20 Essential Christmas Light Hacks Everyone Should Be Using This Winter

Besides the food and the company, lights are perhaps the best part of Christmas. Sadly, it takes a lot of time and effort to get them in place. It can be even more difficult to ensure they stay where you put them. That's not all. You'll also have to deal with high electricity bills, courtesy of all the lights twinkling about your home and delighting passersby. And if you like to put up your Christmas decor early, your pockets will surely feel the pinch.

The good news is you just need to follow a few tips and tricks to simplify the process of draping lights over your tree and home. To illustrate, you can use a telescopic pole outfitted with a hook to easily put up lights over your roof and tall trees. Staying on top of your holiday electricity bill isn't too hard, either, once you make a few adjustments. For instance, trading your energy-hungry incandescent lights for LED bulbs will have a considerable impact. Ready to learn more? Here are 20 essential Christmas light hacks you should be using this winter.

Since lights are a critical Christmas component, lighting up too many fixtures in one go will have an impact on your utility bills. However, you can cut back on that holiday electrical bill by switching out your old incandescent bulbs in favor of LED ones. The latter consumes less energy than the former (sometimes as less as 90%) and offers 25% more brightness. They also have a longer lifespan, and they don't get too hot, so you don't have to worry about them being a fire hazard. However, LED lights are more expensive than their electricity-guzzling counterparts.

Although LED lights are a superior choice to incandescent ones, not all are made equal. To elaborate, the regular ones come with removable covers. This makes them susceptible to water damage and breakage. And since they're daisy-chained together, if one of them sustains damage, the interrupted connection can prevent the entire strand from lighting up, forcing them to go out of business within a few seasons. So, to ensure you get your money's worth, opt for commercial-grade LED strands, such as Yuletime's 200 Count Warm White ones. The molded acrylic bulbs don't come with removable covers, so their chances of breaking or moisture penetrating the cap is inherently low. While they're costlier, they'll last years and give you a good return on the invested capital.

Pre-lit Christmas trees may seem magical when you buy them. After all, you just need to fluff the branches, and your conifer will be all set for ornaments. However, they aren't a good investment from a longevity perspective. This is because the lights will start going out after a few seasons, especially if you light them up for longer hours or if they're incandescent. Moreover, you can't customize the lights to fit your theme for the year. Considering these reasons, it'd be more economical to stick with an unlit live or artificial tree.

Tired of wondering whether you should start at the bottom or the top when putting lights on your Christmas tree? An easier way is to divide the visible portion of your conifer into multiple sections and twist your light strands in a zigzag pattern to save time. Moreover, this will make the branches seem lit from within and further enhance their aesthetic appeal. Bonus advantage: You won't have to spring for as many lights as you normally would if you went around the tree in a circle. Removal will be easier, too.

Another method to decorate your Christmas tree with lights is to hang the strands vertically. In other words, instead of going round and round with a ball of lights, simply hang them from the top branches. This is an especially good method if you bought fewer lights, have shorter strands on hand, or are using old lights, since replacing burned-out strands is easier. In case you have a long string, find the tip and double it up before going around and doing the same for the adjacent branches.

This hack is for you if you lead a busy life and can't spare more than a few minutes to drape lights over your conifer. All you have to do is get one or two sets of outdoor net lights, like Lyhope's 360 Multi-Color LED offering, and wrap it around your tree's branches. In case you have a relatively small tree, drape the lower parts with a net light and cover the remaining top portions with a regular string light. That being said, don't attempt this if you have a large tree, or you'll have to spend a lot of time spacing the net lights.

If you experience snowstorms or icy rains during winter, always tape over the female part of your outdoor string lights. Otherwise, water droplets will make their way in through the uncovered end. In case this happens, it'll cause the GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) to trip and cut off your power supply. Since you don't want your outdoor lights to go out abruptly, keep a roll of electrical tape (like Duck Brand's black one) and stick a small piece on the exposed part. Do this for the female part on the male end, too, if you aren't connecting lights together.

Extension cords are a necessity when you're putting up Christmas lights. But they can be quite expensive if both your indoor and outdoor outlets are located far away. A budget-friendly idea is to use Gilbert plugs, such as Brightown's Vampire Plug Sets, along with a roll of lamp cord, like Cerrowire's 25 feet copper one (get a roll fit for outdoor use if you need it). Once you have them, cut the wire to size and slide the separated female and male parts into the plugs per the manufacturer's instructions.

Want red and green lights decorating your yard but only have warm- or white-colored ones on hand? Grab a few leftover plastic cups from your last soiree. Ensure they're transparent, or the lights won't shine through. After you have them, place them upside down over each of your bulbs for tinted outdoor lights on a budget. To ensure they don't fly away, adhere them to the base of the fixtures with electrical tape. Alternatively, cut a slit in the middle of the cups, lay them over each light, and bring the two ends together with tape.

