Welcome the holiday season by illuminating your home with Christmas lights. An essential addition to your Christmas decorations, hanging Christmas lights takes some effort, but that doesn't mean it also has to be a hassle. In this guide, learn how to hang Christmas lights inside and outside of your home without losing your holiday cheer.

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In This Guide:

Hanging Christmas Lights Outdoors
Hanging Christmas Lights Indoors
Fixing Christmas Lights
Storing Christmas Lights

Insider Tips: Christmas Lights

• Determine which type of Christmas lights will suit your home before purchase.
• Step up your Christmas light game with timers that will automatically turn them off after a set amount of time.
• Protect your home by hanging Christmas lights on plastic hanging clips rather than nails.

How to Hang Outdoor Christmas Lights

What You'll Need:

• The appropriate amount of Christmas lights
• Extension cords
• Measuring tape
• Plastic light clips or nails
• Light timer (optional)
• Ladder (optional)
• Paint roller extension pole (optional)

Step 1: Decide on Placement

First, determine where you'd like to hang lights outside of your home. If you're not planning on using battery-powered lights, make sure your home has at least one accessible outdoor outlet (or heavy-duty extension cord). You can place lights lining your doorways, windows, gutters, eaves and outdoor pathways, or wrap lights around trees, shrubbery, lamp posts and railings – just keep in mind that you'll need to be able to safely access the locations you plan on hanging your lights.

Step 2: Measure

Using a long tape measure, measure all the surfaces you're planning on lighting. Measure the distance between placements (e.g. from the door to the window) as well as the distance from the outlet or extension cord to the first strand's location. Measure around the trunks and branches of the trees and bushes and note their height and width.

Step 3: Gather your Christmas Lights

Using the measurements you just found, calculate how many strands of lights you'll need. Using longer strands means you won't have to manage as many connections, but shorter strands are brighter and easier to position and replace if necessary.

A good rule of thumb is to use 100 lights per 1' of height on a tree or bush. For dense trees, use 150 lights per 1' of tree height. If you plan on only placing lights on the front of a bush or if your tree is slender, you can use fewer lights per foot.

If you plan on stringing lights along your eaves or gutters, just choose lights that match the length of the area. Typically, bulbs on 100-light strings will be spaced 3", 4" or 6" apart, with respective total measurements of 25', 34' and 50'. To find the length of a cord of lights, check out the Dimensions & Specifications tab in the Product Description.

Make sure you're looking for strands with a plug on one end and a socket on the other, and keep in mind that the colors of LED and incandescent bulbs may not match precisely. It's also a good idea to match the Christmas light wire colour to the surface you'd like to hang it on – green wire for greenery and white wire if you have light-coloured surfaces.

Tip: Icicle lights look pretty hung from eaves and drain pipes whereas net lights can save you a lot of time when lighting trees and bushes.

Step 4: Test your Christmas Lights

Plug each of your strands into an outlet to test whether they work.

Step 5: If necessary, Fix Faulty Light Strands

If any of your strands aren't working properly, skip to our section on how to fix broken Christmas lights to see if you can restore them yourself.

Step 6: Set up Extension Cords & Accessories

Place your extension cords and accessories, such as an outdoor Christmas light timer, first.

Step 7: Hang Lights From the Ground up

Starting from the outlet, extension cord or timer, string your Christmas lights on low surfaces first, then work your way up and away from the outlet. Make sure to plug each strand of Christmas lights into the preceding one as you go.

To hang Christmas lights on your home's exterior without nails (these can damage your home) invest in plastic Christmas light clips that are meant for use on your home. There are variations available that allow you to clip lights to banisters, siding, gutters and roof ridges and eaves without gutters. Space the clips 12" apart on each strand.

If you're using a ladder to reach high places, make sure you're placing it on sturdy, level ground and are using it according to the safety instructions. To prevent gutter damage, make sure to use a ladder with brackets or extensions made specifically to protect gutters.

When hanging lights on hard-to-reach tree branches, consider using a long pole, like a paint roller extension pole or a pole made specifically for hanging lights, rather than climbing a ladder.

Step 8: Marvel at Your Work

Once all your lights are hung, it's time to admire all your hard work. If at any point your lights stop working, remove and test the first dark strand in the line for faulty bulbs or blown fuses. Replace if necessary.

How to Hang Indoor Christmas Lights

The steps for hanging Christmas lights indoors are the same as outdoors, with a few alterations.

Indoor Christmas lights look great as part of a Christmas window display, strung along doorways and mantels, wrapped around banisters and ceiling beams, and of course, illuminating a Christmas tree. Make sure you have outlets accessible or extension cords where necessary.

Measure, gather, test, fix and hang your indoor lights according to the above instructions. Adhesive hooks are a great alternative to nails, hooks or screws that may damage your walls. As always, follow safety instructions when using a ladder to hang Christmas lights in high places.

Tip: For an overview of how to hang Christmas lights on a Christmas tree, check out our guide on How to Put Lights on a Christmas Tree Like a Pro.

Fixing Broken Christmas Lights

What You'll Need:

• Additional bulbs
• Additional fuses
• Multimeter
• Pliers
• Gloves

Before you replace any missing or broken parts, you must unplug your lights or you can risk electrocution.

Step 1: Replace Missing or Broken Bulbs

If half of an incandescent strand isn't working, check for missing or burnt-out bulbs. If you find any, unplug the string and carefully replace the faulty bulbs – use gloves and pliers on mini bulbs and unscrew larger bulbs.

If an LED strand isn't lighting, unplug the strand and use pliers and gloves to remove and check every bulb along the string to ensure that the wire prongs in the socket line up with the wiring of the LED bulbs. Replace faulty bulbs or carefully reposition the socket wiring if it appears out of place.

Step 2: Check For and Replace Blown Fuses

If a strand of incandescent lights still isn't working after you've checked the bulbs, a fuse may have blown. Unplug the strand, locate the fuses behind a small trapdoor in the plug, check visually whether their internal wiring is intact and test them using a multimeter. If the fuse has blown, the multimeter will not detect a charge. Replace if broken.

Step 3: Replace Faulty Christmas Lights

If an LED strand still isn't working after you've checked all of its bulbs, a blown fuse would indicate much more complicated problems that may be beyond an the average person's abilities to fix. We recommend replacing the strand completely.

How to Store Christmas Lights

Christmas light storage makes taking down lights even easier and ensures they are working properly every year.

Invest in a few Christmas light storage wheels. Simply wrap your string lights around the wheel as you take them down and store it somewhere safe. Taking your lights out of storage the next year will be as simple. Just unwrap them – you won't have to worry about untangling masses of knotted lights.

You can take your light storage a step further with a storage bag made specifically for the organisation, storage and protection of string lights.

Tip: For more festive ideas and inspiration, check out:

• How to Decorate for Christmas
• 11 Ways to Decorate With a Wreath
• DIY Christmas Table Decorations to Keep You Merry and Bright