The 20 Best Outdoor Christmas Lights Ideas You Need to Try

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Christmas lights are a truly magical part of the holiday season. From simple holiday lights to elaborate displays, outdoor Christmas lights ideas will add so much to your home and neighborhood.

The only problem: there are so many lighting fixtures and designs to choose from! If you’re unsure of how to make your outdoor Christmas decorations and lighting stand out this year: don’t worry! We’ve got you covered.

In this piece, I’ve gathered some of the best outdoor Christmas light ideas for several parts of the home. You’ll be able to decorate your trees, house, lawn, balcony, and much more!

Outdoor Christmas Lights Ideas for Trees and Bushes

Creating an amazing holiday mood outdoors with Christmas lights is a must-have for a festive and whimsical Christmas. That said, it’s hard to choose when there are so many styles to choose from!

Let’s start off with the lawn. Creating a glittery, sparkly effect right in front of the house is an easy place to start.

Christmas Lights on the Outdoor Trees and Bushes

Outdoor string lights are one of the simplest, yet most impressive light styles to set up outside of the house. You can decorate basically anything with them, including trees and bushes.

I recommend using simple LED string lights to decorate your house. These lovely, glowing lights are a symbol of a joyful and magical holiday season.

There are two basic methods of covering trees with string and fairy lights – the first is wrapping the lights around a bush or making a zigzag with it. Maple, birch, and oak are great picks for this style.

The second method is doing a spiral pattern and wrapping them around the trunk. For this method, choose spruce, pine, cedar.

Need a visual tutorial for these outdoor Christmas lights ideas? Check out this great video guide on how to install lights on the trees here.

You also have options on how efficient your light strings are. Light strings and fairy lights come in either battery-operated or regular plug-ins. Even if you don’t have an outdoor socket, you can still sprinkle a little Christmas charm to your front lawn.

Christmas Outdoor Icicle Lights

Icicle lights are a unique variation on regular string lights. They make installing the string lights on trees and bushes so much easier (since you don’t have to wrap them endlessly).

These lights do especially well on trees with tall trunks. That said, icicle lights still look amazing on round or bushy trees as well.

There are plenty of options available so you can have them as colorful as you wish – from a classic, soothing white to a variety of zesty colors.

Outdoor Christmas Lights Ideas for the House, Front Lawn and Walkway

To make your home sparkle this holiday season, consider transforming it into a massive light show. With just a few light strings, you can transform your everyday home into a glowing masterpiece.

One really fun idea is mixing up different types of light fixtures and colors for an extra level of brilliance. Let’s take a look at some fun ideas below!

Outdoor Christmas Lights Ideas on a Facade and Garden

Outdoor Christmas lighting, like any outdoor type of lighting, needs to have a balanced design plan to look good. Outdoor lighting design is a delicate balance between placement, color, and brightness level.

The lighting in the picture above is well-balanced, but also festively over-the-top!

I really enjoy how these homeowners mixed different types of light and made it coherent simply by keeping the temperature of light the same for every fixture. They illuminated everything: the facade, doors, doorway, garlands, wreath, bushes, and trees.

Icicle Lights Hanging From the Roof

Hanging the icicle lights on the roof is a classic move that looks simply fantastic in the winter. In the pictures above, you can see differently styled houses with very different locations.

What makes this lighting fixture great is how it works everywhere: not only by adding sparkle, but also by imitating snow. When you think about it, many outdoor Christmas lights ideas are innovative ways of enhancing nature.

You can add icicle lights either as your main style of outdoor Christmas lighting and as part of a bigger composition. Either way, it’ll be a hit!

Outdoor Christmas Light Arches

If you like to make a statement with your outdoor Christmas lighting, arches are your must-have outdoor fixture. Imagine illuminating a path in front of your house with them: it’s like creating your own mini-wonderland.

With warmer colors, these archways can also contribute to a design I’d call “a gingerbread house”. The second photo above just screams celebration and whimsy!

Christmas Outdoor Lamp Post

You’re looking for something so classic, it looks straight out of a storybook? Adding an outdoor Christmas lamp post in front of your doors is going to make the entry to your house look elegant and ready for the holidays.

The biggest advantage of lamp posts is they direct visitors to your doors and make your house extra inviting. When it comes to easy, yet effective outdoor Christmas lights ideas, lamp posts top the list.

Christmas Wreaths With Lights

You can use all the light strings you want, but they won’t do much good if you don’t have some type of decorative embellishment to frame them. The easiest way to achieve a dramatic effect with Christmas lights is to wrap your wreaths or branches.

Remember: outdoor Christmas lights ideas also rely on a powerful composition. You want something to draw the eye immediately.

When you put a wreath with lighting on your doors, you create the focal point for your front lawn. You can make this wreath the center of a bigger picture, such as the last picture. Notice the natural framing of the garland with lighting, side lamps, and bushes with lighting on the sides of doors.

If you want even more outdoor Christmas lights ideas to prepare for the holidays, check out my 24 Ideas For Christmas Front Door Decorations.

Walkway Filled With Sugar Canes

If your goal is to create a winter wonderland, sugar cane pathway lights will make your home look straight out of a fantasy. With multiple color tree lights and holiday décor, these charming little canes will bring a smile to any visitor’s face.

The big plus of these lights is they’re very easy to add to a lot. You just have to line them up in a row along your pathway, sidewalk, or driveway.

Star String Lights For The Garden

If you miss flowers in the winter, you can easily recreate them in your garden with star string lights. In the picture above, they make a lovely composition with deer décor and a Christmas tree illumination.

This photo is also a very good example of balanced outdoor Christmas lighting. Notice how the light is low to the ground, illuminating the path while providing contrast with the darker treetops.

