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What would the holidays be without outdoor Christmas lights to illuminate the winter darkness? Whether you’re shopping for tiny twinkle lights or a string of large bulbs that create a nostalgic look, the 10 tested options on our list of top picks are sure to add a festive feeling to your home.
Since sets of lights can cost as little as $5 or over $100, it can be challenging to know which are worth the price and effort to hang. That’s why we used these strings, nets, and projectors for a full 2 weeks, subjecting them to freezing rain and snow, falls on concrete, and overnight illumination sessions. Based on our tests, we chose the Prextex Christmas Clear White Wire 100 Light Set as the best overall option for its ease of use, durability, and attractive bright white light.
When selecting the set that’s right for you, consider the lights’ string length, color, and control features. Imagine how they’ll pair with the overall look you’re creating for upcoming holiday celebrations as well as the skills and techniques required to install them. Once you’ve checked out each set, be sure to scan the shopping tips at the end of this guide before choosing the best outdoor Christmas lights for your space.
- BEST OVERALL: Prextex Christmas Clear White Wire 100 Light Set
↓ Jump to Review - BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK: BHCLight Extra-Long LED Green Wire Christmas Lights
↓ Jump to Review - BEST WHITE: Yiqu 82-Foot 200 LED Christmas String Lights
↓ Jump to Review - BEST SMART: Twinkly Multicolor LED String Lights
↓ Jump to Review - BEST OUTDOOR PROJECTOR: Y Yuegang Christmas Laser Lights
↓ Jump to Review - BEST METEOR: Twinkle Star Meteor Shower Rain Lights
↓ Jump to Review - BEST ICICLE LIGHTS: Knonew Christmas Lights Curtain Fairy String
↓ Jump to Review - BEST LARGE-BULB: Noma C9 LED Quick Clip Christmas Lights
↓ Jump to Review - BEST MINI: Wintergreen Lighting Wide Angle LED Mini Lights
↓ Jump to Review - BEST FOR LARGE AREAS: Twinkle Star 360 LEDs Christmas Net Lights
↓ Jump to Review
Our Top Picks
The best outdoor Christmas lights include sets that consistently provide bright, clear light and last for a reasonable amount of time. There are a variety of styles on this list to fit different tastes, architecture, and themes. Remember—no matter the style, the best lights are the ones that make you feel like the holidays have finally arrived.
Best Overall
Prextex Christmas Clear White Wire 100 Light Set
What We Like
- Easy to wrap around trees, poles, and railings
- Users can connect up to 5 sets
- White light is bright and attractive
- Great indoors or out
What We Don’t Like
- Must swap out specific bulbs for lights to twinkle
- Incandescent bulbs don’t last as long as LEDs
Specs
- Length: 20 feet
- Color: White
- Number of bulbs: 100
Our Ratings: Setup 4.5/5; Appearance 4.8/5; Durability 5/5; Storage 4.5/5; Value 4.8/5
It’s not easy to choose one set of lights as the “best.” But since these Prextex Christmas lights are so versatile, attractive, and durable, we think almost everyone would agree they’re worth their relatively low price. These small twinkle lights come on a 20-foot-long string with a 13-inch lead wire and a 5-foot end connector. They’re designed for indoor and outdoor use and are sized so as to not look out of place in either location.
We wrapped these white wire lights up a wooden porch beam for our tests. They held up without issue against rain, snow, freezing temperatures, and plenty of bumps from two rowdy dogs. Should a bulb get broken, however, the package includes two extras as well as two replacement fuses. It also comes with two flasher bulbs, which you’ll need to swap out with two regular ones if you want your lights to twinkle. While that’s not ideal, we actually prefer solid lights in that spot anyway, so we weren’t too upset. The other potential downside of this set is that bulbs are incandescent rather than LED, so they may not last as long—though the manufacturer promises up to 2,200 hours of use.
What our tester says: “We love having these lights on our deck so much that I doubt we’ll take them down once the holidays are over. Their white light is bright enough to add visibility to our table, and they create a cozy feel that we think will be appropriate year-round.”—Michelle Larson, Product Reviews tester and writer
Get the Prextex outdoor Christmas lights at Amazon.
