3 Fantastic Outdoor Christmas Light Trends to Try

‘Tis the season to be decorating. But worrying too much about your seasonal decor can take the fun out of the process! To help you keep the decorating process fun and light (ha!) hearted, we’ve put together a brief but thorough guide to exterior lighting for the holidays.

Whether you’re a seasonal decor veteran or this is your first year putting up decorative lights, these are the best outdoor Christmas light trends for 2022. 

Are you ready to create the best outdoor Christmas light design in your neighborhood? Keep reading! 

1. Light Up Your House Exterior  

Putting up Christmas lights is a great way to create a warm and festive atmosphere throughout your home. And the best place to start your decorating is with your house itself! The #1 Christmas decorating trend is to dress up the outside of your home. 

Here are some simple ways to make your house’s exterior feel festive. 

Work With What You’ve Got

Before spending a fortune on Christmas lighting, see what you can do with the lighting you already have. If you use uplights around the outside of your house, you can switch out the bulbs for multi-colored LEDs. With these bulbs, you can switch the color of the lights to anything you like! 

Switch the lights to red and green to stay true to the classical Christmas colors. If you’re looking for an effect that’s more subtle, you can go for red and yellow or red and white. 

Another option is to switch them to a deep blue color and use icy decorations throughout your garden. 

Let Your Gutters Drip 

And we don’t mean with water! String fairy lights along your gutters and roofline to outline your home with whimsical dots of light. 

Different colored fairy lights will create a different overall effect. Simple white fairy lights add a hint of magic to your exterior, while warm white fairy lights create a cozy vibe that will welcome family and other loved ones into your home to celebrate. To lean into classic Christmas decorating trends, use rainbow fairy lights that you can imagine wrapping around a Christmas tree. 

Use different-shaped fairy lights to emphasize your decorating theme. Icicle lights look crisp and wintery, star-shaped lights look dreamy and relaxing, and gingerbread man-shaped lights look fun and youthful. 

Emphasize Your Entrances 

A great way to make your house look as inviting as possible for guests (or for Santa!) is to emphasize your doors and windows with a warm wash of light. Surround your windows and doors with rope lights to add an intriguing glow to your exterior. 

You can also hang LED rope lights in outdoor seating areas to extend the glow coming from your house. LED rope lights are easy to install, use very little energy to run, and can last for up to 10 years in the right conditions!

2. Landscape Lighting 

Once your house is dressed up, it’s time to look at your landscaping. Lighting up your trees, bushes, fences, and walkways helps to extend the magic into your yard. This is one of the best ways to up your Christmas-house curb appeal!

Treat Outdoor Trees Like Christmas Trees

Your Christmas tree decorating doesn’t have to end inside your living room! Dress up some of your outdoor trees like Christmas trees to turn your garden into a Christmas dreamland. 

Wrap string lights, LED rope lights, or fairy lights around your tree in a circular manner. Rainbow fairy lights have the most definite Christmas feeling to them, but any color of fairy lights will do. Hang solar-powered lanterns to act as ornaments, and add a large star topper to the tree if you can reach the top of it!

If you don’t have a suitable tree, you can use the same decorating technique on bushes or shrubs to create a similar effect. 

Shine on Your Lawn 

If you live in an area that gets snow around Christmas time, take advantage of the blank canvas it creates! Direct some floodlights to shine onto the snow. This makes your entire garden glow, and shows off any snow angels you’ve made with your family!

You can use smaller floodlights to shine light onto snowmen or lawn ornaments. And again, you can use green and red lights to really lean into the Christmas aesthetic.

3. Lighting Sculptures 

The last trendy way to light up your home for Christmas is to use light-up lawn ornaments or sculptures. There are hundreds upon thousands of options for you to choose from, ranging from full-Christmas setups to subtle displays of holiday cheer. You can use light sculptures in your front yard, along your sidewalk, or even across your rooftop!

Here are some of our favorite ideas for using light sculptures to create a shining Christmas display:

Santa and His Reindeer Sleigh 

The ultimate Christmas light display includes Santa, his reindeer team, and his sack filled with presents! A full-blown present-delivery display can also include Santa’s helpful team of elves. 

You can simplify this look by setting up an elegant reindeer herd and leaving out everything else. Make sure to complete the display with Rudolph and his signature red nose! 

Another option is to use decorative yard inflatables and light them up with LED rope lights or spotlights. 

Gingerbread Display 

Bring delight into your Christmas decor with a light-up gingerbread family. You can find gingerbread moms, gingerbread dads, gingerbread grandparents, gingerbread children, and gingerbread pets to represent your entire family!

Complete the look with a colorful light-up gingerbread house, candy cane fencing, and lollipop trees. 

Nativity Scene

If you believe that Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus, you can show your love and devotion with a light-up nativity scene. Important nativity scene characters include Joseph and Mary, baby Jesus, the shepherds, the angel, the three wise men, and the animals that stayed with them in the stable! 

Use These Outdoor Christmas Light Trends in Your Yard Today

Hopefully, you now have a few ideas for lighting up your home with these outdoor Christmas light trends. With some creativity and joy, you can create an eye-catching and fun light display that will be admired by anyone who drives past your house. 

If you’re in the market for top-of-the-range holiday lights and decor, you’re in the right place! Here at Bird Dog Distributing, there’s nothing we love more than a great light display. Be sure to order your Christmas lights today to enjoy their beauty for the whole of December!