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12 Outdoor Christmas Light Ideas for Small House

Outdoor Christmas Light Ideas for Small House
August 14, 2022 by Betty Koehn

While focusing on their interior, people sometimes forget that their outdoor space deserves some holiday season appeal too. If you want your house to be swathed in full-stack Christmas cheer, here are some outdoor Christmas light ideas for small house to complement your indoor decorations:

A Sweet Path To Christmas

A sweet path to outdoor christmas light ideas for small house
Photo Credit: @palosverdepulse

This outdoor Christmas decor primarily includes traditional exterior lighting elements: Christmas wreaths on the door & windows and twinkling lights all over the roof, porch, garden, and walkway. But the inclusion of light-up candy canes elevates the decoration from just another outdoor Christmas lights and adds some quirkiness. One could interpret the inclusion of candy canes as creating a sweet path to Christmas.

If your garden/yard has a relatively definite shape compared to the one in the image, you may consider entwining it with net lights. With net lights, the glimmer from the garden will have a well-defined pattern.

Starbust Lights and Christmas Trees

Outdoor Starbust lights and christmas trees
Photo Credit: @redcottagechronicles

The beauty of a bust of fireworks in the skies is undeniable; it’s the kind of thing everyone stops to absorb. Now, imagine such beauty all around your front door and front yard.

This inspiration is one of our best outdoor Christmas light ideas by far. The magical atmosphere created from bringing noiseless and fireless fireworks closer to the human gaze is just enchanting.

To recreate this outdoor Christmas lights decoration, you may use your outdoor trees. But if those trees are far from being shaped like traditional Christmas trees, you’d be better off getting an actual Christmas tree.

Modern Outdoor Christmas Light Decoration

outdoor Christmas light bear
Details Here: Dobbies

If you want your outdoor area modern, sophisticated, and beautiful for Christmas, decorating it following this idea will get you just that.

The color scheme of this layout is the core of its sophistication and modern touch. The whole arrangement feels confident – like this outdoor area is not trying too hard to be enchanting.

When recreating this design, you do not necessarily have to use a wire bear figure. You can work with any wire sculpture you like, even a light-up reindeer. But ensure the color of the sculpture is muted like the bear in the picture.

Also, when arranging the string lights on your sculpture, ensure each light is well-spaced from the other. Placing the light strings too close to each other may make the decor less modern.

Hang Icicle Lights Above the Windows

Hanging outdoor Christmas icicle lights above the windows
Details Here: Lights4fun

This is pretty simple to pull off, and there’s a good chance you’ve seen this decoration elsewhere.

Hanging some clear icicle lights above your windows while slightly exposing some of the gleams inside your house has a receptive undertone to it. When recreating this, you may place one or two Christmas trees with LED lights beside the windows. But ensure the decorations on the Christmas trees follow a modern style.

All in all, this inspiration is perfect for modern styles. So, if you love minimalism, try this out.

Gift Boxes Aglow

Gift boxes aglow outdoor christmas light
Details Here: Martha Stewart

To pull off most outdoor Christmas light ideas, you need string lights/rope lights. But laying out string lights can be tricky. For instance, the lights can get entwined while you are hanging them. Apart from that, you may have to cover extensive lengths while decorating with them. Also, you have to worry about how many lights you need to cover the area to be decorated.

If you would like to avoid the potential trickiness of string lights, you could opt for glowing gift boxes.

Decorating with this type of Christmas lights is pretty easy; all you have to do is place the boxes in strategic positions, and you are done.

A Porch Full of Star Lights

homemade paper star lights on porch
Details Here: Polka Dot Chair

This Christmas lights decor is the perfect way to illuminate your front porch and create a cozy ambiance. It is a low-budget option, so if you want to save money on your outdoor Christmas lights decoration, you should consider it.

To pull this design off, you will have to get creative. But the creative process can be fun, and if the stars turn out flawless, you will surely feel satisfied.

While recreating this idea, you could add some quirkiness by using Christmas lights of different colors. But if you would like to maintain the coziness of the design, stick with warm Christmas lights.

The Shape of Your Home

Christmas light the shape of your small home
Photo Credit: @kenna.rose.thompson

While straightforward, this is one of the most creative outdoor Christmas light ideas. To recreate this, all you have to do is attach your Christmas lights to the exterior of your house following the entire length of the building’s outline.

To fully appreciate the beauty of this idea, leave only the Christmas lights on outside when it’s dark at night. The lights will form an outline of your house on the night sky, creating an impression that your building is part of the starry sky.

Go Big on Wreaths

Big Wreaths outdoor Christmas light
Photo Credit: Steve Smith

It is not unusual for people to wound their string/rope lights into wreaths and hang them around their front door. But wreaths made of only Christmas lights are rarely as big as the one in the picture.

This Christmas lights wreath might be bigger than usual, but that is what gives a unique character to the layout. There’s so much light, but the wreath isn’t too bright that it loses its cheery ambiance.

One thing we love about this outdoor Christmas lights idea is that it works for both modern and traditional designs.

Christmas Lights on Tree Trunks

Outdoor Christmas lights on tree trunks
Details Here: Landscape Illumination

If your front yard has trees with bare branches, this outdoor Christmas lights decor just might bring the spirit of the festive season to your outdoor space.

When replicating this style, you could use Christmas lights of different colors for each tree. If you have enough trees, you could buy Christmas lights in the colors of the rainbow and create a rainbow pattern.

Plant Star Lights

Plant star outdoor Christmas lights
Details Here: Lights4Fun

Here’s another outdoor Christmas lights decoration that uses star lights. Since you will not be involved in any crafting process, this may take you less time to recreate than the other star lights decoration on this list.

To pull this off, buy the lights and a planter (if you do not have one). Fill the planter with snow and stick the lights in it in any pattern you want, and you are done.

Make a Pallet Tree

3 DIY Pallet Tree outdoor Christmas light
Details Here: Christmas Lights ETC

This outdoor Christmas lights inspiration is a top option amongst people that love crafts/DIY. There’s a high level of flexibility to it. So, if you choose to recreate it, you can customize it as much as you want.

You can make your pallet tree as tall or short as you want. Adjust the tree’s width to suit your preferences, and paint it in any color. You may even alter the shape of the branches and use Christmas lights of any color.

Beer Christmas Lights

Outdoor beer bottle Christmas lights
Details Here: Homedit

If you have a lot of empty beer bottles, and you do not know what to do with them, making them into outdoor Christmas lights to decorate your front yard is a great option. With this idea, you will not only make your outdoor area beautiful, but you will also help the environment.

Related posts:

Best Indoor Christmas Light Ideas for 2022Best Indoor Christmas Light Ideas for 2023 Three Ways to Hang Christmas Lights on StuccoBest Ways to Hang Christmas Lights on Stucco Ways to Hang Christmas Lights9 Ways to Hang Christmas Lights Outside Without Nails
Category: Christmas Lights

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