The Ultimate Guide to HOLIDAY LIGHTS!

Winter's approaching, and with each passing day, it gets darker earlier. But there's a bright spot on the horizon: It's time to decorate your home with festive holiday lights.

Before you've hauled out the holly, grabbed your ladder, untangled light strands of holiday seasons past, and risked unleashing your inner Grinch, consult our guide to lock in your game plan.

Not long ago there was just one way to illuminate the outside of your home: string lights with large incandescent bulbs. Today, there is a variety of holiday lights-string, icicle, net, pathway, and spotlight-available with LED or incandescent bulbs. Incandescent lights are more affordable and emit a warmer glow, but LEDs are more energy efficient, last longer, and never get too hot to touch. You can connect together many more strings of LED lights than you can incandescent lights. Plus, LEDs typically produce much brighter, more vibrant light than incandescent bulbs. Some LEDs are programmable, allowing you to change the light color and select various illumination modes, such as always-on, twinkling, and sequential blinking.

The type and style of lighting that's right for your home depends on the look you want. We break down what you need and how to install four popular holiday lighting designs.

Highlight Your Roof

BEST LIGHTS FOR THE JOB:

C9 OR ICICLE

WHY THEY WORK / Both incandescent and LED string lights are sold in C6, C7, and C9 sizes. These strawberry-shaped string lights are the most traditional style and deliver a much-loved retro vibe. To showcase your roof, use C9s, which are larger, brighter, and more visible from the street compared to C6s and C7s.