Christmas Lights

[Kestryl]

Quick and to the point: does anyone have any advice on buying Christmas lights for a house? Any sets you’ve loved or hated? Ways to keep costs down?

Longer:

We bought our house in January, and now we get to decorate it for the holidays! I’ve always wanted to do the icicle lights- you know, the strings of regular lights that hang down like “icicles.” My parents use them, and I just think they’re a really simple way of adding some lights to the house.

So I started looking. I actually started looking last year in December, right before we closed, but there was hardly anything left, or at least not enough to do a house- just like one string of this type, two of this, etc. (I was hoping to score a deal on after-Christmas sales, but I will pay more for uniformity.)

I’m a bit overwhelmed. I feel like LED is “smarter,” but of course they have a higher up-front cost. I guess I need to look at it as an investment for future years. My parents have had the same sent for 10 years, but they’re incandescent and they always complain about the higher costs.

I’m also wondering if it’s worth it to spring for lights where if one bulb goes out, the rest stay on.

So, any suggestions? Should I bug cheaper incandescents, or go big with the LED and fancy options?

 

[Rossie3]

I went to LEDs because they burn way less power and I run my lights starting in November through January. I bought them on Black Friday at Lowe's and Home Depot, they usually run good deals on the lights themselves and the decorations for the yard. That's how I bought all my stuff. I picked up some items on December 26th as well each year.

 

[Kestryl]

I went to LEDs because they burn way less power and I run my lights starting in November through January. I bought them on Black Friday at Lowe's and Home Depot, they usually run good deals on the lights themselves and the decorations for the yard. That's how I bought all my stuff. I picked up some items on December 26th as well each year.

*Smacks head.*
Why did I not think of Black Friday? I’ll have to look out for the ads. Thank you!

 

[_19disnA]

Won't do you any good for this year, but after Christmas is when I find the best sales on left over lighting. Often the prices are cut by 50% or more. Honestly, unless you have THOUSANDS of outdoor lights, the supposed savings from LED is far less then the cost of the bulbs. I laugh at those light bulbs you buy nowadays for lamps that cost $5+ each and you probably save $.01 per year in electricity, so the bulb will probably burn out before you ever see a savings !!!

 

[Kestryl]

Won't do you any good for this year, but after Christmas is when I find the best sales on left over lighting. Often the prices are cut by 50% or more. Honestly, unless you have THOUSANDS of outdoor lights, the supposed savings from LED is far less then the cost of the bulbs. I laugh at those light bulbs you buy nowadays for lamps that cost $5+ each and you probably save $.01 per year in electricity, so the bulb will probably burn out before you ever see a savings !!!

I tried to pick up clearance stuff last year, figuring I could just buy a lot and use what I needed. I don’t know if I was just too late (Dec 28) or what, but there wasn’t much to pick from! I would have been chaining together all sorts of different sets. But I’ll be looking again this year- I’d like to do more than just the roof, but that’s can wait until I get a good deal.

I noticed the same with Halloween stuff. We couldn’t find pumpkins anywhere 10 days before Halloween. I was going to wait til after Halloween to pick up some clearance decorations, but I ended up picking up a few Halloween decorations a week ago because it looked like everywhere was cleaned out or clearing out quickly. 8 stores, and not a single one had basic orange lights of any kind.

 

[wishuponastar1984]

I would do the ones that if one bulb burns out then the others stay lit. Putting up lights is just another Christmas task that we just don't like to do anymore. I wouldn't go hog wild buying tons all at once. I would look to add one major feature each year. I was excited the first year or two and now I keep putting out less and less. Example
Year 1 - roof line
Year 2 - any outdoor columns or architectural features on the front of the house
Year 3 - bushes and flower beds
Year 4 - trees
etc.

 

[imbatman]

I take 2-3 weeks to put up lights. I LIKE lights.

That said, the LED cost upfront is well worth the payoff. I did the same as @wishuponastar1984 and went after one area at a time per year to replace. I also highly recommend timers. And YES to the strands where they stay lit if one burns out.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Just as @wishuponastar1984 said, start slow with the lights. You'll be gun-ho at first but after a few years of pulling out the big ladder (you do own a ladder 3' longer than the tallest point of your roofline?), the job gets longer and longer every year.

 

[Kestryl]

I would do the ones that if one bulb burns out then the others stay lit. Putting up lights is just another Christmas task that we just don't like to do anymore. I wouldn't go hog wild buying tons all at once. I would look to add one major feature each year. I was excited the first year or two and now I keep putting out less and less. Example
Year 1 - roof line
Year 2 - any outdoor columns or architectural features on the front of the house
Year 3 - bushes and flower beds
Year 4 - trees
etc.

Yeah, that’s the plan we’ll probably follow. I’m not super interested in putting lights in the bushes or trees, so our “year 3” will probably be like lights along the walkway to our front porch or getting window wreaths.

I take 2-3 weeks to put up lights. I LIKE lights.

That said, the LED cost upfront is well worth the payoff. I did the same as @wishuponastar1984 and went after one area at a time per year to replace. I also highly recommend timers. And YES to the strands where they stay lit if one burns out.

Yes, timers! They are my favorite. We have a few indoor ones that we have set up l, and they’re just so convenient for everything.

Just as @wishuponastar1984 said, start slow with the lights. You'll be gun-ho at first but after a few years of pulling out the big ladder (you do own a ladder 3' longer than the tallest point of your roofline?), the job gets longer and longer every year.

We have a tall enough ladder for about half the front of the house. But we live in a super hilly area, so the “basement” has the garage... it’s like half the house is one story with a basement, and the other half is two story. I’m from much flatter areas, so I’m unused to this, and I’m sure there’s a term for the type of house we have.

