The 7 Best Outdoor Christmas Lights of 2021

We discuss The 7 Best Outdoor Christmas Lights of 2021– With winter inching its way in, it’s time to make your home reflect the merry spirit of the holiday season. If your goal is to have the best-looking home on your street, prepare to start strategizing about your holiday decorating scheme—if you haven’t already, that is. First step: lighting! Maybe you prefer to go the simple, warm-white string lights approach, maybe you want something that feels a little more fun and playful, maybe you’re all about nostalgia, or maybe you’re planning to go all out, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation style. In any case, there are tons of outdoor Christmas lights to choose from out there, so we’ve rounded up some of the best—that is, highly reviewed by customers, or just plain cool—holiday lights you can buy online this season.

One of the easiest ways to make your home look and feel festive during the holiday season is hanging up Christmas lights around your house and yard. However, it’s important to use outdoor Christmas lights, which are designed to stand up to inclement weather. 

“When it comes to Christmas lights, the most important factor is to know what you are going to decorate and how you want it to look in the end,” explains “Captain” Matthew Martoccio, founder of The Christmas Guys, a Christmas light installation company. “You don’t necessarily want the same exact bulb type everywhere on your trees, shrubs, and on your home.” For instance, small string lights won’t do much up along the rooftop since they use less energy and don’t appear as brightly as larger bulb shapes would. Along with considering different bulb shapes and light colors, you’ll also want to take factors such as bulb type and durability into account while selecting string lights to use outdoors.

To find the absolute best outdoor Christmas lights, we tested more than a dozen products over the course of three weeks, evaluating how well they fared in a variety of weather conditions. We assessed each strand of lights on its brightness, bulb shape and size, length, durability, and more and consulted with several experts for their insights on what makes a great set of Christmas lights.

Here, the best outdoor Christmas lights to hang around your home and outdoor trees.

Best Overall: AmazonBasics 100 LED Commercial Grade Outdoor Christmas String Lights

Top Pick

Specifications

• Bulb Type: LED
• Bulb Shape: 5mm wide angle
•  Length: 33 feet
• Maximum Connected Strands: 3

“Another important factor to consider when purchasing outdoor lights is determining how many you need. Measure all the straight lines of the house and add them together. Don’t forget to measure the distance to your power source!”

For classic holiday lights that will stand up to the worst weather, you can’t go wrong with the AmazonBasics Commercial Grade Outdoor Christmas Lights. These string lights come in either 16- or 33-foot strands, as well as bright white, warm white, and multicolored options, and our tester was extremely impressed with their high-quality construction, especially given the reasonable price. 

These commercial-grade LED lights feature 100 5mm wide-angle bulbs per 33-foot strand, and the lights are mounted on green wire and each wrapped with weatherproof material. During testing, we were impressed by their bright and consistent light, which is amplified by the bulb shape, and they stood up to heavy rain and wind with no problems. These lights are both UL- and wet-rated, but the one downside is that you can only connect three strands together on one outlet.

Best Budget: Home Accents Holiday 100-Light LED Mini Warm White String Light

Top Pick

Specifications

• Bulb Type: LED
• Bulb Shape: T5 mini
•  Length: 33 feet
• Maximum Connected Strands: 30

“Another important factor to consider when purchasing outdoor lights is determining how many you need. Measure all the straight lines of the house and add them together. Don’t forget to measure the distance to your power source!”

To get the most bang for your buck, the Home Accents Holiday LED Mini String Lights are a solid classic option for decorating your Christmas tree or around your home. These indoor-outdoor lights might not be the most durable, but they’re extremely affordable and give you the flexibility to connect up to 30 strands of lights together for large-scale decorating. Each strand is 29.5 feet long, and they feature 100 bulbs on classic green wire. 

Our tester thought these lights were of average brightness, and she liked the traditional appearance of the warm mini lights. She notes that they have a slight strobing effect, which is caused by a lack of rectifiers on the LEDs, but said it’s not as noticeable when they’re actually hung up. These lights aren’t commercial-grade, which means there’s always the possibility that moisture will get into the bulbs, but they’re a great value if you’re decorating on a budget.

Best Colored: Yuletime Multicolor LED Christmas Lights

Top Pick

Specifications

• Bulb Type: LED
• Bulb Shape: T5 mini
•  Length: 66 feet
• Maximum Connected Strands: 30

200 multicolor LED bulbs on green wire, 1 strand total length 66 feet. 4-inch spacing, 6-inch lead, 6-inch tail. Commercial grade 22 AWG wire with pure copper core, tough and heavy duty. Waterproof design allows it to be used indoors and outdoors. Strings can provide extended use of end-to-end connections. The entire string lights power is 7 watts and the rated maximum connection power is 216 watts with up to 30 strands running simultaneously.

