Outdoor Christmas Lighting

It’s that time of year again for getting the decorations out of the loft and taking your home to tinsel town. But as any competitive neighbour will know, half the fun is in sprucing up the outside of your house with some festive glow. With our quick outdoor Christmas lighting tips, your house will soon be on the way to becoming the highlight of the street.

1. Use outdoor lights

Let’s get the basics out the way first. Always make sure the lights you use are meant for outside – sufficiently insulated and waterproof.

2. Illuminate the features

Throw some spotlights or trailing lights onto the centrepieces of your garden, like birdbaths and water fountains. It’ll add depth and texture to your display.

3. Use outdoor powerpoints

It’s always safer – and helps with home security – to power your lights from outdoor sockets rather than trailing plugs and cables from the house. Be sure that wires don’t become a trip hazard.

4. Light garden paths

Give your guests a special welcome over the Christmas period by bordering your pathways with lights. Your visitors will find it easier to walk at night and it creates a friendly atmosphere.

5. Fix with tape

When you’re installing your lighting, it’s much better to use electrical tape than anything like nails or staples. You don’t want any sparks flying on the big day!

6. Use light nets

Decorating trees and shrubbery can be tricky. A net strung with LED lights is a great, simple way to cover bushes with evenly-spaced spots.

7. Mind the neighbours

If you’re going all out with your festive display, be sure to warn or discuss with your neighbours first. You don’t want to make enemies this time of year! Remember to switch the lights off overnight too.

8. Light up other decorations

Bring a magical glow to existing garden decorations. Wind some mini string lights into a wreath or add spotlights to other festive ornaments on the doorstep for a magical display any time of day.

9. Use battery lights

It’s important not to overload the mains circuits with all your garden lighting. Use a mix of plugin and battery powered lights to spread the load. LED candles are very handy for placing spots of light wherever you like in the garden.

10. Hang decorative lights

Once you’ve wrapped your trees with string lights, hang a few lit baubles or stars for an extra dimension. This works particularly well on skeletal winter trees.

So there are our top 10 tips for garden lighting in the winter. Let us know your ideas and advice in the comments below.

Be sure to check out our Top 20 Outdoor Christmas Decoration Ideas infographic for plenty more festive garden inspiration. Happy Christmas!

George at PrimroseGeorge works in the Primrose marketing team. As a lover of all things filmic, he also gets involved with our TV ads and web videos.

George’s idea of the perfect time in the garden is a long afternoon sitting in the shade with a good book. A cool breeze, peace and quiet… But of course, he’s usually disturbed by his energetic wire fox terrier, Poppy!

He writes about his misadventures in repotting plants and new discoveries about cat repellers.

See all of George’s posts.