Christmas lights: white or colored? Decorations PIP

MairePoppy · December 2015

I like white lights. Our tree has lots brightly colored mercury glass ornaments, small stuffed animals and little souvenirs that guests have left on our tree throughout the years. I don't put any garland or tinsel on my tree - I'm afraid my pets will eat it and choke. We used to put multi-colored lights outdoors, but we haven't done that for many years.

When I was a kid, my dad took brother and me to Grants to buy an artificial tree. It was a surprise for mom. We picked out an aluminum tree with a color wheel that turned and changed the tree's color blue, red, green, yellow. Dad liked trendy things, while mom preferred more traditional stuff. She must have hated that tree. After several years of displaying the aluminum tree, mom told us she felt bad for Memere and Pepere (dad's parents) because they didn't have a tree. She suggested we bring the tree over there to surprise them. Memere allowed us to set the tree up for a few years, but it was donated to Salvation Army or something after that.

STARMOON44 · December 2015

White lights, real tree, ornaments collected from all over not themed to a specific color or anything.

spockforprez · December 2015

STARMOON44 said:

White lights, real tree, ornaments collected from all over not themed to a specific color or anything.

We always had a real tree growing up. We wouldn't put it up until the weekend before Christmas so that it wouldn't start shedding by the time we took it down on New Year's Day.

MissKittyDanger · December 2015

I prefer white lights, mainly because it shows the colours of my ornaments better! Plus I'm that "silver and teal" type

spockforprez · December 2015

ericasm0703 said:

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.

I LOOOOOVVVEEEEE YOUR OUTSIDE LIGHTS HOLY CRAP!!!!! I love when people outline their houses. Way too much work for us but DANG that looks amazing!!! Thank you for sharing! Your tree turned out nice too!

ericasm0703 · December 2015

spockforprez said:

ericasm0703 said:

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.

I LOOOOOVVVEEEEE YOUR OUTSIDE LIGHTS HOLY CRAP!!!!! I love when people outline their houses. Way too much work for us but DANG that looks amazing!!! Thank you for sharing! Your tree turned out nice too!

Thank you! It actually took us a long time to decide how to put the lights up. FI didn't want to do this much, but with all of the angles in the roof, it just looked horrible to only do a basic outline.
ETA: Wow I didn't realize how much the tree looks like it's leaning. I swear it's not, but it is the most lopsided tree ever! It looked really nice and symmetrical until we cut the string off, and boy were we wrong...

mollybarker11 · December 2015

I love seeing everyone's homes! @canadianteacher we have similar taste, your place looks lovely.

I don't think coloured lights are "redneck" but to me they're more fun / childlike whereas I prefer the more simple / elegant look of white lights. I really dislike all blue lights!

No tree for me, the last two years I tried my cat would not stop attacking it so it's easier to avoid the hassle

And I can't be bothered stringing up lights along my roof either! Just candles in the windows (white bulbs, I've seen some scary-looking orange/red ones).

JoanE2012 · December 2015

White lights! Though I'm ok with colored on other people's trees/houses if they're consistent. What really bugs me is when people start mixing the two! Like, one bush wrapped in multi lights, a tree wrapped in white lights and the the lamppost wrapped in blue lights. Drives me bananas!

canadianteacher · December 2015

Thanks ladies, @hellohkb @mollybarker11 - We just bought the house in April, so we're finally settled in. I wanted to go "elegant" our first year in the house, but FI insists it's his turn next year, so I have a feeling our xmas decor is going to be a LOT more colourful!

particuliersylphe · December 2015

I am a huge fan of colored lights, I love color!

I just set up our new tree last night. I previously had a pink tree that bit the dust, so this year I went with a white one and got some awesome color changing LED string lights, that illuminate the whole tree. I knew the colors wouldn't be as vivid on a green one. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm super excited about it. A few pics below that do it no justice. I took a video of it, as it cycles through 3 1/2 minutes of patterns. I am not sure I want to post that though, since my YouTube is linked to my FB, internet safety and all that.

I haven't decorated it yet, but Mr. Mewsolini enjoys lounging under it.

*** EDITED*** One pic for now until I can figure out how to re-size... sorry about that!!

CharmedPam · December 2015

ericasm0703 said:
Thank you! It actually took us a long time to decide how to put the lights up. FI didn't want to do this much, but with all of the angles in the roof, it just looked horrible to only do a basic outline.
ETA: Wow I didn't realize how much the tree looks like it's leaning. I swear it's not, but it is the most lopsided tree ever! It looked really nice and symmetrical until we cut the string off, and boy were we wrong...

Nope, yours looks FINE. Mine literally leans to the right. Looks like that only on one side though. Oh well, I still love my tree! Or maybe my house is on a slant.....

sunflower0592 · December 2015

I love colored lights on a tree. I like white lights for other parts of decorating, but I just love the multi-colored lights against the garland and ornaments. Every year I consider doing white lights, but I always come back to the colored lights. Here's our setup

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020756/uploads/editor/11/mfmi8ptyuz98.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020756/uploads/editor/rc/5ndl0oyo7vfn.jpg

CMGragain · December 2015

Our tree is a noisy one. Back in the 1980s, I bought Hallmark motion ornaments every year. They plug into the tree lights. When the tree is first plugged in, they all go off at the same time - clickety-clack, whirrr, "Just one small step for man.....", "I'm melting! I'm melting!" You can tell that an engineer lives here.

charlotte989875 · December 2015

I'm so glad we're not the only ones that have a lively debate over Christmas lights! H is colored I'm white. This year no tree for us (sad), because I'm having knee surgery tomorrow and then we head back north to see our families, so we just didn't bother. I was bummed about this so H put two strands of lights on our bushes; one colored, one white.

ETA: I LOVE seeing everyone's trees and lights!

luckya23 · December 2015

We finally compromised and got our tree up today!

vikinganna87 · December 2015

I used to prefer white but now I don't have a strong preference. [Like I used to only like big dogs and now I like ALL dogs]. H decorated the outside of our house with white lights and I love how it looks. I'm not great at getting my sh!t together and doing a lot of decorating, but I did buy a mini Christmas tree last year. Whether lights are over-the-top or subdued, I appreciate people getting into the Christmas spirit. It feels warm and inviting during this dark time of year.

By the way ---- we're less than a week away from the winter solstice which means that starting next Thursday every day will get lighter and lighter!

JaniV123 · December 2015

@spockforprez

OMG WE ARE TWINS hahaha

I grew up with colored singing lights and DH grew up with white lights and the debate has been going on haha. He said "you buy whatever you like" so I bought colored and we have white outside as well.

Moppet82 · December 2015

Loving all the pictures!! I get weirdly excited by looking at other people's holiday decorations.

I prefer white lights, but I don't mind colored ones either. The only thing that drives me nuts is when the outside of the home has mismatching light bulb sizes. To clarify, you can have a white and multi-colored mixture, but for some unknown reason, when the smaller light bulbs clash with the larger ones, it makes me unreasonably irritated.

Christmas lights: white or colored? Decorations PIP

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