The magic of the season is all about putting up the lights, hitting the switch, and soaking in the glory of your exterior Christmas light displays.
While taking down your lights for Christmas and storing them for next year might not be as much fun, you still need to do it right so that next year you aren’t dealing with a tangle — and a headache! We’re here to help! With years of experience creating stunning professional outdoor Christmas light displays, we also know a few tips and tricks to make takedown easier and setup storage so getting the lights next year is easier.
Pre-Takedown Preparations
Here are some great tips:
Purchase the Bins
First things first, have a storage container prepared and ready to go for your Christmas lights once you take them down. Rubbermaid tubs (specifically, 27 gallon totes) are great because they are physically tough and waterproof, too. Plus they’re fairly affordable and multiple sizes are available.
Get as many of these as you think you will need, then get one more, just to be safe. It’s better to have more than you need than it is to find out after the fact you don’t have enough.
Take Pictures
One helpful tool before you take down the lights is to either take pictures or make sketches of them. We recommend pictures because they take less time and let you actually reference what the lights look like in place.
Taking pictures of your whole display, and then of the separate components, will let you know where the lights were installed and approximately what the length of the run was. It’ll also show you what type of clips you used and where they were attached (although you can leave some clips attached to the cord, too).
One more thing: don’t just take pictures at night when the lights are on. Take them during the day, too, so you can see in better detail what the installation looks like.
Mark the Lights
You’ll also want to make sure that the lights are properly marked before you take them down. For instance, use colored tape to mark peak bulb sockets before you take the cord and lights down so you know where they should go next time you get them out.
You can also use colored zip ties (or tape) to keep track of connections and where they go; for instance, if you use the same colored zip tie for corresponding male and female connections, it’ll be easier the next time around to get the cords plugged in. Mark all junctions when you take down the lights!
Also, if it makes sense for you and you have a lot of cord to track, you can use small merchandise tags with a label to keep track of where each section of lights go (for instance, “west gable,” “north side,” “ridge” etc.).
Taking Down Your Christmas Lights
Once you’ve prepared for taking down the Christmas lights, it’s time to get to work.
For the purpose of actually removing them, we recommend the use of a painter’s pole. This will give you extra reach and leverage to actually get them free.
Start at one end, hook the lights, twist to secure the light strand, then pull to lift the strand free.
For more detailed information on this process of removing Christmas lights with a painter’s pole, please see the following video from the DW Pro Lights YouTube channel (and be sure to like and subscribe so you never miss more helpful tips like these!).
For ridge clips, remove these by hand (carefully) while you are on the roof. Smart clips can be left in place for storage, which will save you time next season.
Storing Your Lights for Christmas
Once you’ve gotten the Christmas lights down, you need to think about storing them for the next year. Luckily, if you followed the advice in this post, you’ll already have all your containers ready to go!
Our hack? Take one of those 27-gallon totes, get a cone, and drop the cone right in the middle. Gently lay the light cord around the outside of the cone, taking care not to twist the cord, and zip tie the opposite ends to secure the lights. (One of the great things about these totes is that usually they have more than enough room for your exterior Christmas lights, so you can store your other Christmas lights and decorations in them, too.)
Cover, then store somewhere cool and dry, where it will be protected from the weather, where you can keep it worry-free until next year.
Your Best Christmas EVER Starts Right NOW!
The perfect ending to a perfect Christmas is light storage that is both hassle and headache-free! With these tips, your lights will not only be safe and sound in storage, but ready for hanging right out of the tote come next season!
We hope you found these tips helpful - if you did, bookmark our blog page and follow us on our YouTube as well as on our socials so you never miss pointers like these!