Christmas Lights - colored or white?

Yes, it is a question that sparks a big debate. Maybe I should put this in IMO.



I am firmly on the side of all-white. When my husband and I first got married he was a colored light kind of guy, so I would get sets of white and colored and twist them together to get a pastel effect on the tree. Since then I have converted him to all-white.



So, which do you prefer - colored or all-white Christmas lights?

DEFINATELY colored. I don't find white is Christmas at all...and actually when people decorate their house in all white we dont even stop to look when we're out lights looking with the boys, it's just so blah.

Just wanted to add that I also hate blue.....I think blue looks so wrong on a christmas tree. A little blue here and there but not when people decorate all in blue and silver, yuckies!!  haha.

I LOVE color! Lots and lots of color!   I also don't like the pink or white trees. Or when people decorate with all red lights, or all green lights, etc. I think you get my drift....I like color! LOL

Colored lights here, too. I like white lights, if they're twinkling under a blanket of snow. But the colored lights look so nice, too, under snow, and they give me a holiday feeling. So many people today put white candles in their windows...as a sign of welcome, I guess. And that's fine. But for Christmas, I love my colored lights.

Winchester said:

Colored lights here, too. I like white lights, if they're twinkling under a blanket of snow. But the colored lights look so nice, too, under snow, and they give me a holiday feeling. So many people today put white candles in their windows...as a sign of welcome, I guess. And that's fine. But for Christmas, I love my colored lights.

Click to expand...

Maybe that's what it is here, too. People in my area decorate with white lights YEAR round....parties, Easter, Valentines Day, etc and some people just leave some outside 24/7. At our community center we have 2 artifical trees in the back and we leave the white lights on them all the time. So I don't see white lights as festive...it's just an everyday thing.

I have white ones on my tree

I'm all about the colored lights!  White is pretty too, but too "tasteful" for my taste!   I'm all about bright, bright color!   And yes, that IS a hot pink glitter star on top of my Christmas tree.

I prefer colored myself, just adds more "pizazz!" in my opinion, although all white is classy.

I like both of them equally. We have an artificial tree with the lights already attached to the branches, and those are white. Then in the front windows we put coloured lights. I outside we have a mix of white and coloured light decorations. Why pick one when you can have both 

I don't decorate an indoor tree anymore but when I did...

it was colored lights all the way.

I loved sitting quietly at night, watching all those beautiful colors.

But I have to say that white lights are beautiful too...

they remind me of sparkling stars. 

We have no lights at all outside, and white ones on the tree. I've always gotten candle-type tree lights and think the white look more realistic.

I prefer colored; but I use both in different places.  I like my tree to have more of a "family" look.  With lots of different ornaments and colors.  I do like a tree done in white lights; it can be so elegant!  Esp if you stick to a simple color scheme for your decorations.  My Mom used to put up a 2nd tree with white lights and mostly white or gold ornaments, a gold garland...and red poinsettia flowers! The red of the flowers just popped so beautifully against the other colors. 

For outside the house I've always loved the big colored lights.  Someday I hope my DH will let me do the outside of our house up.  Right now we just have a LED tree on the porch.  It's pretty though! 

In my kitchen/dining area I have a greenery garland (not shiny) twisted with white lights that goes around most of the room.  It's very pretty!  I also have some big, iridescent, white lights that go around the living room.  I can't wait till next year. I'm going to put a little tree up in DD's room on her dresser!  We will see if she has a favorite color before I get decorating it though. 

For my tree I like white but if we had kids I would do color. The older I get the more elegant crystal ornaments I add. I just love the sparkle of crystal and white lights.

Now, the next question, blinking or not?

Momto3boys said:

DEFINATELY colored. I don't find white is Christmas at all...and actually when people decorate their house in all white we dont even stop to look when we're out lights looking with the boys, it's just so blah.

Click to expand...

That's how it always was for me growing up. We would go through the sub divisions by our house and look a tthe lights, but the white lights were always so boring and generic that they never interested me. Also, people tend to do boring displays, like having one random tree in their yard covered, or just have whites lights around their garage door because they are too lazy to cover their eaves like everyone else, which makes it even worse.

Originally Posted by Momto3boys  

Just wanted to add that I also hate blue.....I think blue looks so wrong on a christmas tree. A little blue here and there but not when people decorate all in blue and silver, yuckies!!  haha.

Click to expand...

Another point on which we agree. When I see blue, it's just a darker version of white lights since the blue lights don't put off as much light. The only time I enjoy blue lights is if it's outdoors and the owners have a nativity scene up, because I think the blue lights say "Christmas starlight" very well. Oh, and the nativity scene itself still has to be in color, or it's all wrong.

When I think of a family with white Christmas tree lights, I think of a family who has a separate living room for "special occasions" with a plastic runner going through it that you're supposed to walk on and all the couches have a plastic dust jacket. I also imagine a house with pristine white carpets and no messes, like toys, lying around. Basically, a house with no signs that a family actually lives there. I'm mostly drawing these conclusions from one of my friends growing up. His mom was an absolute neat freak who had all the things I listed. Christmas was basically a white explosion because she thought colored lights were messy or disorganized or something and she didn't want her house looking less than perfect (in her eyes) for any amount of time.

We have white lights on our tree simply because the tree came with lights installed. I do prefer colored lights for decorating, I'm just too lazy to change all the bulbs.  I do think the white lights look nice too, especially on theme trees. 

Outside lights have to be colored, but for the tree, alternate between white and colored every year.  This year is colored.

Momto3boys said:

DEFINATELY colored. I don't find white is Christmas at all...and actually when people decorate their house in all white we dont even stop to look when we're out lights looking with the boys, it's just so blah.

Just wanted to add that I also hate blue.....I think blue looks so wrong on a christmas tree. A little blue here and there but not when people decorate all in blue and silver, yuckies!!  haha.

I LOVE color! Lots and lots of color!   I also don't like the pink or white trees. Or when people decorate with all red lights, or all green lights, etc. I think you get my drift....I like color! LOL

Click to expand...

I feel the same way, the more colour the better! Unfortunately DH is opposite and is decorating our house with white lights, but I get to decorate our tree colourful!

White. Warm white if in a cozy tree indoors (or decorating a stable, barn etc), but cold white (nearly blue) if outside or in an 'extra fancy' indoor tree. I find the multi-colored ones tacky.. 

*eta* Not sure about how things were originally done in other countries, but here people used to put real candles to the xmas tree, my mom's lights are even candle shaped, so that's probably why I've been brainwashed to like the white lights better. 

i like just white lights. as a kid growing up in Germany we had real candles on the tree every year. they were white, about 4 in long and fit into these holders that had a clip on the bottom and you just clipped it on. we never once had the tree catch fire

Absolutely- colored lights !!!!!!!!!! I just LOVE all of the bright colored lights - and the more the better. We are actually doing our outdoor lights tomorrow. All of our neighbor's are big into the lights too. Our cul-de-sac is highly lite up for passerby's every Holiday season.

White light! I love the look of an elegant themed tree, so I stick to stick to white lights as far as that goes!