Christmas Tree Lights: How To Choose The Best LED Lights For Your Tree

Christmas tree lights look simple on the shelf and turn out to involve a handful of real decisions: which lens style, how close the lights sit on the wire, how long each string runs, what color the wire is, and whether the lights hold steady or move. Get those right and the tree glows evenly from the trunk out. Get them wrong and you end up with dark patches, visible wire, or a string that will not reach the next branch.

This guide covers each of those choices for indoor and outdoor trees, using the specs printed on our product pages so you can compare strings side by side. If you already know the look you want and only need a quantity, jump to the Christmas Tree Light String Calculator or our guide on how many lights your Christmas tree needs.

Start With The Lens Style

Tree lights are mini light strings: the lights are permanently sealed onto the wire rather than screwed into sockets. We carry four lens styles, and each one changes how the tree reads from across the room or across the street.

• 5mm wide-angle dome. The default choice for most trees. The small lens sits close to the branch and throws light outward at a wide angle, so the tree glows evenly without the lights themselves competing with your ornaments. Browse the full 5mm LED Christmas lights range.
• M5 elongated faceted. About the same size as 5mm, with a faceted lens that adds a little sparkle at each point of light. See M5 Christmas lights.
• G12 raspberry globe. A 12mm faceted globe, slightly larger than 5mm or M5, for a more decorative, round point of light. See G12 LED Christmas light strings.
• C6 strawberry. The largest of the mini lens styles, with a retro, traditional shape that reads well on bigger trees and outdoor evergreens. See C6 Christmas lights.

For most indoor trees, 5mm is the safe starting point. Choose M5 or G12 when you want the individual lights to be part of the look, and C6 when you want a vintage feel.

When To Use C7 Bulbs On A Tree

Large outdoor evergreens and big indoor trees in lobbies or two-story foyers can also be lit with C7 bulbs on a socket stringer. The bulbs are bolder and fewer, so the tree reads as clearly defined points of light rather than a soft glow. A 25' C7 stringer with 25 sockets at 12" spacing on green wire pairs with any E12 bulb from our C7 LED Christmas light bulbs collection. Note that the stringer carries a 1-season warranty, separate from the bulbs.

Choose Your Spacing And String Length

Spacing is the distance between lights on the wire. The steady, twinkle, and slow-fade tree strings in this guide use 4" spacing, which packs enough light into each foot of wire to make branches glow without gaps. Wider 6" spacing shows up mainly on our strobe lines, which are designed to be layered over steady lights rather than used alone.

String length determines how many plugs you deal with. Two of the most common tree strings, side by side:

The 100-light string means fewer connections on a big tree. The 70-light string is easier to work through dense branches, and you can connect more of them on a single run. Both have a 4" lead and a 4" tail, so the first and last lights sit close to the plugs.

To figure out how many strings your tree takes, enter your tree's dimensions into the Christmas Tree Light String Calculator. It works for both 4" and 6" spacing and tells you how many strings to order.

Pick A Wire Color That Disappears

Wire color matters more than people expect, because unlit wire is what you see in the daytime and between lights at night. Green wire disappears into a green tree, real or artificial. White wire is the better match for flocked or white trees, and for wrapping white railings or columns near the tree. Our 70-light 5mm warm white and cool white strings come in both green and white wire versions, and the DreamSpark® warm white string is available on white wire too.

Choose The Color

• Warm white (3000K) is the classic look, close to the glow of traditional incandescent tree lights. The 100 5mm Warm White LED Christmas Lights, 4" Spacing, Green Wire is our go-to string for full-size trees.
• Cool white (6400K) reads crisp and modern and pairs well with silver, blue, and glass ornaments. The 70 5mm Cool White LED Christmas Lights, 4" Spacing, Green Wire keeps the whole tree a clean, bright white.
• Multicolor is the traditional mix for family trees. Browse multicolor Christmas lights.
• Two-color strings give you a theme on one wire. The 70 5mm Red and Cool White string turns any tree into a candy-cane tree.
• ColorCraft® palettes combine colors you will not find in a standard multicolor string, such as Champagne (warm white, pure white, and cool white) or Arctic (blue, cool white, and teal). See ColorCraft® light strings.

Not sure between warm and cool? Our warm white vs. cool white guide compares them in real settings.

Steady, Twinkle, Slow Fade, Or Strobe

The lighting effect is where tree lights get personal.

• Steady lights stay on and are dimmable with standard dimmers. They are the right choice if you want the ornaments to be the star.
• Twinkle strings, like the 70 5mm Warm White Twinkle string, have every 5th light twinkling at random intervals. The rest stay steady, so the tree keeps its glow with a gentle shimmer on top.
• DreamSpark® slow fade lights each fade and brighten independently at their own random pace, so the tree looks like it is softly breathing. The 70 5mm Warm White DreamSpark® string is a favorite for trees, and the Red, Green, and Cool White DreamSpark® string brings the same effect to a traditional palette.
• SuperSpark® strobe strings, like the 100 5mm Cool White SuperSpark® string, strobe on every light. They are extremely flashy. Use them as an overlay on top of steady lights on an outdoor tree, never as the only lighting on an indoor one. More options are in SuperSpark® strobe light strings.

Twinkle and DreamSpark® strings can technically run on a dimmer, but our product pages note the visual effect may be undesirable, so plan to run them at full brightness. For a deeper comparison of the effects, read SuperSpark®, QuadSpark®, and DreamSpark® explained.

Indoor Trees Vs. Outdoor Trees

Every string in this guide is UL Listed and indoor/outdoor rated, with an IP44 rating, so the same product can go on a living room tree or a front-yard spruce. What changes outdoors is the scale. Outdoor trees usually need more strings, longer extension runs, and an outdoor photocell timer that turns everything on at dusk. For wrapping trunks and canopies, follow our tree wrapping guide and shop the best lights for outdoor tree canopies. For indoor trees, start with the best lights for indoor Christmas trees.

Building a tree out of lights instead of decorating one? That is a mega tree, and it has its own parts list. Start with our mega tree kit comparison. If you want app-controlled color effects, our Twinkly tree and strings guide covers that category.

What Separates A String That Lasts

Tree lights take a beating: they get wrapped, pulled through branches, unwrapped, and packed into a bin. A few construction details make the difference between a string you reuse for many decorating seasons and one you replace.

• Sealed, single-molded lights. Our strings use prelamped epoxy construction, with each light fused to its socket. That construction is built for weather resistance and strength, and because the lights are not removable, none can work loose in the box.
• One light out, the rest stay lit. A single dark light does not take down the string.
• Fused, polarized, stackable plugs. Male and female ends connect strings end to end, the stackable male plug accepts another plug on its back so you can power a second run from the same outlet, and the user-serviceable fuse can be replaced if it blows.
• Warranty. Every LED light string we sell is backed by our 3-Season Reindeer Proof™ Warranty.

Want the full breakdown? Read professional vs. retail-grade Christmas lights.

Our Short List

• Classic warm tree: 100 5mm Warm White, 4" spacing.
• Crisp modern tree: 70 5mm Cool White, 4" spacing.
• Soft movement: 70 5mm Warm White DreamSpark®.
• Traditional shimmer: 70 5mm Warm White Twinkle.
• Candy-cane tree: 70 5mm Red and Cool White.
• Outdoor showpiece: steady strings with a SuperSpark® overlay, on a photocell timer.

Our team decorates rooflines, trees, homes, businesses, and some of the largest Christmas displays in the world, so if you have a tree that does not fit the usual rules, email help@thechristmaslightemporium.com and we will help you plan it. Or browse every option in Christmas tree lights.