How to Make Christmas Light Setup (and Takedown) a Breeze

Christmas lights around window

Created by: Krissy Allori, Self Proclaimed Foodie

For easy installation and clean up of your exterior Christmas lights, use this trick!

Hanging outside lights during the holidays can be rather time consuming. Since that’s my husband’s job, a few years ago he came up with a method that would be incredibly easy to both install and take down. We also wanted a way to ensure our lights were perfectly straight and evenly spaced. One of my pet peeves is Christmas lights that aren’t perfectly straight or symmetrical. I’m weird like that.

My husband permanently attached our lights to lightweight pieces of wood. Each straight segment of our windows and roofline has a piece of wood that’s the correct size. There are also holes in each end where they easily hang on nails attached to our trim year round.

He measured the length of each string of lights to ensure that they fit the entire perimeter of each window perfectly, and spaced out each individual light. By attaching them to the wood, he ensured that all of the lights are perfectly straight and facing the right direction. He can now hang all of our Christmas lights in about ten minutes. Taking them down is just as easy. I wish I could say the same thing for the rest of the decorations!