DAY 2 - CHRISTMAS TREE AND LIGHTS SET UP
Today we are covering the basics and not so basics on how to set your Christmas tree and lighting. Have you ever wonder how many boxes of lights you should buy? Or spent hours moving the lights up and down to make it look super bright? Or even worse, when everything is up you pull the plug and... YES, half the lights won't work!
I got you covered. I spent several hours searching this information for you and got it all here. The best thing is, once you have all the info and materials you can set up your Christmas tree in a few hours! I recorded this video in the morning, eat lunch, take a nap, edit the video an shared it with you the same day. I did this because I want you to do the same, if you follow this tips you might have a Christmas tree with lights and decor in less than 3 hours. Mine took less than an hour, with the recording process and everything!
I know the decor isn't up yet, that's because my next video is about handmade ornaments, garlands and how to set them up. Still, you will have all day to work on your ornaments and spent only minutes setting them up on your tree. So, let's get started.
TIPS:
1. When setting up the tree, don't worry about empty spaces, once you have finished all the decoration you can move the branches or ornaments to fill in the spaces.
2. Want to know how many lights your tree needs? Measure your tree height. A tree uses about 100 mini-lights per vertical feet See the table below. (Note: this values are approximated. Depending if you wave or wrap your lights it might use 25% to 50% more lights.) Information from http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/pages/LightCalculation.htm
3. When lighting a bulk tree, also add 30% more lights than the listing above.
4. TRY THE LIGHTS FIRST, then place them on the tree. Check them one by one, then connect one to another, sometimes the socket is the problem and you can use this one at the top (use it last, see below).
5. It's best if you start at the bottom and work your way up, if you have too many lights at the top, work them down and back up if you need to connect to the tree topper to a power supply. IF your tree topper has a female end, then start from the top.
6. Depending on the brand and type of lights you can use up to 6 light extensions. CHECK IT FIRST at the back of your box or check them online. Never mix brands or type of lights, the voltage might be different.
7. To give more depth run your lights from the center to the end of each branch and back to the center.
8. When buying mini lights keep in mind that depending on the "method" it uses more or less lights but, it's recommended when wrapping to look for mini lights with larger spaces between lights, this will help wrapping.
9. If you want brighter lights I
recommend LED. Available in many colors, white, yellow and multi-color,
specially if you love to have your tree lighted up for hours, won't
heat and save on electric bill. (This lights are very safe, but check
with your local department store or craft and decorating store).
10. About LED there are many shapes from traditional to c9. If you decided to use mini lights I prefer the wide angle bulb, it diffuses light better.
I gather all the information from the web and from personal experience. This is my personal opinion and how I set my own tree and lights. You don't have to do it this way, it's just a suggestion. Quantity is approximated, in doubt, ask when buying.