You can create a cheery and colorful outdoor display with the Yuletime Multicolor LED Christmas Lights, which come in just about every color imaginable. These colored lights feature 200 LED mini bulbs on a 66-foot wire, and our tester thought the hues were vibrant and beautiful, especially at night. 

These colored Christmas lights are UL-certified, and during our testing, they held up perfectly through several days of heavy rain and winds. They have a “Stay Lit” design that prevents the whole strand from going dark if one bulb burns out, but our tester did note that the construction isn’t quite as durable as other options. You can connect up to 30 strands on one outlet—ideal for decorating your house or yard—and the lights come with six spare bulbs and two fuses, allowing you to repair any issues quickly and easily.

Best Large Bulb: Wintergreen Lighting C9 OptiCore Commercial LED Christmas String Lights

Top Pick

Specifications

• Bulb Type: LED
• Bulb Shape: C9
•  Length: 50 feet
• Maximum Connected Strands: 1,000 feet

“Another important factor to consider when purchasing outdoor lights is determining how many you need. Measure all the straight lines of the house and add them together. Don’t forget to measure the distance to your power source!”

If you’re decorating a large outdoor object—such as your roofline or an oversized tree—you’ll want large bulbs to match the scale, and the Wintergreen Lighting C9 OptiCore Commercial LED Christmas Lights are unmatched in terms of aesthetic and quality. These lights feature large, faceted C9 bulbs made from durable polycarbonate, and our tester found them to be extremely bright and beautiful, lighting up her whole yard. Or, if you’d prefer them to be less bright, they can even be dimmed with a compatible switch! 

These large lights come in several lengths, and the 100-foot strand includes 100 bulbs. However, the bulbs and wires are packaged separately, forcing you to screw in each of the bulbs by hand. The lights are available in a variety of colors, and they even feature a clip on each socket, which makes them extremely easy to hang along your roofline.

Best Rope Lights: The Holiday Aisle LED Christmas Rope Lights

Top Pick

Specifications

• Bulb Type: LED
• Bulb Shape: Rope
•  Length: 50 feet
• Maximum Connected Strands: N/A

“Another important factor to consider when purchasing outdoor lights is determining how many you need. Measure all the straight lines of the house and add them together. Don’t forget to measure the distance to your power source!”

For a bold, contemporary look, The Holiday Aisle LED Christmas Rope Lights are extremely bright and vibrant—they’re sure to catch the eye of everyone who drives by your home this holiday season! These rope-style lights feature LED bulbs inside clear PVC tubing, and they can be twisted and bent at any angle to easily match the space you’re decorating. 

Our reviewer said these outdoor lights were the brightest of all the products she tested, and she loved that you’re able to cut them down into a shorter length, if desired. However, the instructions for these lights are extremely poor, so it may take some trial and error to figure out how to connect strands, and the brand notes that the power cords and connectors aren’t waterproof. Finally, a word of caution: Make sure to completely remove the lights from the spool before plugging them in, as the PVC can melt if it gets warm—a lesson our tester learned the hard way.

Best Waterproof: Pro Christmas 5mm Wide Angle Conical LED Christmas Lights

Top Pick

Specifications

• Bulb Type: LED
• Bulb Shape: 5mm wide angle 
•  Length: 26 feet
• Maximum Connected Strands: 60

Each bulb and socket are non-removable, this prevents dirt and water from entering the wiring system and shorting out the lights. As always, we are dedicated to delivering a quality product to our customers, so included with these lights is a three season warranty.

Professional-grade Christmas lights, such as the Pro Christmas 5mm Wide Angle Conical LED Lights, are made with a one-piece bulb and socket design. This prevents water and dirt from getting into the bulb and causing rust or corrosion, and it can help to ensure your displays don’t burn out prematurely. These particular professional-grade lights wowed our tester, who said the colors were vibrant and beautiful. 

The Pro Christmas lights are 35 feet long and feature 50 5mm bulbs on green wire, and you can connect a whopping 60 strands end-to-end on one outlet. They’re UL-rated for outdoor use and held up great during rainstorms and windy days during testing. These outdoor Christmas lights come in a variety of color schemes, and while you’re not able to replace the one-piece bulbs, each LED light can last for up to 75,000 hours.

Best Extra-Long: MZD8391 Christmas Lights

Top Pick

Specifications

• Bulb Type: LED
• Bulb Shape: Not listed 
•  Length: 105 feet
• Maximum Connected Strands: 4

300 LEDs 105ft & Support 4 Sets End To End Connectable : Each Set Comes with 300 Beautiful MULTI-COLOR Glow Leds On The 99ft Light Strand, You Can Buy 4 Sets To Connect Together, Total 396 Ft, 1200led Enough To Cover Larger Area.

If you’re decorating your whole yard, the MZD8391 Christmas Lights are 105 feet long, letting you cover more ground with just one strand. The lights come in a variety of color schemes, and there are 300 small LED bulbs per strand—just keep in mind that they’re very small, so they’re not the best choice for large-scale decor, like along a roofline. 