Best Bang for the Buck
BHCLight Extra-Long LED Green Wire Christmas Lights
What We Like
- Offers 8 lighting modes
- Users can choose between various color options
- Substantial length covers lots of space
What We Don’t Like
- Wire is a bit thinner than other options
- Can’t connect additional sets
Specs
- Length: 95 feet
- Color: White
- Number of bulbs: 240
Our Ratings: Setup 4.5/5; Appearance 4.5/5; Durability 4.8/5; Storage 4/5; Value 5/5
The BHCLight extra-long Christmas lights illuminate the holidays at a foot-by-foot price that’s hard to beat. Each 95-foot string contains 240 LED warm-white lights—more than sufficient to add a cozy glow. If that’s not the color you’re after, they come in eight other options, including red, green, bright white, blue, and color changing. They’re approved for indoor and outdoor use (they’re waterproof), so they offer versatility along with holiday cheer.
Easy to control via a button located near the electrical plug, these lights display in eight modes: combination, waves, sequential, slow glow, chasing, slow fade, twinkle, and steady on. This string’s shortcomings are that it’s on the thinner side, and it cannot be plugged into another string to create a longer set of lights. Still, we had more than enough length to encircle a large bush in our yard, and its light weight made it easy to drape.
What our tester says: “We like to decorate for the holidays, but we’re also busy, so we tend to want to cover a lot of space quickly. After testing these lights for two weeks, we bought two more sets in red and white to turn our front porch columns into candy canes. Getting almost 100 feet of length for about $0.10 a bulb is just too good a deal to pass up.”—Michelle Larson, Product Reviews tester and writer
Get the BHCLight outdoor Christmas lights at Amazon.
Best White
Yiqu 82-Foot 200 LED Christmas String Lights
What We Like
- Lightweight, flexible cord is easy to hang
- Fun lighting patterns for lighting scheme variety
- Long string length offers broad coverage
What We Don’t Like
- Modes controlled only on the electrical plug
Specs
- Length: 82 feet
- Color: Warm white
- Number of bulbs: 200
Our Ratings: Setup 4/5; Appearance 4/5; Durability 4.5/5; Storage 5/5; Value 4.5/5
There are a lot of great white Christmas lights on the market, but these get the award for best white lights because users can choose from warm white, cool white, or a mix of both. After testing several sets of warm white and cool white lights for this guide, we bought another string of these Yiqu lights with alternating warm and cool bulbs that tie everything together. Like many options on this list, they also come in red, green, blue, multicolor, and several other colors.
One of the best things about this pick is its lightweight but strong and flexible cord, which was easy to wrap around objects and extend across our mantle, on top of cabinets, and along the roofline. Though we eventually ended up using these inside, they are definitely bright and durable enough for outdoor use. When they were outside, they survived a rainstorm and temperatures around 20 degrees Fahrenheit without issue.
These lights have eight modes you can control using a button on the electrical cord, and you can connect up to five strings. They also come in longer lengths than the 82-foot version we tested, so these would be a great choice if you’re creating a large outdoor display.
Get the Yiqu Christmas lights at Amazon.
Best Smart
Twinkly Multicolor LED String Lights
What We Like
- Intense brightness options for outdoors; dimmable for indoors
- 16 million possible color and pattern combinations
- Once installed, app makes them easy to use
What We Don’t Like
- Plug may not work with protected exterior outlet
- Setup takes a little time and patience
Specs
- Length: 65 feet
- Color: Color changing
- Number of bulbs: 250
Our Ratings: Setup 4/5; Appearance 5/5; Durability 4/5; Storage 5/5; Value 3.8/5
For those seeking virtually unlimited versatility and control (not to mention year-round function), the Twinkly Strings LED lights will be nearly impossible to beat. These smart lights connect to the Twinkly app, allowing you to choose from 16 million combinations of colors and patterns. While this makes them great for holiday themes and art-inspired creations, it also means the initial installation and operation require a bit of time. If you’re imagining simply plugging these in and getting lost designing a custom theme, think again. Like this time of year, these lights remind you it’s okay to slow down sometimes.
Still, if you have the patience to set them up, these are the kind of lights you can leave hanging for the entire year without annoying your neighbors. You can turn them on full blast in colors that suit any season or dim them to create a soft ambient accent along a railing or set of stairs.
