How Many Christmas Lights Do I Need?

You need one foot of lights for every foot of roofline, window or trim you want lit. Measure each eave, both sloped sides of every peak and the short drop-backs where the roof steps in or out, then add them up.

How do I figure out how many feet of lights I need?

Christmas lights are measured in linear feet. The number you need is the total length of every roof edge, window and tree you want lit. Five steps get you there:

Pick what to light. Start with the side the street sees. Our quote form asks the same thing: front only, front and sides, or front, sides and back.
Sketch the house, with every roof edge on it.
Measure each run: one eave, one side of a peak, one drop-back.
Add them up. That total is how many feet of lights you need.
Plan the plug-in. Measure from where each run starts to the nearest outdoor outlet. That part is extension cord, not lights.

What parts of the roof do I measure?

Eaves. The level edges where the gutters run. These are usually the longest runs.
Peaks. The two sloped edges of each gable, also called rakes. Measure both sides: three peaks means six sloped runs.
Drop-backs. The short runs where the roofline steps back, like the side of a garage roof that meets the wall behind it. Skip them and the outline has gaps.
Eyebrows. The little roofs over a window or the front door. Count the front edge and both short sloped sides.

A newer build may have several peaks plus a lower garage roof. That’s a lot of short runs, so measure each one on its own instead of guessing at the whole roofline.

How do I measure a roofline without a ladder?

Stay on the ground. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission counts about 160 Christmas decorating injuries every day of the holiday season, and nearly half involve falls. You don’t need to climb to get a good number:

Walk the wall. An eave runs about as long as the wall under it, plus the overhang at each end. Measure along the ground with a tape or a measuring wheel, then add the overhangs. It works for second-story eaves too, as long as that wall goes straight up from the ground.
Use the garage door as a ruler. Measure its width, then step back and count how many door widths fit along the roof edge above it.

How do I measure a peak?

Measure the peak’s width across the bottom, from the ground. Each sloped side is longer than half that width, and the steeper the roof, the longer it gets:

A roof that rises 6 inches for every foot across: each side is about 1.12 times half the width. A peak 24 feet wide takes about 27 feet of lights.
A roof that rises 12 inches for every foot across: each side is about 1.41 times half the width, so the same peak takes about 34 feet.

Not sure how steep your roof is? Use the steeper number. A little extra beats a strand that stops short of the top.

How many lights for windows, trees and bushes?

Windows: add the width and the height, then double it. A window 5 feet wide and 4 feet tall takes 18 feet to outline.
Tree trunks: measure around the trunk and pick how far apart the wraps go. A trunk 2 feet around, wrapped 6 feet up with wraps 6 inches apart, is 12 wraps, or about 24 feet. Wrapping out into the branches takes a lot more.
Bushes: net lights are sold by size, so match the net to each bush’s width and height.

Outlining windows? Clean glass makes the whole display look sharper, so it’s a good time for exterior window cleaning too.

Do I need to light the whole house?

No. Most people start with the front, since that’s what the street sees. What fits depends on the house and the lot:

Townhomes look sharp with a simple front-only outline.
Corner lots often look better with the front and sides lit.
Homes on acreage can be seen from the road, so lighting more of the house helps them stand out.
Custom homes can mean long rooflines, tall peaks and extra corners, so measure every line before you buy.

Big total? Light the front this year and add the sides another year. See our Christmas light pages for Meridian, Eagle, Garden City and Middleton.

What should I check before I buy strands?

Lit length. Many boxes list a lit length and a total length. Count only the lit part, and shop by feet, not bulb count.
Where the strands end. Store strands come in set lengths, so they rarely end right on a corner. You get extra lights bunched at the end of a run, or a gap you can’t fill. Round up.
How many plug together. The box says how many sets can connect end to end, and the CPSC says to never string together more than three sets of incandescent lights, and never overload outlets.

When should I measure?

On a dry fall day, before the weather turns. Boise’s first measurable snow comes around November 23 on average, and frost and snow make any ladder work that follows a lot harder. Hiring it out? Install calendars fill up as the holidays get closer, so an early quote gets you the most choice of dates. Here’s when to put up Christmas lights in Boise.

Rather skip the tape measure?

You don’t need to measure anything to get a quote from us. Tell us which parts of the house you want lit, and we’ll take it from there. We measure your roofline and every peak, measure each run on its own and custom-cut every strand to fit, so no extra cord or spare lights hang off a corner.

Every install includes bright, commercial-grade LED lights built for Idaho winters, and roof-safe clips with no nails or screws that never pull on your gutters. We test every strand, come back to fix anything that goes dark mid-season, and take it all down on a date you pick and store it until next season. We also hang wreaths and garland and wrap trees and bushes.

We’re locally owned and fully insured, and we answer every quote request within one business day, with zero pressure to book. Get your free lighting quote, or call or text (208) 418-7929, Monday through Saturday, 8am to 7pm. Here’s what changes the price of an install.

How Many Christmas Lights Do I Need? How to Measure Your House