Least-network-invasive "smart" lights?

In a perfect world, I'd have gone berzerk and run a 3-way switch setup so I could turn the exterior lights of the detached shop on from the house. But that would have been bonkers given the locations. The back porch, the house panel, and the exit run to the shop are at three corners of our house, and that ship sailed quite a while ago.

What I would like in lieu of that is two switches, one in the house and one in the shop, controlling two lights (which are on the same switch, so currently turned on/off by one switch in the shop).

In a perfect world, I wouldn't be adding random commodity electronics to my network, and I wouldn't be using an app. In that perfect world the two switches would control the bulbs, and talk only to each other. 

But we live in this world. I'm a bit lost in the soup of protocols and implementations. I'm kind of the opposite of interested in other Smart Home stuff; I don't want the functionality and it all feels invasive.

I *think* I'm leaning toward Philips Hue stuff, which, if I understand correctly, should all communicate over Zigbee, and once everything is configured I should have, at most, one "bridge" on my network (so only one thing to lock down at the router) and the switches and bulbs shouldn't be on my network at all.

Anybody been through this and arrived at a solid conclusion?

You can reflash all kinds of privacy-invasive commercial junk smart bulbs with an open-source firmware called Tasmota, this shop sells pre-flashed hardware:

https://www.athom.tech/products

In reply to GameboyRMH :

That's interesting stuff. I already use a Tasmota plug for power control of my 3D printer from OctoPrint by pure coincidence. That said, it looks like turning this project into a bit more of a hobby endeavor than I was hoping for, and they don't actually seem to show a simple unwired switch, so it looks like I'd be stuck using an app to turn lights on and off.

Er, per your comment, I might be able to find switches I can flash, but again, down the DIY rabbit hole.

I did just unfortunately find out that while Philips has better than average chat support, the Hue setup relies on the Zigbee network being able to span the distance in order to work, which sounds like it's possible but a substantial gamble in my case.

I’ve been using Lutron caseta wireless. Basically you replace one switch with the Lutron. Then there is an aux switch that mounts anywhere you want that communicates wirelessly to the main switch. I used it so I can turn on my flood lights from the front door or the garage. Also used it for smart scheduling on some other outdoor lights.