The best outdoor Christmas lights are the ones you can plug in safely, fix without drilling holes in the brickwork and leave out through weeks of drizzle and frost. Outdoor sets differ from the fairy lights on the tree indoors in three ways: they carry an IP rating of at least IP44, their connectors are sealed, and the cable stays flexible in the cold. Before choosing a style, though, most UK households hit the same question first – where does the plug go?
Plenty of British homes have no outdoor socket at all, which is why so many displays end up fed through a window or the letterbox. A cable trapped in a window frame gets pinched every time the window moves, and draughts and rain follow it in. There are better routes.
A plug-in timer or a dusk sensor saves you remembering to switch everything off, and keeps a bright display from shining into the neighbours' bedrooms at two in the morning.
Icicle lights are the classic choice for a roofline. Uneven drops, usually 30–60 cm long, hang from the gutter or fascia and read well from the street. String lights wrap trees, shrubs and porch pillars. Net lights cover a front hedge or a box ball in minutes, and curtain lights turn a bay window or a balcony into a wall of light. Rope lights, LEDs sealed in a flexible tube, trace a doorway or a garden path.
| Spot | Type that suits it | Length to plan for |
|---|---|---|
| Front gutter of a semi-detached house (often 6–8 m) | icicle lights | gutter length plus 1–2 m to reach the socket |
| Front door and porch | string or rope lights | 3–5 m around the frame |
| 6 ft conifer (1.8 m) | string lights | 10–15 m |
| 7 ft tree (2.1 m) | string lights | 13–18 m |
| 10 ft tree (3 m) | string lights | 25–35 m |
| Low front hedge, 3 m | net lights | a 1 × 3 m or 2 × 3 m net |
Tree lengths assume a loose spiral with roughly a hand's width, 25–30 cm, between turns. That is plenty for a tree seen from the pavement; wrap twice as tightly and you need twice the length. Big displays are easier with a connectable system: one starter set with the transformer, then extension sets plugged in one after another, all switched by a single timer. The maker states how many sets a transformer can carry, and parts from different systems should never be mixed, even when the plugs look the same.
Nails and staples are out – they pierce or pinch the cable and are the usual cause of a short in the first wet week. Instead:
Put a fixing every 30–50 cm, closer for heavier lights, so the wind can't whip the cable against brick edges. Work back from the socket, test the set at ground level before you go up, and keep the top step of the ladder free with someone footing it.
IP44 means protection against splashing water from any direction, which is fine under the eaves or in a porch. On an exposed tree or a fence facing the prevailing wind, IP65 is safer, and IP67 suits connectors that end up on wet grass. Rubber cable stays supple when it's cold; cheap PVC stiffens and can crack when you coil it up on a frosty morning. For colour, warm white around 2700–3000 K looks like traditional bulbs, while cool white leans blue and icy. Choose one white for the whole frontage – two whites side by side always look like a mistake.
Running costs are small. A 10 m LED string typically draws only a few watts, so even a full house front on a timer for the whole season adds little to the bill.
Plan the run on paper, test the set on the ground, then clip it up starting from the end nearest the socket. Gutter hooks and adhesive clips need no tools and leave no marks.
Ideally through a weatherproof outdoor socket on an RCD-protected circuit. Without one, use an outdoor-rated extension lead with a plug-in RCD and keep every joint in a weatherproof box, off the ground. Don't shut the cable in a window.
Gutter hooks, brick clips, tile clips, outdoor adhesive clips and loosely tied cable ties. Avoid nails, staples and anything that squeezes the cable.
Outdoors, start at the bottom by the trunk, where the plug lead arrives, and spiral upwards. The power cable then runs straight to the ground instead of hanging down through the branches.
Indoor rules of thumb talk about 50–100 bulbs per foot of height. A tree outside is seen from further away, so a looser spiral works: 13–18 m of string usually covers a 7 ft tree.
Yes, if they're rated for outdoor use and the plugs are sealed or raised. Check the cables now and then, especially after a storm, and replace any set with damaged insulation rather than taping it.
Tradition says by Twelfth Night, in early January. Take them down on a dry day, let them dry indoors and wind them round a piece of card before storing.
Lights for the tree indoors have their own guide under Christmas lights. Where no socket is within reach, battery-operated Christmas lights avoid a trailing lead altogether.
