7 Tips to Outdoor Lighting for the Holiday Season

  • Always use caution and common sense when working on a ladder and installing holiday lights. Make sure that is it not rainy, wet or dark outside. No one wants to start the Holiday Season with a broken arm or leg.
Holiday lights
Poor Buddy fell and broke his leg, he has strict orders from Santa not to move for two weeks!
  • Never use tacks or nails to your roof, gutters or siding. You can find insulated holders for your lights at your local hardware store. You can also find anchors to hold your lights along your shingles. We have also use a hot glue gun to attach the lights to our brick home. You do not want to put any extra holes in any part of your home.
holiday light hooks
  • Make sure all your lights work before you go to hang them up. There is nothing worse than getting all the way to the top of ladder and half of the lights don’t work. Also, make sure that they are not all tangled up either, no sense trying to untangle lights 2 stories high.
  • Make sure that the outlet that you are using is a GFCI outlet. You can have an experienced electrician come out and install one for pretty cheap. You can also get a portable outdoor one for around $20-$25 from your local hardware store

  • Make sure that any extension cords are rated for outdoor use and keep all connections above ground, snow and water. Also, keep the length of the cords to a minimum. You don’t want a ball of extension cords in your walkway.
tangled lights
  • Make sure that your holiday lights are rated for outdoor use. DO NOT use indoor lights, outdoors. With all the different options of colors, size length, there is no reason to use indoor lights outdoors.
blanket lights
  • Speaking of holiday lights, there are so many different options to choose from. My favorite lights are the C7 or C9 lights. The C9 lights are bigger and that makes them easier to see from a distance. You can also get blanket lights to cover shrubs, Animated scenes and even lights that look like big ornaments for your trees in your front yard.

If you just want to check out other peoples holiday lights check this link for Holiday lights around St. Louis.

Also, since you are already up on a ladder, why not check on your gutters to make sure that they are working correctly. Take a good look at your roof as well, at this point you done three tasks in one. Now, turn your lights on enjoy all your hard work.