Star flowers can be installed easily and are a wonderful way to bring a little spring into the winter holiday.

Christmas Light Up Decorations

There are so many interesting scenes you can make with illuminated Christmas décor. The example in the photo above has just about everything you could want – a nativity scene, carolers, sleigh with reindeer, and more!

“Merry Christmas” Outdoor Sign

If you want an easy and simple project, try a light-up “Merry Christmas” sign! This project is great because you can easily illuminate your house so more people can see it. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to wish anyone who passes by a little joy and happiness.

I like this idea a lot since it inherently involves thinking about others. Christmas is the season of giving, after all! It also looks very charming when framed with trees, wreaths, or a doorframe.

Reindeer Outdoor Christmas Decorations

There are so many illuminated reindeers waiting for you to adopt them. They can be structural, flat, filled in, or paired with a sleigh. No matter which option you choose, they’re a classic Christmas creature and blend in with many winter aesthetics.

Consider adding outdoor reindeer with other wintery animals like the photos above, such as bears or penguins. These outdoor Christmas lights ideas are very customizable depending on your favorite animals.

Christmas Outdoor Projection Lights

If you don’t want to spend hours on your house, but still want it to look fantastic, get a projector. This handy tool frees you up from having to hang anything, look for transformers, or do any technical work.

Just find a large surface, plug it in, and enjoy a blend of colors and patterns.

The one in the picture above is pretty unique – the projector shows hints of snowflakes and other simple patterns.

Outdoor Christmas Lights Ideas for Your Porch and Entrance

The entrance is a crucial area to illuminate during the winter holidays. An inviting house should have an inviting entrance, don’t you think?

Christmas Outdoor Garland With Lights

Garland filled with lights, baubles, or red bows just screams Christmas. They form an elegant frame around your doorway and look amazing on the porch — truly one of the classic outdoor Christmas lights ideas.

You can easily transform the style depending on additional décor. For example, you can add snowmen and reindeer for a more whimsical look. However, you can add icicle lights and fancy wreaths for an elegant appearance. To me, the last photo is a dream come true.

I’m very fond of garlands with natural branches, as they not only look great, but smell amazing. While these branches are sometimes wasted in the Christmas tree industry, adding them to visible areas of the house add a lot of personality.

String Lights Around The Doorway

Adding string lights around the doorway instantly makes a house more inviting. The closer the lights are installed to the door, the more they emphasize that area of the house (more visible in the second picture).

What says welcome more than showing exactly where your doors are?

I really enjoy the star-shaped string lights hung above doors in the second picture, too. While snowflakes, reindeer, and snowmen are some of the go-to symbols of Christmas, stars also play a big part.

Christmas Outdoor Lanterns

Outdoor lanterns make your front porch special and extra festive! The glowing light from a lantern adds a dignified beauty with no extra work.

Lanterns with traditional Christmas colors and details are an easy way to spruce up any outdoor decoration. They also make a great gift for outdoor Christmas décor enthusiasts.

Hint: If you’re afraid of keeping candles unattended outside, you can buy electric ones or put string lights into lanterns (such as the second photo).

Apartment Balcony Outdoor Christmas Lights Ideas

A balcony is an amazing space during the winter holidays. While it may be smaller than a yard, it can make a bold and delightful visual statement.

Icicle Lights on the Balcony

The two pictures above show how amazing balconies look when decorated for Christmas. They immediately draw the eye without too much effort.

The first picture achieves a glittering effect with fairy lights, recreating the delicate appearance of icicles. The balcony also has a real tree on it (which has a few fairy lights of its own). Fun fact: did you know these trees are much more likely to last if kept outside?

The second picture shows a more traditional set-up with garland and colorful baubles. I personally prefer the color of warm lights, especially when contrasted with white walls.

Christmas Fairy Lights for Balcony

How about adding the light curtain above the balcony? It looks so elegant and adds a little extra light back into the apartment. This balcony was already striking, but now it’s impossible to look away.

I really enjoy the snowflake décor on a balcony railing, too. It looks like every area was taken into account when putting together this set-up.

Christmas Outdoor Lighting With Glowing Deer

For those who live in the apartment and love deer décor, you can’t overlook this idea. These little deer are a smart fit for anyone low on space, but still wanting to have fun with holiday decorations.

Smaller versions are best for small apartments (and even fit in the flowerpots), but you may have enough space for more than one. Remember: not all outdoor Christmas lights ideas have to be lavish and big. Less really can be more.

The lit trees on the sides add even more charm to this balcony. It’s no doubt just as beautiful when viewed inside as well as outside.

Holiday Garland With Lights

The garland in the picture is extraordinary — it’s vibrant, massive, and filled with lights. This is a true winter holidays statement.

When paired with the classically-styled balcony, it looks downright monumental.

If you enjoy old Hollywood glam, this is a must-have addition to your balcony.

Did You Find Any Outdoor Christmas Lights Ideas You Like?

I hope you find my outdoor Christmas lights ideas interesting. Which type of outdoor Christmas lighting did you like the most and would like to use this season?

Outdoor Christmas lights ideas come big and small. They can be as simple as a lantern on you porch or as extravagant as light strings all over the lawn. You can even find a middleground, such as a projector to light up your house.

If you want more fun ideas as you plan housing decorations or spruce up your outdoor kitchen, check out the following posts:

• 9 Simple Outdoor Kitchen Ideas That Are Going to Blow Your Mind
• 16 Best Outdoor Kitchen Lighting Ideas – Easy Designing Tips
• 21 Brilliant Outdoor Fireplace Ideas You Need to See