Anyways, we’ve wanted to get a taller ladder anyways, cause it would just be good to have around in case there’s an issue with anything in the “two story section.”

I expect we’ll settle into the icicles and then do things that don’t involve too much work.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We have a tall enough ladder for about half the front of the house. But we live in a super hilly area, so the “basement” has the garage... it’s like half the house is one story with a basement, and the other half is two story. I’m from much flatter areas, so I’m unused to this, and I’m sure there’s a term for the type of house we have.

Anyways, we’ve wanted to get a taller ladder anyways, cause it would just be good to have around in case there’s an issue with anything in the “two story section.” I expect we’ll settle into the icicles and then do things that don’t involve too much work.

Wow, please be very careful. Hills, ice/snow and ladders are definitely a safety issue.

 

[Rossie3]

Won't do you any good for this year, but after Christmas is when I find the best sales on left over lighting. Often the prices are cut by 50% or more. Honestly, unless you have THOUSANDS of outdoor lights, the supposed savings from LED is far less then the cost of the bulbs. I laugh at those light bulbs you buy nowadays for lamps that cost $5+ each and you probably save $.01 per year in electricity, so the bulb will probably burn out before you ever see a savings !!!

I disagree with this statement about the bulbs not saving you anything. I built a new house in 2016 and all the bulbs in the house they installed were incandescent. After 2 months I decided that I really hate that yellow bulb color/glow and went out and bought LED bulbs for every fixture in the house in the cool white color because that is my favorite, it just seems to brighten everything up. The outdoor temps were the same for all three months and the only thing that changed was the light bulbs and my power bill went down about 15 bucks. So I paid for all those bulbs in one year in my personal opinion. They just draw so much less wattage.

 

[Toolulu22]

I disagree with this statement about the bulbs not saving you anything. I built a new house in 2016 and all the bulbs in the house they installed were incandescent. After 2 months I decided that I really hate that yellow bulb color/glow and went out and bought LED bulbs for every fixture in the house in the cool white color because that is my favorite, it just seems to brighten everything up. The outdoor temps were the same for all three months and the only thing that changed was the light bulbs and my power bill went down about 15 bucks. So I paid for all those bulbs in one year in my personal opinion. They just draw so much less wattage.

I agree with you about the savings, and also the color. LED lights are whiter and brighter than incandescent lights- I’ve been slowly replacing our lighting with them.

 

[_19disnA]

I guess your mileage may vary. Just replaced one of those pricey bulbs since it had burned out and the package said it should last for 13 yrs......LOL. Lasted about 2 yrs so there went the supposed saving in electricity on just one burned out bulb.

Largest users of electricity in the typical home would be AC/heating, oven, range top (if electric), washer/dryer, refrigerator. Lighting in the typical home is fairly far down the list.

 

[tvguy]

All you can buy here are LED Christmas lights. But that could be because I am in California.

 

[Rossie3]

Well any light bulb can go out for any reason before it is supposed to. I had a rabbit that was eating my christmas lights last year, that got expensive till I found a way to get rid of it without hurting it. I had to replace about 70 dollars worth of lights.

 

[Kestryl]

Wow, please be very careful. Hills, ice/snow and ladders are definitely a safety issue.

Oh, no worry about ice and snow! The lowest average is around 45 deg F in January. It “snowed” twice last winter, and melted by 10 am. I know I’ve can be a thing here, but it’s rare- they don’t even have salt trucks.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Oh, no worry about ice and snow! The lowest average is around 45 deg F in January. It “snowed” twice last winter, and melted by 10 am. I know I’ve can be a thing here, but it’s rare- they don’t even have salt trucks.

Wow, that's great where you live. I'm in NM and even though we get very little snow (luckily most is on the mountains) and the winter temperatures are mild like yours, morning frost is still present. Construction, with asphalt and concrete pours, is delayed until the air temp is 45 degrees and rising. Sometimes as late as midday. Still, be careful.

 

[Klayfish]

Christmas junkie here. I have something like 45,000 lights, who knows how many feet of extension cords (many homemade), roughly 20 artificial trees, blow ups, etc...

We started small too. I think the first year DW and I were together (now 22+ years ago), we had some incans on the front bushes. Then a little more, then a little more, etc.. At one point, we had all incans and I had probably 20,000 lights. I had to split it among 4 different circuits so that it didn't trip. I slowly started converting to LED and now have very few, if any, incans left. I did it by hogging the after Xmas sales. Dec 26th is my "Christmas". I hit all the Wal-Marts within 30+ miles. The selection of what's left over will vary by region. When I lived in PA, we were fairly rural and the local WalMarts always seemed to overstock. I could show up on Dec 29th and there was still an entire wall full of lights. I'd grab them by the caseload. In fact, after New Years, they were 75% off and I'd really stock up. Here in Atlanta, the pickings are slim, but you can still get them. I'm a lot more selective in what I get though, as I already have a bazillion multi-color strands. I'm looking for single color...white, blue, red, green, etc...

What you love or don't love is subjective. I pretty much like them all, though I'm getting a bit over the multi color....probably because I have so many. Since I buy them so cheap, I don't care if they're the type where if one light goes out the rest stay lit or not. I usually lose several strands per year, it happens. But I turn those into extension cords...even though the lights are out, electricity still safely goes through it and it works great. You can decorate all around your house, bushes, gutters, windows, etc... You can also use PVC pipe to "build" elements outside, such as arches and mini-mega trees. Upside down tomato cages work great for that too.