You can make the outside of your house look great for under $100. The trick is knowing what to spend on and what to skip. Most budget light jobs fail because people buy cheap stuff that breaks in a year and looks bad the day they put it up. Here's how to avoid that.
What to Buy and What to Skip
Skip the big-box store brand mini lights — they tangle, half the strand goes out, and they're not waterproof. Spend a little more on commercial-grade LED strings. They cost about $15-20 for a 100-light string, but they last for years, they're brighter, and one dead bulb doesn't kill the whole strand.
Skip the animated projectors. They look cheesy and they break. Skip the giant inflatables — they cost a fortune and look bad even when they're working.
Spend your money on:
- 2-3 strings of warm white LED lights (about $60 total)
- Light clips (about $10 for a pack of 100)
- A timer ($10)
- Extension cords rated for outdoor use ($15-25)
That's roughly $100 and you're set for several years. The clips and timer are the things people skip — buy them. They make the job 10x easier.
The Roofline Method
The cleanest look is lights along the roofline. You don't need to nail or staple anything — use the plastic clips that slide under the shingles or clip to the gutter. They hold the light string and keep it straight.
Start at the outlet and work your way around. Plug the first string in and leave it on so you can see what you're doing as you go. Space the clips about 12 inches apart. Don't pull the string tight — a little slack keeps the bulbs pointed down.
If your house is taller than one story, use a ladder and have someone hold it. Don't stretch to reach. Move the ladder. A fall ruins Christmas fast.
For a cleaner look, use icicle lights along the front only — the sides don't matter unless you're going all out. One or two strings of icicle lights on the front of a small house look great.
Wrapping Trees and Bushes
Wrapping a tree trunk looks great and it's cheap. Take a string of lights and wrap them around the trunk in a spiral. Go up about 5-6 feet. Use zip ties to secure the top so the string doesn't slide down. One string does a medium tree.
For bushes, the "net lights" are the easiest option. They're a grid of lights that you just drape over a bush. One net covers a small bush. They cost about $20 for a 4x6 net. They look better than trying to wrap individual strings.
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Don't wrap bushes so tight that you can see the wire frame. A little loose looks better.
Use a Timer, Always
The biggest waste of money is leaving lights on all night. A simple outdoor timer turns them on at dusk and off at midnight. You can get a mechanical one for $10 or a smart plug for $15.
Run lights from about 5pm to 11pm. Nobody is looking at Christmas lights at 3am and you'll save on electricity.
If you're using LED lights, the power cost is tiny either way, but the timer saves the bulbs from running 24/7 which makes them last longer.
When Things Go Wrong
If half a strand goes out, it's usually a fuse in the plug. The little fuses are in a sliding compartment — they come with replacements in the box. Check that first before you throw the strand away.
If lights are flickering, a bulb is loose. Run your hand along the strand and press each bulb in. One of them is usually the problem.
If the whole strand is out and the fuses are fine, the wire is broken somewhere and it's not worth fixing. Throw it out.
Taking Them Down Without Ruining Them
Take them down in January — don't leave them up until March. The longer they're out, the more weather they take and the worse they look.
Don't pull the strings down — unclip them one at a time. Wind them loosely around your forearm and slip them into a storage bin. Don't use the spool things — they tangle more than they help. Just lay them flat in a bin.
A $100 investment in good lights, taken care of, will last 5-7 years. Cheap lights last one season. The math is clear.