As much as we love these lights, the attached electrical plug points downward in a way that may make it impossible to plug them directly into some outdoor outlets (we had to use an extension cord). You also can’t directly connect one string of these to another, though you can sync multiple strands through the app should you want to use these as backyard string lights. If you’re into smart technology and relish the idea of creating a custom setup that will catch the eye of every passerby, these are definitely the lights for you.
Get the Twinkly Strings Christmas lights (various sizes) at Amazon, Target, or Twinkly.
Best Outdoor Projector
Y Yuegang Christmas Laser Lights
What We Like
- Fun red and green holiday-themed patterns
- Outdoor Christmas projection lights offer plug-and-play operation
- Great for indoor and outdoor use
What We Don’t Like
- Patterns clarity less sharp than displayed in ads
- Our unit doesn’t always respond to remote control
Specs
- Length: 3,800 square feet of coverage at a distance of 33 feet
- Color: Multicolored
- Number of bulbs: N/A
Our Ratings: Setup 4.8/5; Appearance 3.8/5; Durability 4/5; Storage 5/5; Value 4/5
The Y Yuegang Christmas laser lights projector eliminates the need for a ladder and requires almost no installation time. In testing, it only took minutes to stake it to the ground and project red and green patterns on our garage door. Its main body is IP65 waterproof, and its adapter is rated IP44 for rain and snow resistance. It also has a rotating head and is easy to control via remote. That said, even now we sometimes struggle to get our unit to respond to its remote, making it difficult to tell whether we’ve actually set the timer as intended. Still, driving up to our house and seeing festive patterns projected against it never ceases to make our whole family happy.
Though its online marketing materials claim it works at up to a 65-foot distance, it’s really most effective when set about 33 feet from the projection surface. It took us a little trial and error to find the right place to secure it where we could cover our garage doors and get enough detail to make out the details of the red and green images.
Get the Y Yuegang outdoor Christmas lights at Amazon.
Best Meteor Lights
Twinkle Star Meteor Shower Rain Lights
What We Like
- 16.4-foot lead wire allows for vertical installation
- Lightweight tubes are easy to handle
- Can connect up to 5 sets together
What We Don’t Like
- Only 8 meteor tubes per string
Specs
- Length: 26 feet
- Color: Blue
- Number of bulbs: 288
Our Ratings: Setup 4/5; Appearance 5/5; Durability 4.5/5; Storage 4/5; Value 4/5
Those looking for something beyond a standard string of lights can add a magical touch to their Christmas decorations with the Twinkle Star Meteor Shower lights. With 288 LED lights separated into eight watertight tubes, these lights bring the celestial drama of a meteor shower to the holidays. They have a descending illumination pattern that alternates between the tubes at random, and they come in blue, cool white, and purple.
While these lights can be used indoors or outdoors, the 11.8-inch-long tubes require a lot of vertical space, so we found them a bit cumbersome indoors. We tried them along our roofline but found they looked best hung in a tree at different levels, which created the illusion of falling stars. There are only eight meteors per string, however, so you’ll likely need multiple sets to get that same effect in larger spaces.
Despite the length of the tubes, these lights are lightweight. They are durable enough to have survived several windy rainstorms, though we found it helpful to secure their cord to the tree to keep them from blowing down.
Get the Twinkle Star Meteor Shower Christmas lights at Amazon.
Best Icicle Lights
Knonew Christmas Lights Curtain Fairy String
What We Like
- Crisp white color resembles snow bathed in light
- Varying lengths of icicle portions are attractive
- Comes in several color options and longer lengths
What We Don’t Like
- IP44 rating isn’t enough for high-precipitation areas
- Plug needs to be protected from water
Specs
- Length: 33 feet
- Color: White
- Number of bulbs: 400
Our Ratings: Setup 4/5; Appearance 5/5; Durability 4.3/5; Storage 4/5; Value 4.8/5
The best icicle lights turn any home into a winter chalet, and the alternating-length dangling strands of these Knonew lights provide the classic look we remember from childhood trips to the ski lodge. Though they only have a waterproof rating of IP44, ours are doing just fine strung along the top of a fence in mid-winter northern Colorado weather. We have the cool white version, and they remind us of freshly fallen snow bathed in bright light. They also come in warm white, blue and white, red, and multicolor, just to name a few.
