Outdoor Christmas Lights

2. LED Christmas lights emit diodes rather than traditional mini lights. An LED Christmas light does not have a filament inside that can burn out and take the entire strand of bulbs with it. C7 LED Christmas lights are a great choice because they do not emit excessive heat like incandescent bulbs can, and they use less electricity. Many folks simply love the bright, magical glow of LED Christmas lights and prefer the look over traditional Christmas lights.

3. The traditional clear mini Christmas lights are generally lit by incandescent lamps. These lamps produce a broad-spectrum white Christmas light and are colored by coating the glass envelope with a transparent or translucent paint that acts as a color filter. However, LED mini Christmas lights are now available as well. Now you get the small twinkle effect with less heat and less cost.

4. As a rule of thumb, plan on using 75 to 100 Christmas lights per foot of tree. So for a 6 foot Christmas tree: 450-600 lights, 7 foot tree: 525-700 lights, 8 foot tree: 600-800 lights, 9 foot tree: 675-900 lights. For the "twinkle" factor, some decorators will use 150 mini lights per foot.

5. The recommended maximum number of outdoor Christmas lights to interconnect or plug into each other is three sets. If you need to connect more string lights together, choose commercial LED Christmas lights using a power adapter. These can allow up to 125 mini light sets to be connected.

6. Do not mix and match outdoor Christmas light counts by connecting a 25 ct. string of lights into a 100 ct. or even 50 ct. outdoor Christmas light. If you plug in different count outdoor Christmas lights, the power draw is uneven and the higher wattage or power needed for a 100 ct. strong outdoor Christmas light could short out or cause a malfunction on the 25 ct. or 50 ct. string lights as it would flow excessive power.

7. Determine the location of your exterior outlet or run a heavy-duty extension cord from inside the house. Tape the cord down to avoid anyone tripping on it. We recommend you test your outdoor Christmas lights on a reliable inside outlet before hanging them on the house.

8. You could forget the hassles of the grid altogether and try out some solar Christmas lights this year. These Christmas lights soak up the sun's rays all day to keep your house twinkling and merry all evening. You can find solar Christmas light strand in a variety of colors. Blue Christmas lights are always a favorite choice due to their brilliance and white Christmas lights are something you simply can't go wrong with.

9. We recommend preparing your icicle lights for storage by labeling them with tags indicating the length and type of light. This will save you from having to unravel the entire strand and will make it easier to see what you already have for next year.

10. Net lights and tree wraps are becoming popular choices because they make for quick and easy holiday decorating. Net lights are generally tangle-free and offer uniformly spaced lighting that can quickly be placed on shrubs and bushes.

11. Holiday lights originated in Germany in the 17th century. They were in homes of only the very wealthy and the lights were actually candles. Electricity did not enter the picture until 1882 when Edward Johnson lit up a Christmas tree in New York City with 80 small electric bulbs.

Find more information in our LED Christmas Lights Helpful Information section!