Decorating the outside of your home can be a great way to extend the magic of Christmas decorating long after you’ve decked the tree and set up all your interior decorations, and outdoor Christmas lights offer some of the greatest versatility.
While they can be used to make your home’s roof and ridgeline, pathways, landscaping and architectural features glow with the spirit of the season, you can also use them to decorate your home’s greenery including trees and shrubs. This post will take a look at some of the best ways to do that.
Best Christmas Lights for Decorating Outdoors
There are many different types of Christmas lights you can use to decorate trees and shrubs, but some of the more popular choices are covered here.
- C9 Lights: Conical and producing a vintage, throwback vibe, C9 Christmas lights feature fairly large bulbs. They can be either clear, frosted or faceted and are available in a number of colors.
- C7 Lights: C7 lights are the same basic shape as C9 Christmas lights but they are a little bit smaller. They are also great for lighting trees and shrubs.
- 5mm Mini Lights: 5mm mini lights, as the name suggests, feature very small LED bulbs that are extremely durable and long-lasting. They can be used for tree wraps and are highly effective for lighting shrubs as well.
- Net Lights: Net lights are specifically designed for draping over shrubs and bushes, making them convenient and easy to use. They’re quick to set up and take down, and help reduce tangles you might experience with individual light strands.
Decorating Trees
Whether you're decorating a residential landscape or creating a large commercial display, there are three popular techniques for wrapping trees with Christmas lights. For all three methods, 5mm mini light sets are the preferred choice. Their compact size, durability, and end-to-end connectivity make them ideal for wrapping trunks and branches with a clean, professional finish. If you'd rather illuminate the tree's canopy instead of wrapping it, C7 and C9 Christmas lights are the better option, creating a bold, classic look as they're hung throughout the branches.
Trunk Wrap – Wrapping only the trunk is the quickest and simplest approach, making it perfect for smaller ornamental trees or landscapes with multiple trees. This technique creates a clean, elegant appearance while adding a warm glow to the landscape.
Partial Branch Wrap – Continue the wrap from the trunk onto the tree's main, low-hanging branches to create greater depth and dimension. This popular technique offers a fuller, more professional appearance while requiring less time than wrapping every branch.
Full Tree Wrap – For the most dramatic display, wrap the trunk and continue along every branch all the way to the tips. This premium decorating technique creates a stunning, high-end look often seen in commercial properties, downtown districts, resorts, and luxury residential landscapes.
Decorating Shrubs
If your home has shrubs as part of the landscaping these can also represent a great blank canvas for decorating with Christmas lights.
- Wrap or weave the shrubs. One of the most straightforward ways to decorate your shrubs with Christmas lights is just to wrap the strands around them. You can simply drape light strands over the top of low-growing bushes, and if they’re taller, you can spiral the lights around them vertically.
- Use net lighting. For low-growing bushes, it might make more sense for you to use net lighting, as it is much easier to use and the lights have spacing built into the design. Simply place them over the tops of bushes you wish to decorate and you’re good to go.
General Tips for Decorating Trees and Shrubs with Christmas Lights
To make sure your Christmas light installations look as good as can be, here are some of our tips.
- If you have enough length of cord, reverse direction. If you’re wrapping a trunk or a branch and have some extra length of light strand at the end of the wrap, reverse direction and either use the extra strand to fill in dark areas, or if you created a pattern (like a spiral) simply double the cord back on itself by retracing the strand.
- Decorate with the lights on so you can see what it looks like as you work. Keep the light strands (or net lights) on as you work, so you can see the spacing in real time and see where there are voids that need to be filled in.
- Fill in dark areas. As you work, you will see what the spacing between your lights looks like. Where you see dark areas or uneven spacing, adjust the light strand or net to fill it in for a more even, professional, aesthetically appealing look.
Your BEST Christmas EVER Starts Now
Ready to go out and plan your best Christmas light installation yet for your landscaping’s trees and shrubs? Get ready with professional outdoor Christmas lights, cord and installation accessories like clips at DW Pro Lights, the Outdoor Lighting department of Decorator's Warehouse. Then when you create your display, take a picture, share it on your socials, and tag us with #dwchristmas. We love seeing what our customers come up with and you’ll get a chance to be featured as well!