We currently have our strand set to “steady on,” but the control box near the plug allows you to choose seven other options, including waves, sequential, slo-go, chasing, slow fade, flash, and combination. There’s also an option on that box to select a 6-hours-on, 18-hours-off timer. Just remember that the control box does need to be protected from water for safe operation.
What our tester says: “As a child of the 80s, I still remember when icicle lights were the cool new thing. So I love the nostalgia factor of these, plus the modern functionality aspects that make them so much better today.”—Michelle Larson, Product Reviews tester and writer
Get the Knonew outdoor Christmas lights at Amazon.
Best Large-Bulb
Noma C9 LED Quick Clip Christmas Lights
What We Like
- Gorgeous, vintage, perfectly uniform look
- Spring-loaded hooks make this Christmas light installation simple
- Energy-efficient bulbs can last ~10,000 hours
What We Don’t Like
- Longer strand and bigger bulbs equal bulkier storage
- Steady on is the only setting
Specs
- Length: 66.8 feet
- Color: Warm white
- Number of bulbs: 100
Our Ratings: Setup 5/5; Appearance 5/5; Durability 5/5; Storage 4/5; Value 4.8/5
You might think choosing the products for these guides is easy, but we had to talk ourselves down from choosing these Noma large-bulb lights as our pick for best overall. Though we absolutely adore their vintage C9 look paired with the ease of modern spring-loaded installation hooks, they are more expensive than other options and may also be considered by some to be less versatile due to their size. From the moment we unpacked them, however, they had our hearts.
Not only do these lights make holiday decorating a breeze with their clip-on hooks, but their durable LED bulbs are also stronger and more energy-efficient than old incandescent bulbs. We clipped them along our entire double-peaked roofline without the need for staples, zip ties, or other attachments, taking a few extra seconds to adjust each 180-degree rotating bulb to create a precise and uniform look. Though our 66.8-foot set turned out to be the exact right length for our needs, you can connect up to 45 sets of these lights—which should be more than enough for most household displays.
What our tester says: “To me, these are the perfect Christmas lights. The big etched bulbs have an amazing, high-end vintage look, and they’re so easy to hang uniformly that our perfectionist tendencies are soothed each time we glance up and admire our work. I love them so much that I bought a few more sets while they were on sale, including a multicolored one that reminds me of my Grandma’s Christmas tree at the ranch.”—Michelle Larson, Product Reviews tester and writer
Get the Noma outdoor Christmas lights at Amazon or Target.
Best Mini
Wintergreen Lighting Wide Angle LED Mini Lights
What We Like
- Thick wire offers excellent durability and stability
- 14 bright and beautiful color options
- Offered in 4 string lengths
- Users can connect up to 44 sets
What We Don’t Like
- No special lighting modes or effects
- Stiffer wire is difficult to roll for storage
Specs
- Length: 24 feet
- Color: Multicolor
- Number of bulbs: 70
Our Ratings: Setup 4/5; Appearance 5/5; Durability 5/5; Storage 4/5; Value 4.5/5
What the Wintergreen Lighting colored Christmas lights lack in versatility, they make up for in durability and brightness. These mini lights can take on wet, cold weather without slowing down, and they come in 14 bright colors and color patterns. Each of the 70 bulbs on the 24-foot strand is securely attached to a thick, somewhat stiff wire that’s built to last and that can connect to up to 44 additional strings.
While these lights are rated for both indoor and outdoor use, their stiff cord makes them a bit better for outside—as we found it a bit too thick for stringing on our tree and mantle. Outdoors, that thickness made it easy to install them in nice, straight rows. Back inside for storage, however, we once again found the thickness challenging because getting them to compress down into a compact size wasn’t easy.
One other thing we especially liked about this Wintergreen Lighting set is their concave design, which concentrates light for brighter illumination. This also makes them somewhat unique outdoor Christmas lights. We found them easily visible outdoors but not overpowering inside.
Get the Wintergreen Lighting Christmas lights at Amazon, The Home Depot, or Walmart.
