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Using expert recommendations, testing insights, and product research, she compiled a list of the best outdoor Christmas lights on the market, considering the durability, bulb shape, and performance of each pick. We found that these solar lights were quite tricky to set up, as the snowflakes get quite tangled in the wire. However, once they were installed, we loved the pretty white light, even though it was not the brightest. The lights turn on automatically at dusk, and on cloudy or overcast days when the solar panel doesn’t get enough light. These tasteful Christmas light displays offer simple, stylish ideas for how to add warmth and holiday curb appeal to your front yard or front porch while keeping it chic.
Use Warm Light
Since you’ll likely leave these glimmering decorations on display for at least a month (though we’re not knocking you if you leave them up past New Year’s), picking the right ones is key. Ahead, we’ve mapped out the best elements to think about when it comes to buying holiday-centric lights. If you want lights that can be operated via an app or a remote, check whether that’s included. Also, if you don’t have many outlets in your home, consider outdoor Christmas lights that are battery-powered or solar-powered to save yourself the trouble of dealing with extension cords. Christmas in the roaring 2020s means high-tech solutions to yesteryear's problems.
The Holiday Aisle LED Snowflake String Lights
She then shifted into freelancing, and spent 14 years writing for everyone from The Telegraph to The Sunday Times, Livingetc, Stylist and Woman & Home. She was then offered the job as Editor on Country Homes & Interiors, and now combines that role with writing for sister title homesandgardens.com. 'I like to use candles of different heights – it creates more of an atmosphere. And I especially like incorporating our metal chandelier which holds six or eight candles and looks incredibly festive dressed with foliage. For a chic Christmas effect, follow the line of your wreath with a neat row of lights, rather than letting them sag and swing.
Neighborhood Guides
As the picture so astutely points out, these waterproof globe lights plug into an outdoor electrical source, so you never have to worry about them going dim due to drained batteries or minimized solar power. Feel free to change the settings on the handy remote control, which can shift between eight different modes. We love that these battery-powered globe lights don’t require any outlets or extension cords so you can hang them wherever you want in your front yard.
Our pros like that they feature a remote to make operation easy, in addition to a timer function so you can automatically turn off your lights before heading off to bed. You can also adjust the lights' brightness and play around with eight different effect modes to create the perfect holiday scene. When it comes to smart outdoor lights, Philips has made some of our top-tested models, and their non-smart lights are still just as good.
Even better, the transparent wire helps the string blend in with its surroundings. With a protection rating of IP44, the strings are waterproof except for the plug. If you want to go all out on your outdoor Christmas lights — and we do mean all out — the Twinkly Smart String Lights are it. These WiFi-enabled Christmas lights offer 16 million color choices that can be programmed in an infinite number of moving, blinking and multicolored patterns. The location and type of lights you decide on will determine the best method of installation for each. There can be a lot of variables when it comes to creating outdoor Christmas light displays, but there are a few basics.
Touring the Christmas lights in Dyker Heights is bringing holiday cheer to Brooklyn, New York - CNN
Touring the Christmas lights in Dyker Heights is bringing holiday cheer to Brooklyn, New York.
Posted: Wed, 20 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
An Oklahoma man put up Christmas lights for his whole neighborhood - The Washington Post
An Oklahoma man put up Christmas lights for his whole neighborhood.
Posted: Sat, 23 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Their IP44 rating means they can resist rain and snow, although they are not waterproof. These lights come in a string of 50 or 100 on a white wire that matches the white bulbs. At 20 feet long, the 100-light string features bulbs that are spaced 2.2 inches apart, with an 18-inch lead from the male plug and a 6-inch tail before the female plug. The 50-bulb string is 11 feet long, with the same 18-inch lead and 6-inch tail, and 2.2 inch bulb spacing. Here are our favorites, from net lights to rope lights to twinkly LED lights that sync to your favorite holiday soundtrack.
