How Many Metres of Lights Do I Need for a Christmas Tree?

Our golden rule is approximately 20 metres of fairy lights for a 6ft (1.8m) Christmas tree.

Use this as a starting point and adjust depending on how densely you like your tree to be lit.

Prefer a subtle glow? Stick close to our recommendations.

Love a really sparkly Christmas tree? Add another length for a fuller, more heavily lit effect. There really is no hard-and-fast maximum – it comes down to the look you want to create.

What's the Best Way to Put Fairy Lights on a Christmas Tree?

Start at the base of your Christmas tree, close to your power source, and work your way around and up the tree.

Rather than simply laying the lights around the very outside of the branches, take them slightly in and out through the tree as you go. This creates more depth and gives you that lovely glow from within the branches rather than a single line of lights wrapped around the outside.

Before you start decorating, we also recommend switching your fairy lights on. It's much easier to spot any darker areas and adjust the spacing while you work.

Black or Clear Cable for Christmas Tree Lights?

For a traditional green Christmas tree, black cable is our favourite. The darker cable disappears amongst the branches, allowing the warm white lights to take centre stage.

For a white, frosted or lighter-coloured Christmas tree, clear cable can be a better choice because it blends more discreetly with the lighter branches.

Both create a beautiful result – the best choice simply depends on your tree.

What If I Have a Large Christmas Tree?

For larger trees, connectable Christmas tree lights make decorating much easier.

Our Core Series fairy lights can be connected together, allowing you to add additional lengths rather than having multiple separate sets and power supplies around the tree. You can connect 150m and use just the one power source.

They're also a great option if you're someone who believes there can never be too many Christmas lights!

Fresh or Artificial Christmas Tree?

Our lighting guide works for both.

A particularly full artificial tree may need a little more lighting because there are more branches to work through, while a more open fresh-cut tree can sometimes look beautifully illuminated with less.

Rather than worrying about an exact number of individual LEDs, we recommend starting with the length of fairy lights appropriate for your tree height and adjusting according to the fullness of your tree and the look you want.

Our Christmas Tree Light Guide

For most trees, we'd start with:

4ft tree → 10m
6ft tree → 20m
7–8ft tree → 30m

Then add more if you love an extra-sparkly look.

Explore our Christmas Tree Lights collection to find warm white fairy lights in black and clear cable, including our Essential and connectable Core Series.