Your guide to christmas lights

With Christmas just around the corner, you may want to spend these last few days putting a few final, festive touches on your home.

Here’s a quick guide to creating a dazzling light arrangement that’s sure to wow your neighbours.

Light types

Bulbs, arrangements and what to look for when buying outdoor Christmas lights.

Mini string lights: One of the most popular types of Christmas lights, mini string lights feature small bulbs, typically in a dark green casing. Colour options vary.

Net lights: These lights use similarly small bulbs, but the arrangement is different. Instead of being strung along in a single line, net lights are designed to be draped over bushes, hedges and shrubs.

Icicle lights: Essentially the aforementioned string lights, but with extra ‘icicle’ lines hanging off.

A note on LEDs

While most stores continue to stock Christmas lights with incandescent bulbs, we think you’re best to buy LED lights. Here are just a few of the benefits:

They use less energy than their incandescent counterparts. They’ve got a longer life spanThey operate at a much lower temperatureYou have the same colour choices, and in some cases even more options

Buy the right lights for the environment

Indoor lights aren’t suitable for outdoor use. It may sound like an obvious point, but it’s worth mentioning. Outdoor christmas lights feature different casings and cables, rated to withstand dust, dirt and water. This comes in the form of an IP rating.

How the IP rating system works

This is an international method used to identify how well a fitting keeps out things like dust and water. Each fitting has a 2-digit number.

The first digit defines the level of protection against dust, with the second digit defining the level of protection against water. The higher the individual numbers, the better the protection.

Feel ready to start stringing up some Christmas lights?

Christmas is nearly here, so use this time wisely. We’ve got helpful outdoor advice articles, quick kitchen fixes you can tackle over the weekend and suggestions for those larger New Year projects.

Story by: David Renwick