Christmas lights: white or colored? Decorations PIP

spockforprez

I grew up with colored lights and FH grew up with white. This is our fourth Christmas together, third living together, and our compromise is white lights outdoors and colored on the tree. Other indoor lights are random colors, including white. So far this has worked out well; in fact while we were driving around looking at xmas lights the other night, he remarked, "Colored lights have really grown on me; I used to hate them!" Yesssssss.

The debate can grow quite heated. Colored lights are often seen as "redneck" with white lights being classier. Your thoughts? Which do you prefer?

Photos of our decorations this year! Sorry that many of the images are blurry or grainy. I'm usually quite particular about that but it's hard to get it clear in low light!

Please post your photos too!

Tree and arch


Fireplace and mantle


Miscellaneous decor including more detailed pic of mantle decor - these candles are battery op from Costco. They flicker and look so nice! They are waxy and slightly vanilla-scented. A+ and I bought 7 packs (of 11, 3 large pillars, 4 votive and 4 tea light) to use at the wedding. The garland and little sprigs are from Dollar Tree. 


Lighted garland with tree in mirror!


Table - $1 tablecloth from Dollar Tree (I think I might register for a nice xmas tablecloth!). It's for Christmas Eve with FH's family but I needed to make sure it fit so I just left it on. Fake poinsettia pot in the middle; can't have a real one with cats.


Really hard to get a good pic of this, but this is the kissing ball that was in my parents' house growing up. My mom gave it to me in 2013 because they moved to their new house which is super open concept and there were no doorways or arches to hang it from. I attached it to a Dollar Tree garland with red lights and red/white poinsettia leaves from Dollar Tree.


Christmas card ribbon


Mini tree in the living room. Sort of half-assed the garlands, I was a little bit over decorating at this point lol. Fun fact: this is my American Girl doll tree! LOL! I had Molly because I'm a four eyes and she had glasses.


Outside lights. A bit monotonous for my taste but FH likes it. I think next year I will string red lights along with the white ones on the railing to break it up a bit.


Bonus pic of cat under the tree They leave it alone, surprisingly, and don't try to climb or attack.


Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed!

lovesclimbing

I haven't decided.  Growing up, I loved colored lights, but all we had was white because that's what my mom wanted, and my dad liked them too and didn't really care.

After we got married, I bought a bunch of colored lights!  But now, I kind of like the classic white look with some gold and colored balls maybe.  When I drive along one of the main roads where we live, I can see through the window of a house and they have a white tree, white lights, white ribbon and white ornaments, and it's gorgeous! 

So now, I don't know. H and I don't have a tree. We probably won't get one this year at this point.  I do have colored lights up on our window and I do like them.

luckya23

I don't have my tree up yet, but I am all about multi-color lights.  This is the first year I've had some white ones!  They're technically for "outdoors" although they are in the windows so obviously I get to enjoy them inside too.

Will try to edit for a pic.

luckya23

Can I just also say that I really dislike LED lights?? The white ones are the worst!

spockforprez

luckya23 said:

Can I just also say that I really dislike LED lights?? The white ones are the worst!

PREACH!!!! *insert preach emoji here* I can't stand them. The white ones look electric blue, and NOT Christmassy or festive at all! 

lyndausvi

We do both.   Our deck is lined with white, but our big wreath in the middle of the deck is colored.   

I have 3 little fake trees in the house.   2 have white, 1 colored.  No real reason other than they came that way.

luckya23

spockforprez said:

luckya23 said:

Can I just also say that I really dislike LED lights?? The white ones are the worst!

PREACH!!!! *insert preach emoji here* I can't stand them. The white ones look electric blue, and NOT Christmassy or festive at all! 

But truth be told, the lights in my big window are "warm white" LED and they do not offend me at all.  I had my doubts ordering them on amazon, but I love them! 

holyguacamole79

Sorry for the large (and somewhat out of focus) pic.

White lights all the way. My parents always insisted on white lights growing up. At some point they allowed us kids to have our own tree with colored lights in our game room and we could decorate it however we wanted to. (Mom was always super anal about how the tree looked).

DH really didn't have an opinion either way. I had bought this pre-lit artificial tree the year before we met, so he didn't have any disagreements.

canadianteacher

FI and I had the exact same conversation haha!  Although we're the opposite, he was raised with all the coloured lights, and my mom always had white ones.  Though, we did have the old fashioned coloured bulbs outside when I was little if I remember correctly.  We went all white this year because there was a really great sale on, and the good quality ones were white.  As for the above post, I usually agree with not liking the LED lights, but the ones we have on our eaves are that cool white LED you're referring to, and we actually really like how they look.  They're not too blue or blinding.  I definitely went with warm white on the tree though (as you can see), I think it looks cozier with warm white inside. 

luckya23

This was my tree last year with over 3000 (non-LED) lights. I'm so grinchy this year...