Best for Large Areas
Twinkle Star 360 LEDs Christmas Net Lights
What We Like
- Fast and easy coverage for large shrubs
- 8 modes to accommodate all user preferences
- Can be used in different ways year-round
What We Don’t Like
- Transformer must be protected from the elements
- We struggled getting it to stay on one setting
Specs
- Length: 5 feet long by 12 feet wide
- Color: White
- Number of bulbs: 360
Our Ratings: Setup 4.8/5; Appearance 4.8/5; Durability 4/5; Storage 4/5; Value 4.5/5
If you have a wide area to cover, net lights are an easier-to-install choice than classic string light strands. In testing, we had this 5-foot-long by 12-foot-wide net draped over our front hedge in under 5 minutes. After running its 16.5-foot lead cable under our doormat and plugging it in, we started toggling through all eight lighting modes to find just the right one. As smoothly as things had gone up to this point, we struggled to get the settings to stay set on our preferred option. It would stay for a minute, then start scrolling through the available choices again without prompting. After some fussing (which really only involved putting it back on the “right” setting over and over), it finally stuck.
Once installed, we found the 360 warm-white LED bulbs to be evenly dispersed along the mesh netting for a uniform look. One net was perfect for the foliage in front of our large front window, but you can connect up to two more nets to get greater coverage. Just be patient when you take the net off for storage—it’s easy for it to get stuck on small branches and bits of green, and you can tear it if you’re not careful.
Get the Twinkle Star 360 outdoor Christmas lights at Amazon.
Jump to Our Top Picks
How We Tested the Best Outdoor Christmas Lights
| Testing Stats | |
| Products tested | 10 |
| Time spent testing | 2 weeks |
| Tests performed | 7 |
| Price range | $10 to $120 |
To us, the most important factors for choosing outdoor Christmas lights decorations are attractiveness and durability, so that’s what we focused on most in our tests. After unboxing each set of lights, we got right to work hanging them up. We ran strings along our roof, across the fence, and around bushes and poles. We took note of how easy they were to hang and whether we had to be careful to keep any components out of the elements. After a couple of weeks of wet winter weather, we undid all our work by taking the lights down, dropping them on cement to see if any bulbs would break, and packing them up to determine if their original packaging still provided enough space for storage.
What to Consider When Choosing Outdoor Christmas Lights
Outdoor lights come in a surprising variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Smart LED Christmas lights, for example, can emit hundreds, if not thousands, of colors from a single bulb. Also, different bulbs of different sizes create different looks and require different choices regarding Christmas light storage. Keep your decor style and preferences in mind while selecting between outdoor Christmas lighting ideas.
Light Style
The most common outdoor Christmas light styles include:
- Twinkle: These tiny traditional lights look as at home on the indoor Christmas tree as they do outside along the eaves. Small and affordable, they’re a great option for those on a budget. Most are either white or multicolored, but some color-changing options may allow you to choose between the two.
- Icicle: Designed to mimic hanging icicles, these decorative lights offer a touch of elegance. While they’re bulkier to store than twinkle lights, they also have more bulbs per string.
- Meteor shower: Meteor shower lights’ distinct shape makes them look like glowing meteors or shooting stars falling from trees or eaves. They’re more complicated to install but offer a unique effect.
- Globe: Not just for the holidays, these large round globe lights can be used year-round. They’re often multicolored and offer a warm glow that radiates in all directions.
- Large bulb: These are a bigger version of traditional twinkle lights. They’re bright and often multicolored, though some are a single color.
There are also outdoor Christmas light projectors, which aren’t Christmas lights in a traditional sense, but they can add a festive flair to a holiday display.
Length and Size
Outdoor Christmas lights come in various lengths, from 10 feet to 100 feet or more. Measure the distance the lights will need to cover to get an idea of the right number of strings for the lighting design, accounting for any swag or draping for effect. Falling a few feet short can easily impact your outdoor Christmas display.
If you’re considering an outdoor Christmas light projector, remember the area the display can cover is explicitly defined in terms of square footage. While you can move the projector farther from the house to expand the display size, that may affect the quality of the images and the density of the colors it displays.
Power Source
Electricity and solar are the main power sources for outdoor Christmas lights, though you can also sometimes find battery-operated Christmas lights. Of the two, electricity is by far the more reliable. Electricity provides consistent power, though it also requires extension cords and access to an outdoor outlet in the right location.
