Here's a simple, inexpensive, yet heavy duty way to store huge amounts of lights quickly and neatly.

I made this stand out of 1 inch square steel tube, added pipe, chain, and some miscellaneous hardware, and for a total price of about $50, I have the ultimate method of storing and feeding lights.  I am in the process of making a second one, with future plans of having about a half dozen or so.  Line them all up on the driveway, and just peel off whatever color and amount you need.  Because it folds flat, you can use leverage to your advantage when setting it up.  My 9 year old son can load up a 50 or 60 pound reel almost effortlessly.

The small plastic reel shown in the picture is loaded with 1,500 mini's, and the larger wooden reels that I use hold nearly 4,000.  You can make one of those with a single sheet of plywood, some redi rod and hardware, and a small piece of culvert or 6 inch PVC.  I'll get into that later.

 
This is all pretty self explanatory. From these pictures, you should be able to get a pretty good idea how this all works.  Email me with any questions if you need something clarified.

  << If you don't want to make your own reels, you can try to pick up a few of these one time use plastic ones from places like The Home Depot.  They come all spooled up with rope and chain.

To use leverage to setup a loaded stand, this bracket must be able to pivot. >>

That's about all I can think of to build the stands.  Make sure you use stainless hardware, rust paint, etc.  Feel free to Email me if you need some assistance.