Just bought 6 strings of LED christmas lights (about 500 LEDS) for under $15, including tax. Wish I had remember to go looking sooner, only 2 strings of whites. These are all fairly bright LEDs for just a few pennies each. If we get done early at work tomorrow, might try a few more stores for more whites
Wanted to get a couple dozen white LEDs for a worklight on my drill press, but didn't want to spend $20. It was just dumb luck I walked by the christmas stuff and remembered LEDs.
Anyway, if you ar looking for large quantities very cheap best get on it, don't think this is an original idea.