How to (SAFELY) Hang your Christmas Lights

And should you do it yourself?

It’s that time of year. We’ve finished our Thanksgiving meals that took 2 weeks to buy, 5 hours to make and 15 minutes to eat. Now, on to the Christmas decorations. We put the tree up over the weekend, but that’s the easy part. Now it’s time to tackle outside…but we’re currently staring at a pile of lights that looks like it was put away, casually.

Anyone have a sword?

How should we tackle this job?

First, take an inventory. How many strings of lights do you have? How many do you think you need? Do all of them work? Now is the time to go to the store to supplement your “collection.” Now is also the time to detangle and organize.

Second, make a plan. Measure the places where you plan to string your lights. Consider the eaves, gutters and the window frames. This is obviously harder when it comes to trees (we’ll get to trees). Now refer back to the above, do you have enough lights? And if not, make sure that the lights you buy match the lights you own.

There had to be a plan here…right?

Next, begin stringing by placing the first bulb from the male end of a light strand on the corner of your eave that’s closest to an outlet. Extend the line around the exterior of the house, keeping the string taut (this means to maintain tension…just in case you weren’t sure). Gutter clips can be used to secure the lights. We suggest buying a bunch of these, they’ll be handy and they’re inexpensive. Try and find an outdoor use extension cord that will match your home’s exterior to connect the lights to an outlet. Also, please be careful if you’re on a ladder.

Don’t be these guys.

For a moment, let’s go back to stringing trees. While doing some research, we came across this note:

…wrap regular minilights around the trunk and branches. To determine how many feet of lighting you need, divide the height of the trunk by the desired spacing between each strip of lights; about 3 inches is ideal. Then multiply that number by the trunk’s circumference. Do the same calculation for any large branches you want to wrap. First, wind the lights up the tree, leaving about 6 inches between each pass. Continue on to the branches, then wrap back down into the empty spaces. That will give you the desired 3-inch spacing. So, for a 6-foot-tall trunk with a circumference of 2 feet, divide 72 inches by 3 inches of spacing, for a total of 24. Multiply 24 by the 2-foot circumference, for 48 feet of lights.

If you’re like us, you read that and thought that there wasn’t going to be any math.

Now, if you read the explanation on how to calculate the lights you need for trees and thought, “No. Not doing that.” We have a solution, it’s called Christmas Décor, a division of Halo Outdoor. We’ll design and install a Holiday Lighting System for you that will make your home or business look INCREDIBLE. Christmas Décor is a white-glove service. We design, install, remove and store so that you are ready for next year. And we keep you off the ladder.