WinstonsGirl

We have white on the house.  I prefer it to multi-coloured.  I don't mind single colour though.  We always had green growing up, cos the house was green, so I always wanted a different colour.  Our tree was multicoloured, but now it's white too.  

ClaraGrace

White lights for us.  Our debate will be warm or cool white LED.  Warm read so yellow to me, DF thinks they look normal.  I like my cool white bulbs that look like a nice white light that show the ornaments off to their best.  

huskypuppy14

I have a tree with lights that can be colored, white, or alternating. Best of both worlds. I have led lights and the white does not look blue.

CMGragain

@spockforprez said:  The debate can grow quite heated. Colored lights are often seen as "redneck" with white lights being classier. Your thoughts? Which do you prefer?

Whaaat?  I grew up in the days of "A Christmas Story".  Nobody had white lights!  Nobody!  When he miniature light sets came out, this was the first time I ever saw all white light sets.  I do remember the color wheel that aimed on our fashionable aluminum tree in 1960.
Outdoor Christmas decorations are like outdoor Halloween decorations - they are tacky as hell and great fun!  Our neighbor across the street has more than $1000 worth of blow-up figures, including a snowman that is bigger than his house and a giant Rudolph on his roof.  His house and trees are festooned with lights.  It is a bit creepy, but so many children come by to look at it, and people stop and take photos of their kids in front of some of the blow up figures.
This is my daughter's outdoor display:


Um, Merry Christmas?

hellohkb

canadianteacher said:

FI and I had the exact same conversation haha!  Although we're the opposite, he was raised with all the coloured lights, and my mom always had white ones.  Though, we did have the old fashioned coloured bulbs outside when I was little if I remember correctly.  We went all white this year because there was a really great sale on, and the good quality ones were white.  As for the above post, I usually agree with not liking the LED lights, but the ones we have on our eaves are that cool white LED you're referring to, and we actually really like how they look.  They're not too blue or blinding.  I definitely went with warm white on the tree though (as you can see), I think it looks cozier with warm white inside. 

Can I just say I absolutely love your home? 




Anyway, I prefer white lights. Not really sure why. Multicolor lights aren't bad at all, I just prefer the white ones. 

spockforprez

canadianteacher said:

FI and I had the exact same conversation haha!  Although we're the opposite, he was raised with all the coloured lights, and my mom always had white ones.  Though, we did have the old fashioned coloured bulbs outside when I was little if I remember correctly.  We went all white this year because there was a really great sale on, and the good quality ones were white.  As for the above post, I usually agree with not liking the LED lights, but the ones we have on our eaves are that cool white LED you're referring to, and we actually really like how they look.  They're not too blue or blinding.  I definitely went with warm white on the tree though (as you can see), I think it looks cozier with warm white inside. 

They do look really nice! I think maybe the single-strand ones are okay because they're not so bright. When I wrote my comment I was thinking of one house in particular that had LED white icicles and net lights on their bushes. They were very cold, blue, and bright. 

LED colored lights are okay, especially outside. I still prefer the incandescent ones, though!

ericasm0703

Our house looks like a gingerbread house when it's lit up in colored lights, and I don't even mind it. I'm not sure how it would look if we put it up in white lights. Our tree is decorated with white lights, and I sorta like how it turned out, even though I hate the tree. I'll have to take a picture of it all tonight.

As a kid, we had our house in colored lights, and we also had a set of 3 reindeer outside (among other different inflatables over the years). One night a group of kids stacked the reindeer to make it look like they were humping; that was the last time they were outside (besides the fact that they broke because of being stacked like that). After that we had a set of reindeer that were on stands that made it look like they were flying off with Santa.

ETA: pictures. Unfortunately one of our cats decapitated one of the three wise men, so he's out till I get some superglue.

spockforprez

luckya23 said:

This was my tree last year with over 3000 (non-LED) lights. I'm so grinchy this year...

*sigh* gorgeous. Only 600 lights on ours, 3 strands regular and one strand multifunction (flashing, fading, twinkling, etc.). 

arrippa

I grew up with colored lights but I have always loved the look of white lights. If I was decorating for the holidays, I would go with white lights.

labro

I prefer white lights. We use all 'warm white' LED lights now because of the energy savings and it doesn't look any different to me from the incandescent. We had both mixed together while we were transitioning to all LED and you couldn't see a difference at all.

