- Make a quick sketch of your house and imagine where you want your Christmas lights. Or take a pic on your phone and use a drawing app to draw light lines. This planning will set you apart. Eves, pillars, posts, windows, doors, bushes, trees and planters can all have lights. Be creative. What does the perfect amount of lights look like? More lights isn’t always better.
- Choose your style. Classic or wild? Upscale or Eclectic. Plan from the beginning to use one style and stick to it. When you get a giant cartoon Santa standing next to a classic nativity scene it will kill your vibe. Embrace your single style.
- Choose your colors and shades, then buy extra lights. It will kill your look if you run out of lights, go back to the store, and buy a different brand that doesn’t match. You can always use extra lights. Buy 20% extra.
- Use the right equipment. A good ladder will save you time and be safe. Good extension cords made to be in the rain will stop your lights from going out. These are the most often overlooked tools and they are the main part of the process.
- Hide the wires. This takes a bit of time, but it will amaze your friends. Use white, brown, and green extension cords depending on the background color. This small detail is HUGE. Use zip ties to hide behind rain gutters. Run in cracks and under bushes as often as possible. You can even go as far as to bury parts of the cord if needed.
- Start at the outlet. Work your way along all the low spots then go up the building and finally onto the roof.
- Wrap lights around the base of trees and the bigger branches. You don’t need to do every branch for things to look good and you don’t need to get into the leaves. The lighting from underneath the leaves looks great.
- Use clips and stakes to keep your lights looking tight along paths and driveways.
- Buy commercial grade LED Christmas lights online. Walmart is tempting, but the lights may flicker, break, and they won’t last many years. In the long run you’ll save money and have better looking lights if you start with quality. There’s nothing worse than installing a great display and noticing that a couple strands have an annoying, cheap, flicker.
- Get started in November. You can delay turning them on. It will shock people when you turn on your display the day after Thanksgiving and it will give everyone a few extra days to feel the joy of Christmas. Being first to turn on your lights sets the tone for your family and neighborhood. Get festive.
- Use net lights on bushes to save time and have it look uniform.
- Think like a designer. You need balance. A roofline without windows and bushes below will feel unbalanced. Too much on the ground and nothing on the face of the house won’t feel right. Imagine starting on the roofline and hanging heavier density as you move down towards the base.
- Outdoor power stakes are a great option to supplement outdoor light sockets.
Now you know how the experts think about Christmas lights. You could pull this off yourself, but if you don’t feel like you have the time, then Electric Elf is here to help. Use our Christmas light quiz to see exactly how many feet of light you made need and then get a free instant quote to see what it would cost to have us do your lights. Save some time this Christmas so you can relax with your family.
