Rough Sketch

Before you put up your holiday lights, set up a plan. Start with a notebook and pencil to draw the outline of your house. It doesn't have to be perfect; you just need to get the basics of how your house is framed. With a highlighter or colored pencil, outline where you want lights to go, what colors the lights should be and what you want to highlight on your house. Think of holiday ornaments to use as centerpiece and where that would work on your home's façade and where you want to put it. Also mark where the power sources are. Keep this drawing; you will need it for every step up to turning on your lights.

Measure

Using the sketch of your house, measure the lengths of each of the places you want to hang your lights and include the distance to the power source. This helps with consistency in the colors and types of lights you buy. It's not always a big problem to have minor differences, but you don't want to end up with one half of your house lit up in blue and the other half with white lights. Knowing what you want to buy and how much you need before you go to buy everything saves you time, money and effort.

Inspection

Once you have all your lights, inspect them. Make sure they all work and check the cords for any exposed wires or possible hazards. If there are any frayed cords, do not use them. Next, plug them in to make sure they light up. You don't want to go through all the trouble of hanging the lights to find out they don't work.

Attach the Lights

Before you hang the lights, make sure you have a reliable ladder, a partner to help you, light clips (make sure you buy the correct clips for the type of lights you are hanging and the surfaces you're hanging them from), and the proper tools for your light clips to hang your lights. Read the manufacturer's instructions for hanging lights to make sure you're following all of the safety guidelines and you're not missing anything important. Start with the most difficult places to hang the lights and work your way to the easier spots. Make sure your partner is watching you and holding the ladder. Once everything is safely hung, step back and hit the switch to turn on the lights.

Putting up outdoor Christmas lights is only one step in making the holidays festive. The Lakeside Collection has a wide variety of holiday decorations and entertaining essentials. From Christmas kitchen sets to stocking stuffer ideas, The Lakeside Collection is just a click away from making your house the perfect holiday destination.