Oh, the Christmas season! Part of the joy of the Holiday season is preparing for it. Some people go the whole nine yards and decorate their home from scratch, while others choose to purchase pre lit artificial trees, wreaths and garlands. Lighting the tree is one of those things that people like to do on their own, with the idea that their décor looks better and more natural when strung by their own two hands.

Taking this step of decorating your own artificial tree with Christmas lights can be thoroughly fulfilling, as you can control just how many Christmas lights your artificial tree will hold. Choosing the perfect Christmas lights for your artificial tree will also ensure that the lights will go with the decorating theme you’ve chosen for your artificial tree. This step will also make sure that ornaments will have sufficient space within the tree without the danger of falling off or looking cramped.

Hanging Christmas lights on your artificial tree is easy and can be done in just 4 steps, but before you do, make sure you have the following:

• Ladder to reach the parts of the tree where you usually can’t.
• Replacement bulbs for Christmas lights that have burnt out. These usually come with the Christmas lights or tree, but you can generally buy them at the hardware store if they don’t.
• Wires or ties to secure the Christmas lights around certain parts of the artificial tree, making sure they don’t droop, or fall out of place.
• Extension cord if your artificial tree is far from an outlet.
• Enough Christmas lights! The rule of thumb is 100 lights for each vertical foot of the tree, but you can go as sparse or as extravagant as you want provided the outlet you plug into will handle the wattage.

Hang your Christmas lights with these steps:

• Before anything, plug in your light strings one by one, ensuring that each bulb is lit. Replace bulbs that don’t with your replacement bulbs.
• Hang Christmas lights from the bottom up. Leave enough of the strand to be able to plug into the nearest outlet, or to reach the extension cord. Alternate each branch up and down for it to look more natural. You can use clear bulbs as base lights deeper within the tree, and add color or shaped Christmas lights for accent. Either way, leave enough space for your ornaments to be hung without looking cramped or being in danger of falling off.
• Secure your lights within the tree by using ties or wire. If you can get ties that blend with the color of the tree, so much the better. This step can be skipped if you feel that you’ve completely secured your lights around the tree, as it’s just a precaution.
• Plug in your lights and step back to check if they are how you want them to be. Repeat any steps as necessary until you get the look you want.

Christmas lights are the background for your Christmas decorating. Hanging them yourself can be an easy task, if you follow these simple steps. Take pride in having a tree that glows beautifully, knowing you did it yourself!