How to Hang Outdoor Christmas Lights
Outdoor Christmas lights are one of the most festive ways that you can decorate your house for the holidays. A house that is lit up from the outside for Christmas is warm, cheery and inviting and gets everyone who visits into the holiday spirit.
One of the best aspects of using outdoor Christmas lights to decorate your home is that they come in a huge assortment of styles ranging from cute to elegant. This allows you to achieve a variety of different looks, one of which will be perfect for your home and your personal tastes.
Here are some tips for hanging outdoor Christmas lights that will help you get the results you want and keep you safe at the same time.
One of the most important safety precautions that you can take is to ensure that the Christmas lights you are using are specifically designed for outdoor use. You should never use indoor lights on the outside of your home, but instead buy lights that are made to be used outdoors.
Some lights can be used both indoors and outdoors. The lights should says somewhere on their packaging whether they are for indoor use, outdoor use or both. If you are using old Christmas lights and are not sure it is always best to err on the side of caution and buy new outdoor lights rather than risking it.
If you’ve ever watched the movie Christmas Vacation, you realize the importance of testing the lights before you hang them. There is nothing worse than getting all the lights strung up on your house, plugging them in and then they don’t work.
Before hanging the lights untangle all the cords, check the bulbs and plug each string of lights in to ensure that it is working.
Once you are sure all of your lights are working and are made to be used outdoors you can get started hanging them. Before you start just sticking lights everywhere you may want to come up with a plan for where you want to decorate and how you want to hang them. Outdoor Christmas lights look great on bushes, shrubs or trees and are also nice additions to the house itself as well as fences or porches.
When hanging lights safety should always be at the forefront of your mind. Only use a sturdy ladder and make sure that it is solidly in place before climbing it. If possible, have someone at the base of the ladder holding it for you to help provide additional stability and to make sure that it does tip.
You can hang the lights using a staple gun to attach them to your house, or use some of the new clips that allow you to just clip the lights right onto your gutters. This is a nice option because you don’t have to poke any holes in your house to get the lights hung.
For hanging the lights on trees or bushes you should just string them around securing them to branches to ensure that they won’t blow away in a strong gust of wind.
With a little planning and careful thought to safety, Christmas lights are a wonderful way to add holiday cheer to the exterior of your home.
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