How Many Feet Of Christmas Lights Do You Need? (Calculator)

t’s a perennial problem. You have this great idea to expand your outdoor holiday lighting to cover more than you did last year.  Maybe you’ll wrap the columns, or the porch railing, or maybe that big tree in the front yard - “yeah, let’s do this!” and off you go!  But how many lights do you have or need to buy?  Too few and you’ll be wasting time making multiple trips back to the big box store to buy more.  Let’s be honest, we all have probably done this many in the past. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an app to help you estimate what you’d need to light it up? Well, now there is. Our Light It Up! light calculator is just what you need.  But before you launch into it, consider reading The Basics and Beyond the Basics sections below. 

Whether you’re looking to wrap lights around an outdoor tree or the columns and railings on your porch, understanding just how many lights and installation accessories you’ll need is key to a professional and elegant appearance. In this article, we’ll explore the factors you need to take into consideration when putting string lights (Christmas lights) on your tree and provide you with some guidance on how to calculate how many feet of string lights you’ll need.

The Basics of what you need to consider

 There are really three main factors you need to consider when calculating how many feet of string lights you’ll need:

1) Approximately how many linear feet, in total, are intending to wrap? This vertical and horizontal - think how high? and how wide?

2) Approximately how big around (circumference) OR how wide (diameter) is the structure you are wrapping with lights?

3) What is the spacing (in inches) you’d like to see between the strings of light as you wrap around the tree.

You don’t need an exact measurement, just an estimate. Let’s look at each of these factors in more detail.

Four Simple Dimensions

Here are the numbers you’ll need to estimate to be able to calculate how many feet of lights you’ll need:

1 - The vertical height of the structure (e.g. tree trunk, column)
2 - The horizontal length of the structure (e.g. branches, railings)
3 - The diameter of the structure (this is much easier to estimate than circumference)
4 - The spacing between each wrap of string of lights once wrapped around the tree & branches

Of course, if you’re wrapping multiple trees or structures, you will also want to consider:

- The number of vertical structures (trunks) you intend to wrap
- The number of horizontal structures (branches) you intend to wrap

Beyond the Basics for decorating outdoor trees with string lights

The most challenging aspect of planning to decorate a tree is to envision the look you’re going for and estimate the options. We encourage you to step back and look at the scene from a distance.  For a tree in your front yard, go across the street so you can envision the tree and your house as a picture. Now focus on the tree.  Each tree has a trunk and branches that form a canopy (see inset). If you have trees with very tall trunks, you might consider only wrapping the trunks or you may also want to extend wrapping some of the branches into the canopy.  For the example in the inset picture, let’s say you don’t want to climb a ladder higher than 10-12 feet. Envision the orange circle as your decorating frame.

You can probably start to see in your mind’s eye how it might look if you wrapped lights around the trunk up to the first set of branches and stopped.  But what if you kept going on the trunk - twice as high? Higher?  Now envision extending out along the branches. How many branches would you need to wrap for the lights to mimic the shape of the larger (unlit) canopy of the tree? This symmetry is the art of tree wrapping.  You’re painting a picture into someone’s mind as they look at your tree.  What’s the image you want them to see?  

Next is the type of lights and lighting effects.  Most string lights sold these days are LEDs although there are some with incandescent bulbs that are still available. LED lights come in different “temperatures” or wavelengths that look different - daylight, cold, warm, multi-colored. Incandescent bulbs are generally warm white or multi-color.  There are also programmable LED lights such as Twinkly® lights.  These are excellent options to install once and use the programmable feature to apply across the Fall/Winter holidays.  Regardless of the type of bulb you use, the spacing of the lights on the string and the distance between each wrap around the tree/branch is something you’ll want to think about.  Believe it or not, string lights come in different variations of distance or spacing between the lights along the wire.  Standard is 6 inches, but 4 inch varieties are available. As you wrap the wire around the trunk or the branch, spacing in between the wraps will make or break the look of your display.  Most professional installers use 4 inches as the standard distance between wraps for a high-impact brightly lit tree.  It’s a matter of preference of course.  

The effect that you choose will differ depending on your surroundings, your overall decorating ‘vibe’, and the diameter of the tree (larger diameter outdoor trees will typically need tighter spacing in between wraps (meaning more lights) for a striking visual effect).

Calculate how many feet of lights you’ll need

We have included a calculator which will allow you to input the figures from above and provide you with an estimate of how many Christmas lights you’ll require.

In conclusion

When wrapping an outdoor tree, taking a moment to consider how many Christmas lights you’ll need can ensure that your tree looks stunning for the entirety of the festive season.

Using TREE-Z® Wrap will make decorating for your holiday or event simply, speedy, spectacular!