How To Setup And Hang Outdoor String Lights?

String lights are a great addition to make your outdoor space more sparkling and cozy. Nicely decorated string lights can change the whole ambiance of your campsite or backyard. You can get creative with these outdoor string lights and do a whole transformation with them. For camping, there is a huge range of string lights available in the market.

However, figuring out where and how to set up string lights can be a challenge sometimes. If you plan to light up your gloomy outdoor space by putting string lights in your tent, scroll down to know more about these string lights and how they are hung.

Steps You Should Follow While Hanging Outdoor String Lights

Tools you need

• Commercial string lights.
• Measuring tape.
• Carabiners.
• Screw hooks.

1. Discovering Place And Layout

Pick a spot of your choice where you think the string light would look good, and also check for the power source. In case you don’t find any power source nearby, utilize the extension cord. Before getting your string lights, figure out a rough layout and take proper measurements to hang the lights. You can uniformly hang the lights or you can choose a free-form pattern. Either way, it’s good to make a plan, thereby you’ll know how many string lights or cords you’ll need.

2. Glass Bulb Or Plastic Bulb

You can choose either plastic bulbs or glass bulbs, it’s your preference. The glass bulb lights up beautifully whereas plastic string lights will always look like plastic. Before attaching those glass string lights, it’s better to first move the glass bulb from the string. It minimizes the risk of breaking the bulb as you’re hanging or draping the lights. Try to buy commercial-grade string lights for your outdoor spaces, they are generally waterproof and have a longer life span. Buy some extra lights if possible, it may come in handy. Don’t forget to take out the lights in case of windy or rough weather. 

3. Color Of The Bulb

To make the lighting a bit soothing, you need to look at the bulbs with some kind of yellow undertones. Try to get the light bulbs that have ‘warm white’ or ‘soft white’ written in their package. Try to avoid the bulbs that say ‘cool’ or ‘daylight’, these will not give your backyard a flattering effect.

4. Setting Up the Mounting Wire

According to your layout, you need to connect the cords of the string light. To hang the cords you can choose supports like a fence, poles, trees, or whatever is accessible in your campsite. A wire or cords can uphold the string light’s tension more if the lights are hanging through a larger area. However, you can hang your string lights with or without a wire. For example, you can install a cup hook instead of a wire. Before that, you might have to drill a hole into that pole or wall. 

5. Hanging String Lights

You need to hang the string before you plug in the bulbs. It reduces the risk of breaking the bulb. You can plug the first bulb into the extension cord to check if the lights are working. After checking, you can unplug the bulb and hang the rest of the string. If you have used any mounting wire, you can easily clip the lights to it. Once all the bulbs are set up, plug them again on the extension cord and turn on the power switch. This is the basics of hanging string lights, now let’s see how you would hang these lights while camping. 

• Strings lights in a tent

There are numerous ways to light up your tent, one of which is to place string lights inside your tent or campground. The way you want to set up your string light depends on the type of your tent. For instance, for a dome-shaped tent, you may make an archway; if you have a maypole design tent, the lights will be fastened in a wheel arrangement in one central point, and so on.

Normally, you can just run or wrap the string lights inside the tent frame. You can find many tents that come with straps or zippers. These straps or zip ties, coupled with the frame, can be used to secure the lights. This will stop the lights from falling. 

• Wood fence

If your campsite has a wood fence that’s not high enough you can attach a long wooden post to the fence. Based on your layout, position the wooden poles apart from each other. To attach the poles you can drill the screws into the pole or nail the screws at a certain angle.

6. Removing Hazard

Once you’re done hanging string lights in your tent make sure all loose wires are removed to avoid any mishaps. If you’re going to use string lights for your tent while camping makes sure they are waterproof or even if it’s not, keep them away from any water source. 

String lights are a terrific way to decorate your camping tent and make it feel more welcoming. These string lights are going to accentuate the whole ambiance of your campsite or outdoor space, especially at night. The installation process of outdoor string lights may slightly differ on what kind of tent setup you have, but we hope this overall guide has covered everything you need to know about string lights.