I’m not talking about the Rockerfeller Center Christmas Tree either, this is your standard 7 foot Christmas Tree. Whether you have a natural Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas tree, the number of lights that get strung on tend to be a matter of personal preference.

I used to think that too many lights would make them the focus of the tree, not the ornaments. The Christmas Tree of my youth was decorated with the traditional glass balls and bells, garland, and had, at most, 200 multi-colored flashing lights. For me the lights were the best part of the tree, the ornaments and garland being mostly fillers. Then I met my wife.

The first time we went shopping for a Christmas tree, we knew it would be artificial but still needed to decide on whether or not it would be pre-lit or not, and what color the lights would be. We ended up selecting an unlit tree and purchasing about 1000 white lights. I thought this would be plenty, but not for what my wife had in mind.

As I started to string the lights on out tree for the first time, I went about it as I always had at my parent’s house. First I assembled the tree, then began to string the lights around the outside, working from the top down. About an hour later I called my wife so we could start decorating, but was informed that there weren’t nearly enough lights as she had hoped. She wanted to have lights on all of the branch tips, from the ‘trunk’ out to the edges. Being newlyweds, I didn’t put up much of a fuss, and removed all the lights to start again, this time with a much clearer picture of what she wanted.

I never knew that there were so many of the smaller branches and tips on each section of an artificial tree. I very rapidly used the 1000 lights we had. Unfortunately it was too late to continue that night, so in the morning I purchased another 750 (15 strings of 50 ea) to finish. By lunchtime two things were obvious, I wasn’t going to finish and I was also going to need more lights. This time I sent my wife out to get more strands. Two trips later, she’d cleaned out the store of white lights, and another day ended with the tree still not fully lit. On day #3, we both went out to get what we hoped would be the last 500 lights. Just after lunch, the tree was fully lit, with about 3000 lights.

It’s always sad when you take the ornaments and lights off and box everything up again, and I needed a 70 qt plastic bin to hold all of the tree lights. Knowing that it took 3 days to string up all the lights I needed to figure out a faster way to do it the following year. 10 months later I had the answer.

Although it still took me 2 days to put all the lights on the tree, it would never take me that long again because I pre-strung every branch. Since the lights were in strings of 50 and 100, I used the 100’s to pre-wrap the larger lower branches, and the 50’s on the middle and top branches.  Since each branch had its own string of lights, once unplugged it could be removed from the tree without being tangled with any of the other branches (in a few of the smallest upper branches I did end up using 1 set of lights for 2 branches). I also took the opportunity to find out exactly how many lights were on the tree by counting the number and length of each strand I put on. Grand total: 2,850 lights!

Another problem I had to contend with was how to plug of the lights in. Most important here is to have not only extension cords be also a power strip with a fuse (I actually need 2). To minimize the tangle of cords and plugs, I used electrical tape to secure all of the extra wire to the base of the branch close to where it connects to the center pole. To get every strand of lights plugged in, I found it’s best to keep the cord on one of lights longer so it can be snaked down the center of the tree to the power strip. All of the other lights on that row of branches are plugged into each other, minimizing the number of plugs that need to be hidden at the base of the tree.

Even with the branches pre-strung, it is essential to first check to make sure that all lights on every branch are working. A few years ago, one of the branches started flickering which led to an entire section of the tree going dark. It is much easier to find and replace burned out bulbs when it is undecorated and not yet wired into the rest of the trees lights.

The past few years it has taken me about 3 hrs to test all the lights and have the tree fully assembled, ready to decorate. Also, since the lights are white, they provide a background illumination that enhances the decorations and makes the tree glow, especially at night. Now when I walk through stores selling pre-lit trees with anywhere from 650 to 1800 lights, I wonder how many other couples think that ‘these trees need more lights - we might as well just string our own’. But first ask yourself, how much is enough? For us 2,850 was just right.