Get matched with top holiday decorators in Mount Vernon, MO

First of all, don’t shop for bargain lights—often, you’ll end up with a faulty or broken strand, full of dead bulbs or less-than-luminous brightness. Choose quality lights that will last you many years—LED lights have been known to last as long as 100,000 hours. Second, plan ahead and purchase lights for next year’s Christmas during this year’s post-holiday sales. Finally, have a vision and a plan—if you know the measurements of your home, including any windows, doors, and outside bushes you wish to light up, you should be able to only purchase the necessary lights and not more than you need.

Yes, you can hang Christmas lights from the soffit of your roof, but it requires a bit more effort than hanging from the gutters or eaves. You’ll need to add an adhesive hook or tie to the underside of the soffit to keep the lights in place. Consider adding a soffit hook every 12 to 18 inches for best visual results.

Outdoor Christmas lights cost between $80 to $300 on average without installation. This comes out to about $4 to $50 per strand. You can get a box of outdoor Christmas lights for as little as $20, if you just want to decorate a small area, like a doorway. If you want to go all out and cover your entire home, you'll need between 10 to 20 strands of 100 to 200 bulbs each.

Ensure you have a safe environment for them to work on, and there aren’t items such as logs, build-up of yard materials, missing or damaged shingles, and weak areas on the roof. Communicate any known electrical issues with contractors at the beginning of the project, and consider hiring an electrician to fix those. Finally, if you are attempting the project yourself, do so when there isn’t any rain, and you can safely get your footing on the roof using proper equipment, such as an extension ladder. Don’t attempt this alone, and have a helper nearby to assist.