OK, Christmas is almost upon us. Can anyone tell me how to put white lights on live trees in the yard so that they look professionally done (not tackily thrown up there)? What is the easiest method/procedure? I would love any hints - I put up lights for Halloween and it was a total pain, so if there is an easier way, please share! Thank you in advance!
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I read last year an easier way to put lights on the tree was to apply them up and down instead of around the tree. I tried it, and it's so much easier. It doesn't look any different. I don't know why this wouldn't work out doors also. J. B.
I've seen lights made especially for this. Vertical strings of lights are attached to a circle. You put the circle over the top of your tree and the lights hang down, you just need to straighten them out a little.
I use my leaf rake to lift them up there.
This works indoors or out; it makes UNdecorating a little rougher, but it works well and is relatively easy, though a bit more time-consuming.
The trick is, whether you go around the tree or up and down with the lights, to plant ALL of the strings way deep in the branches before you actually start making decisions about placement. So plan for an extra string or two. Don't pull the strings tight, but leave plenty of slack so you can put the lights where you want them.
Once you get all the lights on, close to the center, you'll need to spend time carefully pulling the lights themselves back out toward the edges of the boughs, a foot or two at a time. Do this in the evening after dark, or put the lights on during the day and go back to pull them outward after dark. This takes a bit of preening, pulling, looking to see where exactly you want the lights; if you really want to hide the strings, you'll leave the lights a bit closer to the center.
Go out to the curb to have a look every once in a while to get an idea of how the final placement is going to look from the street, which is, after all, the vantage point you're aiming for.
You'll find that a very few lights actually toward the outer ends of the branches provide the "shape" you want, while the ones closer to the trunk illuminate very nicely.
The absolutely easiest way to work great lights on a Christmas tree is to get sets of the lights that go around the edge of the house that hang down in strings! Icycle lights I guess you call them. It is amazing how much better coverage you can get with only a few sets of lights. They are spaced out evenly, and each light is the same distance from the other, so this is the easiest way to get even coverage. Just use those type of lights to go around your Christmas tree! After you make it from bottom to top, if you want more lights, start a new batch!
I think there are places where you can buy the white lights arranged like a net that you can throw over trees/bushes.
Well, if you don't buy a net of lighs or something along those lines, it'll take forever to do. Take some wire or some wire ties stripped of he paper and use them to attach the string to the branches so they don't move with the weather and are hidden more descreetly.
I used an old broom that I could hook the lines of lights in and then it would also help me reach the top of the tree. Keep using the broom to push the lights up and in the tree all the way around.
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