Cooking a turkey, getting grandma's stuffing just right, and creating the perfect curl of ribbon are just a few holiday techniques you can only learn by doing—and putting the lights on your Christmas tree poses the same challenge. Even if you know how to hang lights on a tree, figuring out how many lights you need for your Christmas tree can be its own mental gymnastics. Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits-all rule for figuring out the right number of lights for your tree (just like everyone has their own pick for the best Christmas movies on Netflix). But figuring out how many lights your Christmas tree needs does have some simple guidelines.
Basic Rule of Thumb
"The average person usually has a 6-foot tree," says prop stylist and crafter Karin Lidbeck-Brent. "So an easy, general rule to remember is that for each foot of your tree, you'd want to use one strand of lights. I prefer the strands with 150 bulbs."
Other Considerations
Still, that's just a general guideline, says Lidbeck-Brent, who has decorated more than a thousand Christmas trees over the course of her career. First, it really depends on the height of your tree: Common sense dictates that a taller or broader tree will need more lights than a small or thin one. Second, you'll find that different people have different preferences when it comes to their Christmas trees. Some people like a luminescent, super-bright look, while others like the focus to be on the ornaments, not the lights, and go for a less flashy look. Either way, you also have to consider how much space you have to store all those lights for the months of the year that you don't have a Christmas tree up.
We asked Lidbeck-Brent to share more tips on how many strings of Christmas lights you need to decorate your tree for your preferred look.
How many lights do you need for your Christmas tree this year?
Figure out approximately how tall your tree is and plan to use one strand of lights for each foot. (If you're using longer-than-average strands, adjust your number of light strands accordingly.) And, of course, if you decorated a tree of similar height last year and liked the final look just fine, stick with the number of lights you used for your Christmas tree then—if it ain't broke don't fix it, right?
Our easy lights-per-foot of Christmas tree guide will tell you exactly how many strands of lights you need, plus a range of the number of lights you might want, depending on the desired brightness of the tree.
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Should You Buy Extra Lights?
Admittedly, Lidbeck-Brent uses more lights for Christmas trees than the average person, but she does recommend buying an extra strand or two just in case. Then if you decorate the whole tree and see a gap in your coverage, you can use the extras and an extension cord to fill it. If you really love lights, have an extra three strands on hand.
The right amount tends to be 150 lights per strand, but you can buy Christmas lights with more lights per strand—so 200 lights per strand would work best if you want a very bright tree, while you'd want to opt for 100 lights per strand if you wanted a less twinkly look.
"Figure out what your priorities are before you start decorating. If you want your ornaments to show and be the star, use fewer lights. If you overdo it on the lights, the glare will bedazzle your ornaments so you won't be able to see them," says Lidbeck-Brent.
Christmas Light FAQs
How many lights for a 6-foot Christmas tree?
The minimum number of lights for a 6-foot tree is 600 lights (or six strands of 100-bulb Christmas lights)—but you can go up to 1200 lights, depending on whether you want the lighting or the ornaments to be the star of your Christmas tree.
How many lights for a 7-foot Christmas tree?
The minimum number of holiday lights is 700, with 1400 lights on the high end.
How many lights for an 8-foot Christmas tree?
You should have a minimum of 800 Christmas lights for an 8-foot tree, with 1600 lights max.
How many lights for a 9-foot Christmas tree?
You'll want at least 900 lights, with about 1800 lights on the high end.
How many Christmas lights can you string together?
Connecting too many lights together can create a fire hazard. Check your Christmas light box to see how many strands you can string together. The number will be higher if you use LED lights, which use less electricity to power each string.
How many Christmas lights per foot of tree?
For every foot of your Christmas tree, you'll need 100 to 200 lights, depending on how bright you'd like your tree.