Even though the plastic cup hack is ingenious, you can't use it when you're stringing lights over your handrails, pillars, gutters, or other standalone features. Under such circumstances, you'll need one string each of warm and colored lights. Lay them parallel and switch out the caps of alternating bulbs. When you're done, you'll have two tinted (almost!) light strands in place of one. That being said, this can be time- and effort-intensive, so only undertake this if you're looking for a last-minute hack or if you already have both strands at home.

Draping lights over a tall tree or your roof can be challenging. You have to tug along a ladder, a few sets of lights, and extension cord rolls to cover them all. But if you'd rather not spend a lot of time out in the cold weather, grab a broom handle with a telescopic pole, and tape over a coat hook on it. Or, squeeze one of your old clothes hangers into the desired shape. Now, use it to light up features that are out of your reach.

Garlands are a holiday staple. And if you like placing fairy lights over them, you might be all too familiar with the unsightly wires peeking through the gaps. An easy way out is to mark the area your garland will occupy. Then, stick the string lights with small pieces of masking tape over the marked space before putting your decorations on top. This way, your decor will shine through without you having to worry about the strands cramping your style.

String lights have a hard time staying put on rolling features: think handrails and banisters. However, instead of accepting floppy bulbs as part of the package, grab a pack of Tool Bench's Hardware Nylon Cable Ties. Position your lights in place and tighten one zip cord on each side of a bulb. Cut off the excess length and you'll be done. If you're using them in an area that's clearly visible, spray paint the cords in the same shade as the string lights' wire to help them blend in better.

If you want to give your neighbors or passersby a decadent light show, stringing a few bulbs around your gutter and shingles is non-negotiable. But before you resign yourself to spending your weekend hammering in rust-proof nails or sticking copious amounts of outdoor-friendly tape, get a couple of tuff clips. Check your lights' size and purchase them accordingly for easy installation. Don't remember the size and don't have the outer packaging either? Invest in a pack of Brightown's All In One Christmas Light Clips for worry-free installation.

Having trouble getting your string lights to stay in place on brick exteriors? Dedicated hook clips can help. But if you're in a hurry or don't want to spend extra money on installation, TikTok's hot glue hack makes hanging Christmas lights a breeze. Add a generous amount to the bottom of your lights and hold them in position for a few seconds to let them stick. If you don't want a mess when taking them off your rough siding, wrap the bottom of the bulbs in thin electrical tape and hot glue them. Don't use this method on stucco exteriors.

When you bring out your Christmas lights from storage, it's a good idea to plug in each strand to weed out the dead ones. But before you throw them away, determine if you're running low on extension cords. If yes, the burned-out lights can serve as an extension cord in a jiffy when used indoors. However, don't use them to light up bulbs that consume a lot of energy (like incandescent ones), or you risk them overheating and leading to accidental fires. They're also not meant to power more than one string of light, so use them accordingly.

Do you have a sidewalk with divots in the middle? Light them up this Christmas using string lights and landscape staples, like Feed Garden's 6 Inch 25 Pack. Feed the strands in the gaps between concrete in a normal fashion and then stake the staples on either side of them to hold them in place. You also want to apply a little hot glue every few inches so the lights don't come off or create a tripping hazard. With that said, don't try out this hack if you'll receive snow soon.

In case you missed the best time of the year to shop for a Christmas tree, you might have to contend with whatever's left on a farm or brush off your old artificial conifer. Alas, it won't matter how well you deck the branches if the tree itself is sparse. To keep the trunk from showing through too prominently, grab one (or more, depending on the coverage you need) rolls of battery-operated LED fairy lights, like Aozope's Firefly ones, and wind them around the trunk of your tree for a magical finish.

There's no denying that it's fun to set up lights around your home and watch them liven up your home. However, it's quite boring to find each socket they're tuned into and turn them off when they're not in use. Scrambling beneath your tree every night to turn off the lights can be especially bad. To save your back and avoid forgetting a few, employ smart plugs, such as Amazon Smart Home's Alexa-friendly one, this holiday season. They can be controlled remotely, via your phone or home device, and give you complete control over your lights.

When it's time to take down your decorations, don't stash away your lights willy-nilly. Roll them into a ball instead to ensure they remain tangle-free when you take them out of storage next year. All you have to do is wrap the ends around your hand a few times. Once you have a considerable amount draped over, take them off and start wrapping the remaining length in the opposite direction. After a few rolls, switch directions again. Continue this until the entire strand represents a tightly wound ball prior to putting them away.