The winter holiday season is not quite like Halloween, where individuality and original ideas can be easily created. The winter holidays are all about lights, and as far outdoor decorations go, the options are somewhat more limited, even if you tend to over-do it a bit. As such, the festive spirit may be a bit dampened by the site of the dusty box of same old lights, waiting for your precarious touch, so to replenish your inspiration, we've picked five of our top favourite outdoor holiday lights guaranteed to brighten your spirit for many seasons to come.

LED 6C Holiday String Lights
These LED, energy efficient lights come in a myriad of colours, shapes and sizes, although the 6C cone in Winter White on white string is our absolute favourite. LED efficiency is not only great for conservation, but for you as well, as LED lights can burn for up to thousands upon thousands of hours. Judging by reviews floating around on the web, these seem to be super reliable, running you on average, about $20 per string of 35 lights, or 12 feet. Check your local hardware store for availability – they really are ubiquitous – or click here for Canadian shipping online.  Unfortunately, I have to admit, I’ve not seen the white string in Canada, but both the black and green strings are available.

Light Spheres
These globes from Dekra-Light (left) are a total splurge. They come in several colours, as well as in multi-colour, in 6”, 7.5”,10” diameter, and start at $35 per sphere for a string of six. The smallest sphere is comprised of 50 lights per unit, and the larger ones, much more. Personally, a couple of these strings decorating my porch, or outdoor gazebo/passage way, and there’s my entire décor scheme – I just love them! And don’t forget, these may be steep but they’re an investment – you’ll love pulling them out year after year! 

Kallt Indoor-Outdoor String Lights from IKEA
As usual, IKEA is there for you with a seasonal offering you just can’t resist.  These Kallt string lights are wholly original, evoking snowballs with their soft defused glow. They come in several colours (although I prefer the white and warm white, pictured left) with 48 LED bulbs per string, and you can hang them in- or outdoors. And it doesn’t stop there: if you’d like to incorporate an outdoor garland chandelier – as I know you do –  IKEA’s got that for you as well.

Garland String Lights
With the whole flashy necklace craze that’s been all the rage on runaways for some years now, we couldn’t resist these LED Garland Globe lights, available in the multi-colour and white. We love them because they look like beads, which makes you feel like you’re actually dressing up your house in jewelry!  With 60 LED bulbs per 9’ string, they’ll run you approximately $35.00 per unit.  

LED 7”-Spaced Clip Lights
These may not look like much all wrapped up in one mammoth 330-foot spool – yes, three hundred and thirty feet – but clip lights are the ones responsible for these types of dazzling sights. Now, the bundle pictured here is perhaps a little long for your needs, but other lengths are available and I’ve seen homes make use of all 330 feet, wrapping an entire roof and/or front yard tree and garden.  They are admittedly and even bigger splurge than the Light Spheres above, but again, they are an investment. And think, with such an ample amount, you can change how and what you wrap in your LED clip lights from year to year. They’re lights that keep on giving!


Related: Decorating with Christmas Lights