How many lights do we need for our real Christmas tree?

How many lights do I need for my real Christmas tree?

Personal choice has a lot to play here of course, but as a minimum, we recommend the golden rule which is 5 metres of lights for every 2ft of Christmas tree. So, for an average 6ft Christmas tree, we’d recommend going for 15 metres of lights.

However, if you have a tree over 6ft, we’d suggest adding another 5-metre string for every foot thereafter. This will ensure that your tree has sufficient lights to go all the way around your tree as well as all the way up to the top.

If you’re a fairy light kind of family, double up!

There are so many different types of lights that you can get for your tree – sparkling, twinkling, multi-coloured, cluster, candle clipped, capped etc. Any of which, will look fabulous on your tree, but make sure if you’re choosing new lights to buy for your real Christmas tree that they have LED bulbs. Modern LEDs do not emit as much heat as the older type bulbs and this is especially better for your tree as they won’t contribute to drying it out.

If you’re wondering how to string your lights over your tree, there is no real right or wrong way, but we do have a few tips for you!

You need to decide whether you would like to string your lights around your tree from left to right or if you’d prefer the more European way of hanging them, vertically from top to bottom. Next decision is whether you would like to string them along the outside of the branches or whether you want to weave them in and out of the branches to create more depth to your tree.

We love weaving our lights and find the effect is pretty much the same whether we string vertically or horizontally, as long as we weave from the trunk to the tip as we go.