the area!
As we mentioned in the previous section, green lighting is also commonly used for Veterans Day, so if this occasion is important to you, we strongly recommend that you use green porch lighting for this time of year.
It is done to show appreciation for those who have served in the US military or those who are currently serving. The tradition for this began back in 2009 with the Moapa Valley Town Council doing this as a resolution to support veterans locally.
As we also mentioned, Lyme Disease awareness is also a common explanation for using this color porch lighting and it is a great way to do so. This is because this disease is often associated with the color, so it is a perfect way to bring awareness to it.
There are specific areas in the US like Old Lyme in Connecticut as well as San Antonio in Texas that use these green porch lights mainly in May, since this is the specific time of year for Lyme Disease Awareness.
In a similar fashion, in Kentucky, green porch lighting was used to remember those who lost their lives to COVID-19, this was an idea from the governor, and since so many people are still being affected, you can still see this often in the area.
Similarly to green lighting, there can be plenty of different meanings associated with blue lighting, however, unlike green lighting, this is most commonly used to bring awareness to specific causes.
These causes can be wildly different from each other, and this is why we always recommend using extra signs to represent your cause alongside other colors to ensure that people do not get confused with what you are trying to represent.
Some of the most common causes that are represented with blue lighting are Autism awareness, law enforcement support, as well as Alopecia Areata awareness. However, there are some people who use blue lighting just because it is their favorite color.
Something also worth keeping in mind if you plan to use blue lighting is that this color can be quite damaging to the eyes and it is actually proven to keep you awake for longer and can cause issues for those who struggle to sleep.
Because of this, we recommend turning off any blue porch lights a while before you plan to sleep just so none of these issues bother you!
The movement for using blue lights to support law enforcers was actually started back in 1989 when Dolly Craig’s son in law, an officer, was killed when on duty. This was then turned to Project Blue Light.
There is also the Ohio Blue campaign which also encourages people to use blue lighting to support law enforcers.
However, another common use of blue lighting is for Autism Awareness, and this is most commonly used in April with April 2nd specifically being the day for Autism awareness around the world.
You will often find big monuments lit in blue on this day. If you are planning to donate to charity throughout Autism Awareness month, or just in general, we recommend strongly researching the charities you are donating to since a lot have been known to cause more harm than good.
A good metric to use is to ask autistic people you know which autism awareness charities are actually beneficial to the cause.
Similarly to blue and green porch lights, there are plenty of different reasons why someone might have a red porch light, however, some of the most common reasons are in support of the American Heart Awareness month, or in support for firefighters.
However, it is also commonly used on holidays like Valentine’s Day, as well as a spooky color for Halloween.
It is also worth noting that red lighting specifically is often associated with brothels and similar places, so keep this in mind when choosing this color for your house.
When it comes to using red lighting, the best advice we can give is to try and be as tasteful as possible when it comes to how you are using it.
For example, we do not recommend using red lighting constantly all year round since this is when places might start to be seen as brothels.
However, if you are just using it for one month for Heart awareness with signs this will not be confused, or if it is being used for the Halloween season alongside Halloween decorations, this will be clear to those passing by.
As we just mentioned, one of the most common uses of a red porch light is in support of the American Heart Association. This specific color is used to show the desire for a lifestyle that will be healthy for your heart.
This is also a great opportunity to fundraise for groups like this as the lighting can gather a lot of attention.
We also mentioned that red porch lighting can often be used for holidays like Valentine’s Day and you can find this color being used quite often at this time of the year.
It is worth noting that red lighting can very easily look threatening if you use too much of it, and just a subtle amount can add the romantic touch you are looking for.
So, if this is what you want, try to find the balance that will work best for your space and will not overpower it either. Red lighting can be very distinct, so knowing where to use it is the best thing to do!
As we mentioned in the quick summary section, you will most commonly find purple porch lighting being used to bring awareness to domestic violence and its victims.
Because of this you will find purple porch lighting being used to show that there is no space for violence in the home, and as a way to honor those who have died because of domestic violence.
One of the most common uses of purple lighting is in October since this is Domestic Violence Awareness month.
This is not only used as a sign of awareness, but also as a sign that this needs to be stood up to, and the behavior that reinforces domestic violence needs to be stopped.
However, you will also find that there are a fair number of people that use purple porch lighting because it is their favorite color.
It is becoming a bit of a stereotype that people who love purple want to make sure everyone knows, and this can often be seen in the choice of porch lighting.
So, there is a good chance that this could also be used for this reason as well. Because of these mixed reasons, if you want to specifically use purple lighting for Domestic Violence Awareness, only use purple lighting in October, or make sure to add extra signs as well.
There are two pretty common explanations for orange porch lighting, however, they have wildly different meanings, so it is worth knowing what you are representing before choosing to use orange porch lighting.
One of the most common uses of orange porch lighting is for Halloween. Of course orange porch lighting is not the only way to represent Halloween, and the lighting will often be accompanied by spooky decorations as well.
You can also find different colors of lighting being used to represent Halloween as well, like green and red since they can also be seen as spooky colors.
If you are unsure if orange lighting is being used for Halloween, check the time of year since if it is October or just Fall in general, there is a good chance this is the reason.
Another reason why people might have orange lighting on their porch is for the Light up Delphi movement that was popular in 2017, however, you can still find some people doing this.
This movement encouraged people living in Delphi Indiana specifically to change the color of their porch lights to orange, and this was in honor of 2 teenage girls who were murdered in the area.
You could find local stores in the area selling these orange lights and the proceeds from the lights went to the families of the victims.
While yellow is quite a popular color, it is not that popular for lighting since it is often mistaken for sodium lighting which is quite outdated and inefficient. However, there is one common reason why some people use yellow porch lighting.
While there could be some more niche and symbolic reasons, you will usually find yellow porch lighting being used to discourage bugs from gathering on your porch.
So, if you struggle with bugs on your porch and you do not want to try more cruel methods, then using yellow lighting can be a more ethical method to discourage these critters.
The final color we will be covering in this guide is pink, which can actually be used as a porch light color quite often. The most common reason you will find pink porch lighting being used is in support of Breast Cancer awareness.
This is most common in October since this is the month that is most commonly attached to Breast Cancer awareness.
There have also been campaigns where people who buy pink light bulbs have the proceeds go straight to charity.
However, similarly to purple, pink is quite a popular favorite color, so you can often find this being used as a porch color which is being used to show off this taste.
If you specifically want to use pink lighting to support breast cancer awareness, then we recommend using extra signs to show this, especially if it is not October since the meaning is likely a little less obvious.
Conclusion
Hopefully this guide has given you all the information you need to know what all the different colors of porch lighting mean so you know how to use them all properly and without accidentally representing something you do not intend to.
This is why we will recommend that you use extra signs in cases where the meaning may not be that obvious. For causes which are charities, having a charity collection box is also a great way to do this!
It is also worth keeping in mind that there is not always a meaning behind the colors of porch lighting.
As we have been over in this article, a lot of porch lighting colors have different meanings, however, this is not always common knowledge, so a lot of people might just be using their favorite color or something that they think looks nice, so make sure to remember this before trying to guess.
Hi, I’m John Whitford, and I work as a tradesman. Having specialized in plumbing for over 15 years, I’ve worked in a number of environments, but my biggest business is for those who need help with day to day plumbing tasks in their homes.
I started AMDorm.com to provide handy information, advice and how-to guides to help others turn their homes into the house of their dreams!
