The holidays were made for decorating, not just indoors but outdoors too. It’s simply delightful to walk down a greater Toronto street in the evening past yards of healthy trees glowing with twinkling lights and giant baubles. To help you join in the festivities and deck the boughs, we’ve prepared a guide for how to safely hang outdoor decorations so both you and every tree can enjoy Christmas lights.
Christmas Bulb Types: Incandescent and LED
Outdoor Christmas lights are available in two types of light bulbs: incandescent and light emitting diode (LED). These will both light up your yards with festive colours, but there are some differences to consider for hanging them in trees.
- Incandescent Christmas Lights: These are more traditional ones and found on all older sets of lights. They typically have a soft, warm glow. They are also usually more cost effective to purchase than LED bulbs but use more electricity. They will also get hot over a long period of use, which can help them shine through any snow. However, avoid putting incandescent bulbs in dry trees or bushes where they could become a fire risk.
- LED Christmas Lights: More and more Christmas lights are being made with LEDs. They tend to have a higher price tag, but they use less electricity, last longer, and remain colder than incandescent bulbs. LED lights are also brighter than incandescent bulbs, and they can feature more complex light patterns because the diode is much smaller than the filament in incandescent bulbs. However, they also can lack the traditional, warm glow.
Light Types: Strings, Rope, Nets, or Projectors?
There are many kinds of Christmas lights you can use to brighten your trees outside this holiday season.
- String Lights: These are usually what people think of as Christmas lights. String lights have bulbs attached at various intervals to the main wire (the “string”). Bulbs can be large, medium, small, or even shaped like icicles. These are all perfect for winding up trees or attaching to the awnings and sides of your home.
- Rope Lights: These lights use small LEDs inside a transparent cable to create a glowing rope. They are perfect for framing doors or windows. They can also be wound up a tree trunk, making them perfect for deciduous trees that lose their leaves.
- Nets: Rather than a single string, these lights have multiple crossed cables to create a net. They’re perfect for wrapping bushes or small evergreen trees.
- Projector: A less laborious option, rather than actual lights placed physically onto your home or into your trees, projector lights shine a light pattern onto an area. They can be aimed at your yard or home, but like movie projectors, they work best on blank, smooth surfaces. If your home or trees regularly get a cover of snow, a projector light will make your home glow with festive spirit.
Other Tools
Along with lights here are some other things you need to safely decorate your yard’s trees:
- Ladder: Don’t climb into the tree to hang the decorations. Use a ladder to reach high areas. We recommend a fiberglass ladder since a metal ladder is conductive. (Make sure the lights are unplugged.)
- Outdoor Extension Cords: Use extension cords designed for outdoor use to connect your Christmas lights. These are designed to be water resistant, which is especially important for the snowy conditions of Ontario’s winter.
- Light Pins: These are pins specifically designed for securing Christmas lights to branches, awnings, railings, etc. Read on to see why we don’t recommend staples.
- Gaffer Tape: You can also use gaffer tape to secure decorations. It’s also great for securing any cables on the ground, which may pose tripping hazards.
- Light Timers: To save your energy bill and keep things convenient, use automatic timers that turn your lights on or off at certain points. The best timers are fitted with a safety that prevents current from running through the lights while off.
Other Key Christmas Decoration Hanging Tips
Test the Lights First
There is nothing worse than dedicating hours to hanging thousands of lights, plugging them in and… nothing happens. Before hanging the lights in the tree or anywhere else in your yard, test that they work by plugging them in when on the ground. If they work, they’ll also light up in the trees. If they don’t, you can more easily find the reason without trying to climb around the branches. Once working, unplug the lights until you finish hanging them.
Secure the Decorations
People often use staples, nails, hooks, or even screws to secure outdoor decorations. These are damaging to your trees as well as your lights. Most lights will hang safely from a tree’s branches. For a secure hold on decorations, use clips. These are mainly designed for hanging off awnings or small branches, so they may not work for larger tree branches. For these, use string or gaffer tape. Either pins, string, or tape will also make it easier for you to take the decorations down compared to staples or nails.
Take Outdoor Lights Down
Yes, you should take your Christmas lights down. After all the work of creating the masterpiece that is your outdoor Christmas lighting, it can be a disheartening task to take the lights back down in January or February. In the case of windy storms, outdoor decorations always pose some risk. Branches and other debris can get tangled in the cables. More specifically, trees will resume growing in Spring. If lights are wrapped around the trunk or branches, they can strangle the tree or the tree will grow around them, embedding the cable into itself. As the branches grow, the cables might be stretched or tangled. For the care and safety of your trees and bushes, it’s always better to take down the lights before the start of spring.
Get Your Trees Ready for the Holidays
Now you’re ready to light up the yard for the season. Remember, a Christmas that’s safe for you and your trees, is a truly happy holiday. Lastly, to get your trees looking perfect for their trimming, we recommend a winter pruning. If you have any other questions about your winter tree care or hanging outdoor Christmas decorations in Aurora, Vaughn, Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill, or Toronto and the GTA, be sure to ask us at Advanced Tree Care.