Our tester loved the bright colors of these lights, and she also liked that there are eight lighting effects to choose from, such as chasing, slow fade, and twinkling. The indoor/outdoor lights are waterproof and held up just fine in inclement weather, and you can connect up to four of the strands together, covering more than 400 feet.

What to Look for in Outdoor Christmas Lights

Outdoor-Rated

“One thing to look for when purchasing outdoor Christmas lights is that the lights you’re selecting are outdoor rated,” explains Lance Allen, Decorative Holiday Merchant at The Home Depot. Underwriters Laboratories Inc., commonly abbreviated as UL, has a variety of safety standards for outdoor Christmas lights, and you’ll want to check that a product is UL-listed for use outside. This information is typically in the product description, and you can also find it on the product tag, which is usually a sticker attached to the wire. 

Bulb Type

You can find outdoor Christmas lights with both LED and incandescent bulbs, but nearly all experts recommend opting for LEDs when possible. Not only do LEDs use significantly less energy, allowing you to connect more strands together, but they also stay cool to the touch, which makes them safer to use around potentially flammable objects, and last longer than incandescent bulbs.  

Those aren’t the only benefits, either: “Traditionally, incandescent bulbs are dipped for coloring, which results in the sun fading the colors in just one season,” says Martoccio. “With LEDs, you actually have the diodes colored the same as the bulb, so you do not see the fading occur from year to year nearly as much, if at all.”

Bulb Shape

Christmas lights come in all different shapes and sizes, and while this choice is mostly based on personal preference, Martoccio recommends certain bulb sizes for different outdoor applications. “In general, never use mini lights on a roofline,” he says. “For roof lines and evergreen trees 20 feet and over, you want the larger C9 LED bulbs. For bushes, branch wraps, and evergreens under 20 feet, you can use mini lights.”

Durability

Outdoor Christmas lights are frequently subject to rain, snow, wind, and cold temperatures, so it’s important that they’re durable enough to withstand winter weather. Many of our experts recommend looking for professional- or commercial-grade Christmas lights (which often aren’t sold at big-name retailers), as these lights are made from higher quality materials. Further, many professional-grade lights feature one-piece bulbs and sockets, which prevent moisture, dirt, and dust from getting inside and causing the light to fail.

FAQ

• How do you hang outdoor Christmas lights?
• The best way to hang outdoor Christmas lights depends on where you’re installing them. If you’re putting them on a fence, railing, or tree branch, you can simply wrap the lights around the surface for quick and easy installation. If needed, you can use a few zip ties to ensure the lights stay in the desired location.However, installing outdoor lights on your home can be more complex. Gutter or shingle clips (view at Amazon) are a popular option for hanging lights along the roofline, or you can use Q-hangers (view at Amazon) for other locations. Many of these clips are discrete enough that you can simply leave them on your home year-round, saving you the hassle of putting them back up each holiday season.
• Can you plug in outdoor Christmas lights without an outdoor outlet?
• If you don’t have an outdoor outlet to plug Christmas lights into, there are still several ways you can make your home look festive. One of the simplest options is to purchase solar- or battery-powered outdoor lights, which don’t require an outlet at all. Alternatively, you can run an outdoor-rated extension cord from an indoor outlet to your yard, or, if you have a light fixture outside, there are adaptors (view on Amazon) that transform a light socket into a 2-prong polarized outlet.
• How do you hang outdoor Christmas lights on your home?
• If you want to install Christmas lights along your roofline, one of the easiest options is to use special clips that snap onto your gutters or slide under shingles. “Make sure that the first strand can reach a power source, then attach lights to clips (view at Amazon) that can attach to your gutters or shingles and can hold various types of light strands,” say Allen. These clips can typically hold any size Christmas light, and they can be installed without any tools. 
• Do I need to cover the plugs for my outdoor Christmas lights?
• Outdoor electrical outlets typically have a weatherproof box or cover, which will protect the plug on your Christmas lights from getting wet. However, if you’re planning to connect multiple strands end-to-end, you may want to get protective boxes (view at Amazon) for these connections or at least wrap them in electrical tape to prevent moisture from getting inside. 

How We Tested the Lights

Before making our recommendations, we researched the most popular outdoor Christmas lights to buy, from top-rated and trusted brands in the lighting category. We then ordered a panel of lights and had our tester evaluate each lighting product at her home for three weeks.

When reviewing outdoor Christmas lights, our tester considered brightness, quality, length of the lights, and ease of installation and ranked each attribute on a scale of 1-5 (the more points, the better). She draped them along outdoor railings or Christmas trees and made sure to leave the lights plugged in for the entire time she tested them. After weeks of seeing how each one fared outdoors, our tester carefully selected her favorites.