How Many Lights Do I Need For My Christmas Tree?

Selecting a Christmas tree is an exciting event which marks the start of the festive season. The next step is to make sure you have enough lights to dress your chosen tree.

But precisely how many lights do you need for a five-foot Christmas tree? Too many and your tree could start to look overloaded, with branches and foliage getting hidden, too few and it could look dull and underwhelming.

For a five-foot tree we recommend using Christmas string lights with between 300 and 500 bulbs, depending on how bright you like it to be. If you want to estimate the amount of string lights you need by feet, around 1.5 foot of lights per foot of tree is ideal.

If your Christmas tree is seven foot tall or more, then you'll need upwards of 700 lights, and possibly as many as 1000. Don't forget that the taller the tree, the wider it'll be, so bear that in mind when you're calculating how many you need.

There are several different styles of Christmas lights to choose from depending on the theme of your decorations. Remote control lights with different display settings are also a wise buy. You can also choose between mains and battery-operated lights depending on how near your tree is to a power socket.

Now your Christmas tree lights are sorted, the next step is to decorate it with baubles, so visit our bauble calculator for guidance on how many you need, plus we've got lots of inspiration in our tree decorating guide.