All About Traditional Christmas: Outdoor Christmas Lights and Decorations

Outdoor Christmas lights transform a house into a magical wonderland. Today, with more types of Christmas lights than ever before, choosing the right type of lights to set the ambiance can be confusing and overwhelming. Do you want to use a Christmas rope light or icicle lights? Will LED Christmas lights lower your electric bill? And then there are outdoor decorations to consider: do you want a brilliant Santa and sleigh or twinkling Christmas candles on the lawn?

Types of Outdoor Christmas Lights
Christmas lighting has evolved since you watched your dad teetering on an icy ladder looking for that elusive burnt out bulb or wrapping a tangled mess of lights around the front yard trees. Modern Christmas lights take much of the hassle out of decorating the house in the interior as well as the exterior.

Christmas Rope Light
A Christmas rope light is one of the easiest types of Christmas outdoor lights to install. Christmas rope light is a flexible, bendable tube of lights that is used to frame doors, windows and the side of the house. A Christmas rope light is also flexible enough to wind up tree trunks and light posts.

Christmas rope light is usually made up of bulbs of a uniform color: soft blues and whites are the most popular color choices. A Christmas rope light may emit a continuous glow or come in chasing patterns for those who prefer movement and action in their Christmas outdoor decorations.

Icicle Lighting
Icicle lighting consists of multiple strings of lights hanging down from a main cord of Christmas lights to give the illusion of icicles. To further the illusion the strings are all different lengths and are usually composed of small white bulbs. Icicle Christmas lights are generally hung from the eaves of a house to complete the icicle effect.

Net Lights
Net lights are woven mesh nets of lights useful for wrapping around shrubs, hedges, and small trees. They facilitate tree decorating by preventing you from having to wind a single strand of lights around a tree multiple times.

LED Christmas Lights
LED Christmas lights are longer lasting than traditional Christmas lighting. A string of LED Christmas lights generates less heat than ordinary bulbs and consumes less energy than other outdoor lights. Although the initial cost of LED lights is more expensive than other forms of Christmas lighting, over time, LED lights can save you a fortune in electric bills.

However, not all types of outdoor Christmas lights have an LED equivalent. At the moment, LED Christmas lights are most often used in Christmas rope lights.

Outdoor Christmas Decorations
Christmas lighting is the tip of the electric iceberg for the true Christmas decoration lover. Outdoor Christmas decorations come in a bewildering array of forms. You could march two-foot tall, electrically lit plastic Christmas candles up your driveway, or center Christmas lights in the shape of Christmas candles in your windows. Alternatively, you could pepper real candles in your windowsills and throughout the rest of your house.

When setting up Christmas lighting in conjunction with an outdoor Christmas scene, you should choose lighting appropriate to the theme of your Christmas decorations. While soft spotlights should light wooden nativity scenes, Santas on sleighs or giant inflatable snowmen tend to demand louder, more garish lighting.

Outdoor Christmas Lights and Safety:

Check all strands of Christmas lights before installing them — replace broken or burned out bulbs and ensure that there is no damage to insulating cords or sockets and that all bulbs are secure.
Check all extension cords before plugging in lights or other lighted decorations — they should reach their location without straining on the plug and the insulation should not be frayed or otherwise damaged.
If hanging Christmas lights outside, use only lights that are designated by the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) for outdoor use and that have fused plugs. Lights for indoor use are not to be used outside.
Make hanging Christmas lights easier each year by screwing small hooks into the eaves — this is also safer and tidier than using staples or nails.
Mini lights create less heat than large bulbs and are perfect for decorating deciduous trees, bushes and outdoor columns.
When putting up standing rooftop decorations, ensure the base matches the pitch of your roof (you can custom make bases with 2x4s — attach one vertically to the decoration to support its height and one at the base matching the angle of the roof).
Weigh down all standing outdoor Christmas decorations with sandbags.
If your rooftop, lawn or other outdoor decorations are lighted, only use bulbs with the correct rating — this information is generally printed right on the socket.
Unplug all lights and other outdoor decorations before going to sleep each night or leaving your home.
Plug no more than three strings of Christmas lights or other outdoor decorations into a single extension cord. Connecting more can cause an overload to your system.
Plug all extension cords, outdoor Christmas lights and decorations into a GFCI outlet.