You don’t need snow on Christmas to get into the spirit of the holiday. Hanging Christmas lights outside is a time-honored tradition, whether you go for a few tasteful touches or an all-out show-stopper that puts every other house on the block to shame. Be creative, stay safe and use this handy guide to learn how to hang Christmas lights outside your Austin home!

Preparation

Don’t get the ladder out of the garage until you’ve taken some preparatory steps to make sure the decorating process goes smoothly!

• Before you start hanging Christmas lights outside, test each light string for burned-out bulbs and replace bulbs if necessary.
• Know your lights. Traditional holiday lights use cone-shaped C7 or C9 bulbs, which are available at practically every home improvement and convenience store. Wondering how to tell the difference between the two? C9 bulbs are a little bigger and take slightly more wattage. An increasingly popular alternative is LED lighting, which is more expensive but uses far less electricity.
• Measure in advance! If you know the length of every gutter, eave, roof line, window frame and porch column you intend to hang lights from, then you’ll know exactly how many strings of lights you’ll need.
• When you take down your lights, store them neatly. This way, you don’t have to start out with a maddening bird’s nest of lights next year!

Safety first

Climbing ladders and working with electricity come with inherent dangers. Make sure to use caution and follow these safety tips while you learn how to hang Christmas lights.

• Only use lights that are waterproof and have been designed specifically for outdoor use.
• Don’t use staples or nails to attach lights, as these may damage your roof and could puncture light strings, causing an electrical hazard. Shingle tab or parapet clips are a safer and more modern way to hang Christmas lights outside.
• If you’re hanging lights from high places, use a strong ladder and have a buddy around to keep the ladder steady while you’re climbing.
• Don’t overload your circuits with too many lights! If other lights in your house get dimmer when you turn the Christmas lights on, the load is too great. Include no more than 1,400 Watts on a circuit.

Design tips

Sometimes less is more, but that’s not always the case. However you plan to arrange your lights, a little design know-how can mean the difference between a stylish light show and a cluttered mess.

• Start small if you’re a novice. Lighting just one or two items—like trees or bushes—will create a focal point and give your property a festive look with minimal effort. (Even if you’re doing large-scale lighting, it still helps to have a focal point.)
• To illuminate columns and tree trunks, start at the bottom and work your way upward in a spiral pattern.
• Use LED lights to outline driveways, walkways and paths, which will give your home more dimension.
• To light up shrubs and evergreen trees, use net lights. These lights come in the form of an interconnected mesh rather than a single strand, making it easier to illuminate brushy trees without tangles.

Christmas is on the way and it’s time your house looked the part! Follow these tips on how to hang Christmas lights in a safe and secure manner – oh, and don’t forget to be creative. Whether you keep it simple or dress your house to the nines, hanging Christmas lights outside lets your personality shine through!