A Guide to Outdoor Christmas Lights

The holiday season is here again, and if your goal is to have the most impressive house on the block, we support you! But before you haul out the holly and put up the brightest string of lights you’ve ever seen, let’s do a little planning.

Here are our tips for decorating your home with Christmas lights, from the windows to the walls. We’ll explore different types of holiday lighting, share safety tips, show you how to hang lights around your house, and more.

Look over this list of the most popular outdoor Christmas lights.

• String lights : Available in LED or incandescent options, these are the most common lights used during the holiday season.
• Rope lights : These are perfect for outlining walkways, doorways, and windows. They can also create intricate designs and shapes.
• Icicle lights : This kind of strand has long illuminated sections that look like dangling icicles.
• Net lights : Designed in a grid instead of a single strand, a set of net lights quickly covers a large area—ideal for bushes and shrubbery.
• Pathway lights : Line your walkway, driveway, or garden paths with these stake-in lights. They come in seasonal shapes like snowflakes, candy canes, or C9 bulbs.
• Large-bulb lights : C5, C7, and C9 bulbs offer a retro vibe with their bright colors and larger size. Available in LED or incandescent versions, they’re perfect for roofs, walkways, and trees.
• Projection lights : Use these to project moving or static images on large surfaces like garage doors.
• Cluster lights : These strands' bulbs are closely packed together to create a dense, bright effect. For a fuller look, wrap them around wreaths, trees, or bushes.
• Fairy lights  : Little LED lights that glow or twinkle softly for a whimsical effect.
• Pre-lit outdoor decor : Simplify your outdoor decorating with pre-lit artificial trees, reindeer, nutcracker statues, garlands, wreaths, and other festive yard ornaments.
• Animated lights : Also called smart lights, they change color, flash in patterns, or can be synced to music via remote control or app.

Before you start shopping for lights, consider how much work you’re willing to put into hanging them—don’t forget, you’ll have to take them down after the holidays.

Do you want a simple setup like lining your windows and front door with a few strands of LED lights? Or are you ready to go all out, Clark Griswold-style, and cover your house with 250 strands of imported Italian twinkle lights, each with 100 individual bulbs, for a grand total of 25,000 lights? The choice is entirely up to you.

Now that you’ve chosen your workload, it’s time to figure out how many lights you’ll need.

• When decorating your home's eaves and awnings, start with 60 feet of string or icicle lights. Add another 10–12 feet of lights for every eave or awning you plan to decorate.
• For trees, use 100 mini lights or 50 C7 lights per vertical foot. Use half that amount for thinner trees.
• Depending on how tight you want to cover them, use 9–10 feet of rope lights to wrap sections of porch railings.
• To decorate your garage door, measure its perimeter and plan to use 16–20 feet of lights for a single-car bay or 32–40 feet for a two-car bay.
• For windows, use 10–12 feet of string lights per standard frame.

Safety first, everyone. Read these tips on how to hang Christmas lights safely.

• Use a fiberglass ladder over one made from aluminum, as the former is heat tolerant and resistant to electricity.
• Test your lights before hanging them, and replace any dead bulbs. Burned-out bulbs drain power and will dim the other bulbs in the strand.
• Don’t use nails, staples, screws, or hooks to hang Christmas lights. Light clips are a better, safer option.
• Use outdoor-rated lights and extension cords.
• Don’t string too many lights together. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions regarding how many strands you can safely connect.
• Don’t overload your circuit. You’ll know you have if other lights in your house dim whenever you turn the outside strands on.
• Avoid tripping hazards by securing your electrical cords with gaffer’s tape.
• Don’t connect LED lights with incandescent lights. The two don’t perform well together, so stick with one type.
• Always unplug your lights when not in use—automatic light timers are highly recommended.

Follow these steps to create a dazzling display for passersby.