My mom has switched up her decor the last couple of years. She used to exclusively use white lights but now she does mostly light with some colored light strings accenting a few things in front of her house and she also does colored lights on her tree. I actually (surprisingly) like the look. I grew up with all white lights but I really adore how she's started to incorporate more color.

cupcait927

If I had it solely my way, there wouldn't be a single colored light on the inside or outside of my house. White lights are give off a clean, warm look and look so pretty against the snow (if we had any this year). However, H LOVES colored lights and isn't a fan of white lights outside. So we compromise. We did colored lights outside this year, and white lights on the tree. Our house is a tiny, squat square 1930s home that looks like a gingerbread house with the colored lights on it. My tree, on the other hand, is gorgeous this year - white lights, gold and silver balls with a little bit of silver garland. H even remarked that the white lights on tree look better than colored - maybe next year I'll get both, inside and out! No pictures because I'm at work but I'll post some when I get home tonight.

cgss11

We have colored lights, I always had them growing up too. I do like the simplicity of a white light tree with just some gold ornaments, so maybe would go for that one year.

I always thought I would have a "pretty" tree, and then a random ornament tree, but right now I only have a few ransoms that they are on the tree too. So I have all red and gold ornaments, then a wedding one we got as a gift, a teacher one, and one my niece made. Eventually I'll have enough to have two trees so maybe then I can try the white lights.

labro

@cgss11 My mom has finally reached that point of a "pretty" tree and the rando tree. She's been collecting Christopher Radko and Waterford and other really pretty glass ornaments for years so now they do one huge tree in the living room with exclusively those glass ornaments plus our really nice family keepsake ornaments that we've collected over the years. The other tree gets everything else which is a hodge podge of homemade ornaments, extra glass balls, etc.

emmaaa

I like white lights. DH always liked multi-color lights but now he is a "white lighter" too. We have lights on the outside of our house and garland with lights on the columns. The tree is finally decorated with white lights and a few other things inside the house. We used to alternate the tree lights with multi-color but now we just stick with white. 

spockforprez

We might do two trees at some point, one colored and one white. We have a really big living room so we'd like to host Christmases there instead of in the small den where the tree is now. But I love having a tree near the fireplace and the front of the house so you can see it through the window. So thinking of having a white-light "pretty" tree next to the fireplace and a crazy colored-light gift tree in the living room where we can do Santa and gifts with the family.

CharmedPam

I grew up with colored lights everywhere as well.  This is the first year in awhile that I have a tree up/decorate, and I went with a white/blue color theme (decorations and lights) and white outside.  Unfortunately, I underestimated the amount of lights I'd need, so we have to get more tonight to finish it off. 

thefanciestbeckler

I grew up with colored lights, and I don't mind them at all. DH, on the other hand, is adamantly against them.  He grew up with a tree that had all white lights and all white/silver ornaments. So we compromised. White lights for him, colored ornaments for me

Heffalump

I am definitely a white lights person, DH is colored.  I'm a non-flashing, he's a flashing.  We've been doing colored, non-flashing for several years now, and it's worked out well.  I think they look nice enough, but I still like white best. 

We're almost to the point of needing a second tree.  Ours is in the family room now, so it looks great inside, but you can't really see it from the outside.  (Unless you're in our backyard, in which case, creeper.)  I like when you can see them through people's front windows, so we may get a second one for the living room next year.  And I would definitely put the "nice" ornaments on that one.

lyndausvi

Heffalump said:

I am definitely a white lights person, DH is colored.  I'm a non-flashing, he's a flashing.  We've been doing colored, non-flashing for several years now, and it's worked out well.  I think they look nice enough, but I still like white best. 

We're almost to the point of needing a second tree.  Ours is in the family room now, so it looks great inside, but you can't really see it from the outside.  (Unless you're in our backyard, in which case, creeper.)  I like when you can see them through people's front windows, so we may get a second one for the living room next year.  And I would definitely put the "nice" ornaments on that one.

We had a 2 christmas trees growing up. One in the family room with all the "kid" ornaments.  Then another in the living room with the "nice" ornaments.  

My sister has one in her family rooms that has the "nice" ornaments and the "kid" one is down stairs in their basement (which is nicer than most people's family or living rooms )     The family gifts were upstairs and Santa's gifts are left in the basement. 

kimmiinthemitten

We are a house divided as well.  FI likes colorful trees and I like simpler ones with white lights, so I have my tree upstairs, and his downstairs.  His is full of Star Trek, sports and teacher ornaments, most with his name misspelled.  LOL

Outside, we compromised and have mainly white lights with some red strewn in, as well as red light bulbs and red wreaths.  I also collect reindeer so we have a good dozen or so of those guys around the house.

spockforprez

@kimmiinthemitten, LOVE both of those but especially your FH's! He and I would be Christmas besties haha. 

@Heffalump I'm a flashing fan as well, although I prefer the kind that cycles through different settings rather than just blinking on and off, which looks weird to me.