How many outdoor Christmas lights do I need? An expert electrician explains the 'fifty-per-foot' rule

Decorating your front yard with string lights is the perfect way to bring some festivity to your home. But it can be a little tricky to work out how many lights you need.

You have to weave the lights in and out of branches, so simply measuring the length of a hedge isn't enough. It's easy to underdo it and run out of lights, or buy too many and wind up with a blazing bright front yard.

I spoke to a lighting expert and electrician who gave me a handy rule of thumb for working out how many LED bulbs you need to decorate your front yard at Christmas. In short, you need fifty LEDs per square foot, but there are some little things to bear in mind before you set up your outdoor Christmas lights.

The fifty per foot rule

Electrician and lighting expert Joel Worthington gave me a rough rule for working out how many Christmas lights you need: 'Generally, you about 50 to 100 lights per square foot for a dense and vibrant look.'

So, if you know you need to cover ten feet of shrubs with Christmas lights, you need 500 bulbs to create good coverage. That sounds like a lot, but you need to cover the whole surface of the bush, so you need lots of tiny LED bulbs.

Joel Worthington

Joel is an elecrical expert and oversees operations of 170 North American franchise locations and international master franchisees. Established in 1994, Mr. Electric is a global franchise organization providing electrical installation and repair services.

Lighting shrubs

The fifty-per-foot rule is most applicable to shrubs and bushes. If you have some boxwood or yew bushes to light up, use fifty lights of string light per square foot.

However, by far the easiest way to cover these plants is to use net lights. You don't need to do any math or wind the lights through branches and leaves. Net lights use a big lattice of wire and LEDs, so you can throw the whole set over the top of a bush or shrub.

All you need to do is measure the plant - or even just the visible surface area if it backs onto a wall or fence - and then buy the right size online. Net lights are easy to find - you can get a set of net lights like this on Amazon for less than $20.

Lighting trees

Joel's fifty per foot rule applies to trees too. The usual rule for lighting Christmas trees indoors is to use 100 lights per foot of tree, but this might be a little too much light for outdoor decor. It can also add up to a lot of lights - if you have a 20-foot tree to light, 2000 lights might be overkill.

So, for lighting a tree in the front yard, use around fifty bulbs per foot. This will create a cozy, welcoming effect that's less intense than

Alternatively, you could uplight the tree. This is always an easier way to light a tree than hanging up lengths of Christmas string lights. All you need to do is place a small stake light at the base of the tree and aim it up at the branches. This can create festive lighting much faster than using lots of lights.

Lighting walls and fences

You can adapt this rule for lighting walls and fences with string lights. You don't need fifty bulbs per square foot but aim for around fifty bulbs by the length of the surface. A 10-foot stretch of wall needs around 500 lights, but they don't need to cover the entire wall.

That's because string lights on fences and walls don't need to illuminate the entire structure. It would look harsh and garish to put too much focus on a wood fence or brick wall. A single train of lights draped along a wall will do the trick, so don't feel as though you need to overdo it.

Don't get caught up on the rule

However, bear in mind that this is a rule of thumb to help you work out how many LEDs you need. You can increase or decrease the amount of lights depending on the effect you want to achieve. For a brighter yard, bump the numbers up to 100 lights per square foot; for a more relaxed look, decrease it to 25 diodes per foot.

Lighting expert Dara Greaney says 'There is ultimately no correct number for the amount of lights you need per square foot. Our recommendation is always to keep things as consistent as possible, so the same strand that you ran across the house should be used on shrubs and bushes. That way you have a consistent lights per square foot, as opposed to trying to hit a specific target.'

Dara Greaney

Dara Greaney is the CEO and President of LEDLightExpert.com, a leading company in commercial lighting solutions. During that time LED Light Expert has sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of LED Lights. Greaney has extensive expertise in lighting design, LED technology, and fixture design.

With the number of LED bulbs sorted, you have a crucial decision to make about your Christmas color scheme. Weighing up the best outdoor Christmas light colors can help you work out the perfect festive lighting for your home.