Ways to Use Christmas Lights for All Holidays

Now that your Christmas lights are all put away, it’s time to ask yourself—will they sit there until next Christmas? If only there was another holiday they could brighten…

Good news: your lights don’t have to wait all alone in a box until next holiday season. With a sprinkle of creativity and a dash of imagination, you have a plethora of ways to use Christmas Lights for all holidays! And if you’d like to get a fresh set of lights, the year’s other holidays are a great opportunity to try something new.

This guide has what you need to know about using your lights for the rest of the year. Learn the essentials on leaving your Christmas lights up for throughout the year, then find out the holidays that benefit from the shine of Christmas lights—along with the type of lights that are best for each of them. After, we highlight some product ideas to keep your creativity flowing, and then go over special event lighting. At the end, we discuss our top recommendation for holiday lights that are perfect for your whole year.

Can You Leave Christmas Lights Up All Year?

We’d love to say yes, but the truth is that most Christmas lights should not be left up all year. Holiday outdoor light sets are not designed to be left up year round, 24/7. Both retail and commercial grade Christmas lights are designed for seasonal use only. There are several reasons for taking down your Christmas lights instead of keeping them up all year:

• Tree wraps and roofline lights are at risk of damage caused by squirrels and other pesky rodents that are active during spring and summertime
• Trees, grass, and foliage continue to grow throughout the year. Hedges and lawns are impossible to manicure when light sets and stake lights are in the way
• Tree trunks grow larger and wider, putting strain on your light wraps after a few months, which can cause damage to both the tree and light sets
• Many homes around the country are susceptible to wind, rain, tornadoes and/or hurricanes during the spring and summer season. It's a good idea to store your lights away safely so they don't become a hazard for your home.

We recommend a period of 3 months/90 days max for your outdoor holiday lights installations, during the Christmas season as well as special events and other holidays (which we’ll cover later in this article).

Can You Leave Christmas Lights Up Inside All Year?

Yes! The indoors are a great place for keeping your Christmas lights up all year. If you have pets, make sure your lights are kept at a safe distance so that your pets don’t play with or chew on the wiring.

The ideal lights for long-term indoor use are one-piece sets like conicals and C6 sets because they seal out dust and other damaging material.

Our top recommendation for year-round holiday lights? Twinkly RGB smart lights. They put control and customization in your hands for complementing any holiday that you plan to celebrate. Stay tuned for more about the best of Twinkly RGB smart lights at the end of this article.

LED Lighting for Outdoor Holiday Decorating

Holiday lights are the perfect way to make your moments outdoors magical. Give new life to your LED Christmas lights by using them for holidays of all kinds.

Bring out the appeal of your outdoor space with decorating ideas including Christmas light strings that hang over the patio between your roofline and deck posts, or light wraps around shrubbery and trees. Holiday lights will transform your outdoor space into an inviting place for those special events like summer parties, in addition to commercial and residential patios.

Just remember to take your lights down in 90 days or less to keep them safe and working properly.

Holidays and Color Schemes

Top choices for lights to brighten any holiday around the corner include 5mm conical lights, T5s, and M5s. Our M5 LED Christmas lights come in a wide variety of colors, from red, white, and blue lights, to pink for Valentine’s lights. Here’s a list of holidays and the colors to match, where M5s and other top choices will shine!

• Valentine’s Day: pink and red lights
• Patrick’s Day: green lights
• Easter: Pastel colors, such as pink, purple, teal, and white lights
• Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day & Veteran’s Day: red, white, and blue lights
• Pride Month: rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet lights)
• Halloween: orange, green, and purple lights
• Halloween Bonus: red and green Halloween lights in slow strobe mode for a spooky effect!
• October Breast Cancer Awareness Month: pink lights

Product Ideas for the Different Holidays

Need some ideas for how to decorate? Start with the products! These product ideas for holiday lights will help keep your creative ideas flowing:

C9 Bulbs and Light Line are versatile, allowing you to swap out bulb colors for the festive holiday color schemes of your choice. This combo is our pick for short-term foliage applications, and stake lighting around yard beds.

C6 String Lights are excellent for indoor decorating throughout the year thanks to their compact size. Try them out on indoor potted trees, mantle garland, or other decorations. We’ve seen a plethora of “Halloween Christmas Trees” over the years, but what stood out to us? A black tree with orange lights and spooky ornaments.

Outdoor spotlights add great color and texture to an outdoor scene, and contrast nicely with Christmas lights along yard foliage. For Halloween, use them to illuminate 2D yard props, fake ghosts, and mannequins.

Foldable spheres pop open in seconds and are ready to hang, making them some of the easiest temporary holiday decorations to put up. You can create a big impact with foldable spheres when you arrange them in clusters of different colors and sizes.

Outdoor Special Event Lighting

Whether you’re celebrating a life-changing milestone such as marriage or hosting a casual party full of neighbors and friends, outdoor lighting will make each event enchanting. Here are the holiday lights that we find spellbinding for outdoor special events:

5mm conical lights in warm white and pure white are endlessly tasteful, giving picturesque charm to weddings, summer parties and pool/patio scenes.

Icicle lights are an elegant and attractive solution to outline fencing and stairways. Use them to define the space that you and your guests will make memories in.

Here are some ways to brighten your outdoor space for your next special occasion outdoors:

• Hang string lights from tree branches
• Wrap string light strings around tree trunks
• Hang icicle lights from a patio pergola
• Arrange string lights on hedges or shrubbery

Smart Lighting—Outdoor and Indoor Holiday Magic

Whether indoors or out, take your lighting application from good to stunning with Twinkly smart lights. Twinkly RGB smart lights put full control and total customization in your hands.

Customize your set with colors and effects for any holiday or event. They’re like a light set with every holiday effect wrapped in one! Most Twinkly Home products are outdoor rated as well. Check the IP rating—anything 44 and above will be weather durable.

When you have Twinkly lights, you have access to Twinkly’s special effects gallery. It features dozens of holiday downloads, such as patriotic themes for 4th of July lights, hearts for Valentine’s lights, ghosts & pumpkins for Halloween lights, and so much more. The gallery has effects for holidays you didn’t even think about celebrating before.

Twinkly lights can be left up year-round inside the home. Sharpen up your living area by wrapping your Twinkly strings around faux trees, mantle garland, wreaths, or curtains along your windows. Or, create a cool wall display with Twinkly Flex, Dots or Line.

And for your outdoor space, Twinkly has you covered: Twinkly Festoons are like bistro lights, perfect for creating mesmerizing displays to match the mood at patios and outdoor parties.

This concludes our guide on ways to use Christmas lights for all holidays. Want to discuss decorations for this year’s holidays? Or are you looking for the missing link to your next arrangement? Contact us at info@christmasdesigners.com or call 1-800-391-5280 to discuss the possibilities of your lighting in the near future, or for next Christmas!