Essential Dozen: Pro Tools for Outdoor Holiday Lighting

12 Indispensable Instruments for any Christmas Light Installation

The period bridging the upcoming festive season and the previous one is ideal for preparation. And preparation involves assembling the essential tools. Your project might appear overwhelming, but possessing the right instruments significantly eases the process. Regardless of whether you’re a novice or seasoned, tackling a simple project or a grand one, these twelve premier tools for professional outdoor holiday lighting will ensure you’re ready to craft stunning displays.

After our rundown of must-have outdoor Christmas lighting tools, stay tuned to learn about a few additional instruments that simplify life during the decorating season.

1. Wire Snips

For displays with professional appeal, you’ll tailor light lengths. Wire snips are perfect for cutting light lines to your desired sizes. They assist in crafting custom light runs with empty socket light lines, severing zip cords, cutting zip ties on wire bundles, and trimming ornament wires for other Christmas decorations.

 

2. Light Clips

The most effective method to mount lights on rooflines is by using robust Christmas light clips. Clips ensure a professional appearance with lights neatly aligned along your home’s perimeter. They also safeguard your lights (and home) from damage caused by non-professional methods like staples, nails, and binder clips. Various Christmas light clips are available for different display styles, from single to multiple lines.

3. Stakes

The backbone for professional outdoor Christmas lighting installations in your yard isn’t just reliant on stakes, it’s actually staked on them. Humor aside, straight and evenly spaced lighting is achievable with the proper application of light stakes. Various types cater to different soil firmness and flower bed depths.

Refer to our video on yard stakes installation for tips on selecting the appropriate stake length and installation techniques. If a single stake length seems inadequate, remember that some Christmas yard lighting setups benefit from multiple stake lengths.

4. Rubber Hammer

To achieve high-quality perimeter lighting, you might need to dismantle some parts—but in a controlled, precise way that ensures pristine light runs.

A rubber hammer is ideal for this task. If your perimeter lights need to transition between different roofline levels, maintain a professional look by removing unwanted sockets. Use a rubber hammer to knock off any unnecessary sockets. Check out this quick guide on efficiently using a rubber hammer to remove a light line socket.

5. Electrical Tape

Electrical tape serves multiple purposes in your outdoor Christmas lighting toolkit. First, it complements the previous tool by covering any holes left after socket removal. Secondly, it enhances walkway safety by securing wires, preventing tripping hazards.

While some use electrical tape to terminate light runs, a more professional approach is to add a female plug at the end instead.

6. Glue Gun

Out of all the outdoor Christmas lighting tools, the hot glue gun is key to achieving seamless perimeter lighting on brick. It’s an efficient method to attach light lines to brick and works well with affordable glue guns. For extensive brick lighting projects, a battery-operated glue gun is recommended for hassle-free installation.

Remember, glue guns are unsuitable for stucco surfaces. Since stucco can be real or synthetic (Styrofoam-based EIFS), hot glue can damage synthetic stucco upon removal. Instead, drill into the structure beneath the Styrofoam to avoid surface damage.

https://www.christmasdesigners.com/blog/using-hot-glue-to-hang-christmas-lights

7. Extension Leads

Though extension cords are often seen as multi-purpose, specific ones excel as outdoor Christmas light extension cords. Ensure your chosen cord is:

• UL Listed—meeting Underwriters Laboratory standards for safety and compliance
• Weatherproof (resistant to snow, rain, etc.)
• Flame-resistant
• Grounded

In regions with extremely cold temperatures during the holidays, TPE-rated cords are recommended. These are encased in thermoplastic elastomer rubber, offering superior cold (and heat) resistance. For milder winters, standard outdoor-rated or SJTW-rated cords suffice.

8. Zip Ties

Organize your outdoor Christmas setup with zip ties! They’re excellent for securing wreaths, garland, and light lines to fences and gates. During takedown and storage, zip ties keep light runs neatly bundled.

9. TreE-Z Wraps

Add this to your outdoor Christmas lighting toolkit to achieve a polished look on tree trunks, branches, pillars, columns, and similar structures. TreE-Z Wraps are long strips with teeth that grip light lines, maintaining secure, straight spacing. They simplify decorating and removal by preventing light line tangling.

Complete Guide Simplifying Outdoor Christmas Illumination Installationlight embellishment—and they won’t harm your trees either!

10. Masonry Screws

The appearance of greenery against brickwork is delightful during the festive season, but brick poses a challenging surface. Fortunately, there’s a solution in the form of specific screws capable of piercing bricks. Also known as concrete screws, these masonry screws are ideal for anchoring wreaths to homes with brick exteriors.

Before you fasten any screws, ensure the path is clear. Drill a suitably-sized hole using a hammer drill or an impact drill.

11. Timer

This subsequent device is crucial for conveniently managing your lights. Forget about manually switching your lights. Utilize an outdoor Christmas lights timer to automate the process so you can unwind—confident that your lights will illuminate and go off as scheduled.

Select from various user-friendly options for your outdoor Christmas lights timer, such as a photocell timer that triggers your lights at dusk, or a Wifi smart app-controlled timer that offers precise management.

12. Clear Plastic Storage Containers

Our final top tool for expert outdoor holiday lighting is an organization solution. Clear plastic storage containers are ideal for storing Christmas lights and greenery. These containers make it effortless to identify the contents when it’s time to retrieve your decorations for next year.

Steer clear of cardboard boxes and intricate specialty containers. Although the latter appears to provide a novel solution to a traditional Christmas decorating issue, specialty storage containers do not represent a worthwhile investment for outdoor holiday lighting tools.

Bonus: Two Nice-to-Have Christmas Tools

Pliers

Pliers efficiently close up vampire plugs during your Christmas decorating wiring tasks. They’re also practical for adjusting artificial greenery, such as straightening out wreath tips that are slightly out of shape.

Cougar Paws

Cougar Paws are specialized roofing footwear with added gripping on the soles designed to provide superior traction. Serious professional Christmas light installers always use these. However, Cougar Paws do not guarantee safety. Scaling roofs is an activity for advanced installers only. We strongly recommend adhering to proper safety protocols at all times during lighting projects—especially when working on rooftops.

These top twelve tools for professional outdoor holiday lighting will equip you to create a magnificent Christmas display. A display so stunning, it might make Santa Claus himself blush! Or does he appear to be blushing all the time?

Regardless, we’re here to further aid you in enhancing your outdoor Christmas lighting toolkit. Contact us via email at [email protected] or give us a call at 1-800-391-5280 to get your questions addressed today!