As you might suspect, these lights aren’t the brightest option out there, and we found that they’re particularly dim when the weather is cloudy or rainy. The lights automatically turn on at dusk and stay on for up to eight hours, and they offer both solid or flashing light modes, which can be controlled from the back of the panel. However, the strand has a 12-foot lead wire, which we thought was unnecessarily long, as it cuts the lighted length down to 56 feet. If you want to display Christmas lights in a location where there isn’t an electrical outlet handy, the Touch of Eco LITEUP125 Solar String Lights are a pretty and convenient option. This strand of lights is 68 feet long with 125 small LED bulbs, and it’s connected to a small solar panel that you can clip onto a nearby surface or stake into the ground.
Create an Installation
'Colorful string lights are a popular choice for large gardens, where they can be wound around tree trunks, helping to evoke a winter wonderland for guests. Christmas foliage that may be covered in blossom in the spring or summer months can be given a festive glam-up during the holiday season – string lights simply replace petals for a pretty touch. Turn a tree into a talking point with a twist and turn of solar-powered or electrical lights around its trunk. It's the simplest of outdoor Christmas light ideas (although you can replicate it in miniature version on your indoor plants, too).
These rope-style lights feature LED bulbs inside clear PVC tubing, and they can be twisted and bent at any angle to easily match the space you’re decorating. These colored Christmas lights are UL-certified and waterproof, and during our testing, they held up perfectly through several days of heavy rain and winds. They have a 'Stay Lit' design that prevents the whole strand from going dark if one bulb burns out, but we did note that the construction isn’t quite as durable as other options. Still, we love that you can connect up to 30 strands on one outlet—ideal for decorating your house or yard—and the lights come with six spare bulbs and two fuses, allowing you to repair any issues quickly and easily. If tinier bulbs are more your style, these mini LEDs are a great option—they come in multi-color and warm white, and will give your tree (or roof, or wherever!) a pretty glow without the bulbs being too in-your-face.
Strip lights are an excellent option for even lighting along the lines of your house without the annoyance of a bulb going out mid-season. We tested this smart option from Govee, which adds extra convenience since everything can be controlled from your phone. While installing the strip light along the entire front of a house took over two hours, the instructions were rather intuitive, and setting up the app took less than five minutes.
What's more, each set can be connected to another so that your whole exterior light setup is synced. One reviewer notes, "I was very pleased with the colors and quality of these lights. I had one garland inside and one outside. Both worked great through the whole season." If you don’t have much time to hang outdoor Christmas lights, speed up the process with this snowflake projector. You can decorate your home in a flash and create the effect of falling snow either inside or outside your home thanks to an interchangeable flat base or ground stake. Our pros like that a remote comes included so you easily set a timer, change the light mode and more, though keep in mind that you’ll only be able to project snowflakes. They're also compatible with Google Assistant or Alexa, provided you have a smart speaker.
This single-house display opens every Christmas season to spread some Christmas cheer. Dog lovers will appreciate the "dog land" section, where light-up canines (including a boxer and a sleigh-riding dachshund) lend some ruff appeal to the Christmas cheer. The Altadena and San Marino versions of this lighted holiday pathway are twinsies.
Illuminating the outside of your home with Christmas lights is a fun way to send some festive vibes out into the world. Whether you celebrate Hanukkah or Christmas, Overland Avenue has light displays in abundance. The Herman family does their home up with dreidels, Jewish stars, and all things Hanukkah, and surrounding homes also deck their halls with flare. Six houses in a row time their lights to music, making this one of the biggest residential light shows in the state. If you're looking for the most holiday lights per square foot, Candy Cane Lane is your destination. The street itself is closed to cars, making for a delightful, one-block family stroll, and parking is available throughout the rest of the (well-decorated) neighborhood.
Errors will be corrected where discovered, and Lowe's reserves the right to revoke any stated offer and to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions including after an order has been submitted. The man who set himself on fire Friday outside the New York City courthouse where former President Trump is on trial died of his extensive injuries, authorities said. While Winter Wonderland is free, the owners gladly accept donations for Relay for Life (American Cancer Society), Casa Pacifica, and For the Troops (FTT). Last year, lights were on from 5pm to 10pm on weekends and 5pm to 9pm on weekdays.