Solar-powered Christmas lights are less common but are still a viable option. They’re an energy saver, generating energy via a solar panel during the day, but they aren’t without their flaws. The biggest problem is power consistency. Solar power must be stored to keep the lights running after the sun goes down. Many of these lights shine brightly for about 1 or 2 hours but then dim as power fades. Yes, they save power, but they’re not nearly as bright or consistent as electric lights.
LED Bulbs
LED Christmas light bulbs use light-emitting diodes instead of filaments like incandescent bulbs. The diodes require less energy and last longer than filaments, creating a long-lasting, energy-efficient light bulb. LED lights also remain cool to the touch, reducing the risk of fire. Outdoor LED Christmas lights come in a wider variety of colors than incandescent ones. When paired with smart features, they can create a rainbow of options.
Additional Features
The best Christmas lights can include extra features like:
- Smart controls: Smart control gives you the ability to change colors, lighting patterns, and timer settings using an app. With a phone as a remote, you can turn on the lights before arriving at home or turn them off from work.
- Pattern settings: Flashing, intermittent, and other lighting patterns can make a lighting display stand out.
- Color options: White, blue, green, red, and multicolored are the most common color scheme options. Some strings consist of a single color, while others, like smart LED lights, may offer several colors. With a greater choice of color combinations, users can change the look to fit the changing seasons for year-round lighting.
- Lead wires and end connectors: The lead wire is the length of the string before the lights, and the end connector is the length of the string after the lights. It is important to keep these two measurements in mind if precise connections are required.
FAQs
Even if you’ve been helping with outdoor Christmas lights since you were a kid, you might still have a few questions about this particular category of string lights. Our answers to the following frequently asked questions can help you get your lights selected and installed so that your home looks its best this holiday season.
When hanging outdoor Christmas lights, recruit a helper, get a sturdy ladder, and prepare for at least a few hours of work. Start with a string near an electrical outlet and hang your Christmas lights by following the roofline. Have your helper hold the ladder for stability. If the lights you’re hanging don’t have clips, you can attach them with nails, a staple gun, or removable light clips. Of these options, the removable clips are easiest and cause the least damage to the home.
Unlike indoor Christmas lights, outdoor Christmas lights should be 100 percent waterproof. If they’re not, they could short out the first time it rains or snows. Check the IP rating, which consists of two digits. The first number indicates dust and debris resistance, and the second indicates water resistance on a scale of 0 to 9. Waterproof outdoor Christmas lights should have a rating of at least 4 (in the second digit) or higher. Lights with a 4 or 5 can resist light rain, though they may not do well in extremely wet weather.
Yes, Christmas outdoor lights are safe to leave on all night. However, you might want to connect them to a timer to save energy.
Yes, LED outdoor Christmas lights last longer than older-style bulbs. The U.S. Department of Energy says that LED bulbs last up to 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs.
The size of bulbs you choose for your outdoor Christmas lights depends mostly on your personal preferences. In our tests, we really liked the look of Noma’s C9 Christmas Lights on our roofline and mini lights like the Prextex White Wire Lights wrapped around our covered porch’s beams.
Some outdoor lighting will have a control box near its plug that isn’t waterproof and must be covered or otherwise kept out of the elements. Other options for outdoor Christmas lights will be fully waterproof, as stated on the packaging.
Choosing the best color for outdoor Christmas lights is 100 percent personal preference, so pick whichever color or colors you prefer! If you’re looking to change colors this year and want to responsibly part ways with old lights, see our guide on recycling Christmas lights for more information.
Like color and size, brightness for outdoor Christmas lights mostly comes down to personal preference. Cool white lights may be best for you if you prefer something on the brighter end of the spectrum. Colored or warm white options typically aren’t quite as bright.
Meet the Tester
With National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation as one of her all-time favorite movies, writer, editor, and product tester Michelle Larson jumped on the chance to tap into her inner Clark Griswold by hanging every set of outdoor Christmas lights she could get her hands on. Though she forgot to check each bulb before installation, the quality offered by today’s lights ensured she created that house-on-fire look her own Aunt Bethany loves.
Additional research provided by Jasmine Harding and Stacey L. Nash
