Whether you’re building an outdoor winter wonderland or creating an indoor holiday haven, Christmas lights are where you should start, because, let’s face it, nothing will bring more holiday magic then a dazzling light display.
There are so many sizes, colors, and models of Christmas lights that are available in stores at this time of the year, so shopping might seem a bit daunting when choices are basically unlimited. We’ve created this quick buying guide that outlines the important differences between sets, as well as some tips and tricks so that your house be at its best this holiday season.
Some important points to begin
- Where you’ll be decorating: indoor and outdoor decorations have different specifications. It’s also important to consider the whole when decorating outdoors, but indoors, you can separate the decor by rooms
- Scale of your project: Decide how big you to want to go with your Christmas decorations, how much time you can put into it and are willing to spend on the project
- Dimensions: You’ll need to measure all surfaces where you want to add lights so that you can know how many strands of lights you’ll need
- Color scheme: As with any decor project, you should establish a color scheme beforehand. Decide whether you want cool white, warm white, or colorful light strands to complement your Christmas decor
Traditional or LED Christmas lights ?
LED Christmas light strands are very popular right now, and for good reasons too! These types of lights are:
- More energy efficient than classic incandescent Christmas lights
LED lights emit no heat, and are cool to the touch - No fears of overheating
- More durable than incandescent bulbs
- Lifespan of up to 20 times longer – so really, you can go ahead and keep your Christmas tree glowing all season long!
Cold or warm tone Christmas lights ?
Within our LED light selection, we have a wide variety of colors, bulb sizes, and shapes, as well as specialty lights like hanging icicles. The strand of lights that you choose will depend largely on what kind of Christmas decorations you have chosen for your home this year. If you’re planning on going classic and going for white lights, know that there are three types of white lighting available: Pure White, Warm White, and Cool White – and each gives a distinct look to your decor.
Certain elements in Christmas decors may require – or just look better – with lighting, but an outlet is not necessarily available where you plan to place your piece. This is obviously a problem. Thankfully, our inventory of Christmas lights has just the solution. While most of our lights are traditional electric with a plug and socket, we do have an inventory of battery powered lights for indoors and outdoors. Battery powered lights are perfect for accentuate custom holiday floral arrangements, whether they’re for indoors or outdoors. They are also widely used in DIY projects, like centerpieces or Christmas wreaths, when using an electric set of lights might not make sense.
When shopping for your Christmas lights, you may also notice that the cords are available in different colors. Christmas lights with green-colored cords are perfect for placing in your Christmas tree, or in other greenery, be it indoors or outdoors. Green colored cords also work well against darker toned surfaces as they will not contrast as much. We also offer light strands with white cords for paler surfaces – these look great against white siding as they really let the lights shine! Our battery powered LED Christmas lights all come equipped with very thin light strands which easily blend into whatever you’re putting them in which makes it look like the lights are floating!
A curtain of lights or LED micro-lights?
Did you know that there are several types of Christmas lights? Indeed, there are not only classic lights for the tree. It can be, for example, a curtain of lights that you can use to decorate a door or a window! You can even have fun with branches of lights or garlands of twinkling micro-LEDs… some lights are even submersible! The possibilities are endless to create the Christmas decoration of your dreams.
Indoor or outdoor Christmas lights ?
When you’re planning for indoor or outdoor Christmas decoration, it’s very important to purchase the right lights. Outdoor lights can generally be used indoors and outdoors. They are weather-resistant and can, therefore, withstand the cold weather that are common at this time of the year. Indoor lights, on the other hand, can only be used indoors as they are not built to be left outside, especially not with a bad weather. If your Christmas decorations are for both indoors and outdoors, you’ll need to measure them separately in order to ensure that you have enough of each type of strand for both projects.
A pre-lit Christmas tree ?
Finally, as a bonus tip, let’s talk Christmas trees. Most of the Christmas trees at Décors Véronneau come equipped with LED lights so that you don’t have to put them up yourself, just plug and go! Having the lights already set in your tree can make you wonder what to do with your set once a lightbulb burns out. The way that our trees are made is that is if one bulb burns out, the rest will continue to work. Luckily, all of our trees are also sold with replacement bulbs, so it’s easy to keep your tree looking its best throughout the holiday season.
Whether it’s for your Christmas tree or any strand of lights, we suggest checking them for burnt lights, and removing the ones that no longer work so that installation is easier the next year. Proper storage is also essential to keep your Christmas lights working for years to come, so make sure to avoid knots and either wrap your lights around something that will keep them from getting tangled.
Now that we’ve gone over the basics of outdoor and indoor Christmas lighting, it’s time to decorate ! Happy holidays!
