How to Hang Christmas Lights Outside: A Maine Handyman’s Solution

A Creative Solution for a Challenging Christmas Light Installation

Solving a Christmas Light Installation with No Trees, Porch, or Roofline

This project started with a common challenge many homeowners face when searching for how to hang Christmas lights outside: there was nowhere obvious to hang outdoor Christmas lights. The home had no nearby trees, porch, or roofline that made sense for a traditional setup. And the homeowner wanted that Gardens Aglow-style feel on the walkway.

Nate Greene regularly handles seasonal and custom projects like this as a Maine handyman, where the layout of a property often calls for non-standard solutions. He created a temporary vertical structure that would hold lights securely and create a defined walkway of twinkle lights.

The final result is a whimsical walkway of outdoor lights!

Temporary trees were set into the ground to create vertical structure for the outdoor Christmas lights along the walkway.

How to Hang Christmas Lights Outside with No Existing Structures

With no existing structures to work with, the goal was to create something temporary that would look intentional rather than improvised. Traditional options like attaching lights to the roof or garage edge weren’t a fit for the space or the look the homeowner wanted. Instead, Nate focused on creating vertical elements that could stand on their own, blend naturally into the landscape, and provide consistent spacing for the lights along the walkway.

I knew there was nothing else to hang lights off of that would look halfway decent. And I was looking out the window of my shop at the same time and said, hey, we can cut some trees and stuff them in the ground. - Nate

So Nate worked his handyman magic for this homeowner in Southern Maine. He drove some holes in the ground with a metal digging bar and cut small fir trees and made an artificial forest to hang the outdoor lights on.

Lights were positioned to define the walkway without attaching anything to the garage or home.

How the Outdoor Christmas Lights Stayed Secure and Looked Good Over Time

The young fir trees didn’t require any permanent anchors or hardware. Each tree was placed into a hole driven a few feet into the ground using a metal bar, then packed tightly with soil. Since winter had set in and the ground froze, the trees stayed firmly in place without additional support.

Even after being cut for several weeks, the trees continued to look good. Set directly into the ground and exposed to cold outdoor temperatures, they held up well and didn’t dry out. The setup remained intact and visually consistent over time, even after two months.

Zip ties were used to crisscross and lightly tension the lights, keeping them evenly spaced and secure to the fir trees.

The outdoor Christmas lights themselves were secured using simple zip ties rather than specialty clips. The strands were crisscrossed between the fir trees and lightly tensioned to prevent sagging and keep the lines evenly spaced. Existing outdoor lights were used rather than purchasing new ones, keeping the solutions practical and cost-effective for this homeowner in Southern Maine.

Because the lights included a mix of colors (two blue sets of lights and a multicolored set of lights), placement was intentional. Solid-colored strands were grouped together to create consistency, while multicolored lights were positioned farther from the main walkway, near the porch stairs.

This created a layered effect with colors — individual trees lit with solid colors, with multicolored lights acting as the archway of lights above — giving the overall setup the feel of a small botanical display of lights rather than a mismatched collection of lights.

The result was an affordable, temporary outdoor Christmas light installation that thrilled the homeowner.

If you're searching for an outdoor solution for your home, contact Nate to talk about the project!