So you want to build your first Christmas light display – where in the world do you start? How does the magic happen?

It can feel overwhelming, but you’re in the right place! In this article I’m going to break it down and go over each component of a holiday light show, step by step. Check out the videos and articles in each section for additional information, but be sure to bookmark this page.

A great overview video to start with: How Do I Begin with RGB LED Light Animated Christmas Light Display?

Part One: The Gear

Lights

Pixel lights are arguably the most important part of a Christmas light display! These aren’t your typical big-box, proprietary-controller twinkly lights. Pixels are unique because each individual light can be programmed. They are also a much better quality than “hardware store” strings of lights, to hold up year after year. See Regular Christmas Lights vs. Pixels: What is the Difference? for a breakdown on what makes pixels different, and a quick cost comparison. 

Ready to know more about pixels? What exactly are they, and what’s the difference between NBG, EVO, and bullet pixels? What brand and type should you buy?

The Pixels Playlist is a great resource for all those questions and more.

How do I know how many pixels I need – and what will it cost?

How do you know how many pixel lights to buy? Predefined props (more on these below) are easy – they’ll have a set number of pixels needed. For other things, like mounting strips, you’ll need to do a bit of math, a little guess work, and some measuring.

One big factor that will affect your quantity needed (and therefore cost) is what spacing you use. Although most pixel mounting strips/props have holes every one inch for pixels, strands of pixels generally allow for up to 3” between pixels. The spacing you choose will depend on a few factors, like viewing distance, the prop or strip itself, and what you’re doing with them.

A general rule of thumb I recommend, especially for things like window frames, house outlines, arches, etc. is stick to 1” spacing if the viewing distance is under 40-50 feet. Go with 2” spacing if the distance is around 40-50, up to 75-100 feet, and if you have pixels mounted at a viewing distance over 75-100 feet, go with 3” of spacing. The cost and labor savings is often worth losing some density and definition for certain applications. 

The budgetary value to calculate the cost of a holiday light show is pretty standard across the industry, at roughly $1/pixel. Where does that number come from? In my article, How Much Does a Musical Christmas Light Pixel Display Cost, i break it all down with real numbers from my own house. 

Power Supply

Once you have your pixel lights, the next step is powering them up – but you can’t just plug them into a standard wall outlet. Pixels have special power needs, and also need to be run through a controller. Basically, the options are to power your pixels directly through the pixel controller (more on those below), or through a separate power supply, or a combination of both.

For more on how to power pixels, read my Power Injection 101 overview, or watch this video covering several common ways to inject power to your pixels. 

To help you calculate the right size power supply, this article includes a link to a very handy online calculator so you don’t have to do all the math yourself! 

Controlling it All

Now that you’ve got a handle on what’s involved with powering your lights, let’s figure out how to control those lights! You’ll notice pixel strands have a three-pin plug, called an xConnect, and these plugs connect the lights to a controller. Pixels can’t plug directly into the wall for power, or directly into your computer to program – they need an interface. That’s where pixel controllers come in.  

What is a pixel controller? At its simplest form, the pixel controller takes the data from the computer (usually running a sequencer program like xLights or a microcomputer or controller running FPP), and converts it into a format that pixels can use.

Start here to figure out What is a Pixel Controller and Which One do I Need? 

Then watch What Type of Controller Should I Buy?, updated for 2024, where I review controller options currently on the market and give my recommendations! The one pictured above is the new Tetra2Go from RGB2Go, and I reviewed that here.

For more about the all the gear you’ll need to make a Christmas light show happen, check out Christmas Light Show Gear 101: What Do You Need to Make a Great Light Show Happen?

Part Two: Creating the Display

Things are starting to come together now! You’ve got lights, power, and control – but how do those pixels come together to create a display? Well, you’ll need something to put those pixels into, and then a way to program them so your display comes to life (er, light!). And to program a display on the computer, it has to know where every pixel light is to play those cool light sequences set to music – this is where props and other mounting materials come in. 

Mounting Materials

Maybe you’ve seen mounting strips hanging on a house with evenly spaced pixels, or “coro props” (corrugated plastic props with holes to push pixels in) in all sorts of holiday shapes, but why do you need a mounting material? What’s wrong with just wrapping that string of pixels around a tree?

Well, to create one of those awesome Christmas light shows where the lights are perfectly synced to music, there’s waves of color going across the house, maybe animations going in different directions - we have to tell the computer that we’re programming on (more on that in step five) where every single light is. This is called pixel mapping. And the props allow us to define where every light is spacing-wise, so the computer can accurately program those amazing light sequences!

This article on How to Attach Pixels to Your House is a great, practical place to start.

And when you're ready to learn more about props, dive into this Props for Christmas Lighting playlist!

xLights

Now that you have all the physical gear to set up an amazing show, it’s time to dig into the software you need to make that light show happen. We recommend, before buying ANYTHING, download the free xLights program (https://xlights.org). Why? Because the xLights software gives you the tools you need to do a lot of the “figuring things out” before shopping.

Start here for a walkthrough on setting up a show in xLights (updated for 2023), and then work your way through the rest of the videos in that xLights Quick Start playlist.

First thing you’ll need to do after opening xLights is to create a Show Folder. I recommend creating a new folder for this in your Documents, and not using Dropbox or other file sharing services. It will then open to the Controllers screen – ignore this for now.

Instead, go to the Layout section, where you can start playing around. In the Background Images section, you’ll want to upload a good photo of your house to start with. Then you can add props, bring in custom models, and more.

Drag props and other options around on the picture of your house, and experiment with the software. This will start to give you an idea of what kind and how many lights you’ll need.

Did you know, you can also download and import coro prop shapes into xLights to add to your layout – this makes programming even easier! 

Music and Sequencing in xLights

Wondering how you program Christmas lights to music? The process of taking a song and programming certain sequences of lights to play in different colors and patterns along with the song in your display is called sequencing, and I have a step by step guide to sequencing a song in xLights here. 

If the thought of sequencing a song yourself is overwhelming, you’re in luck – there’s plenty of premade song sequences on the market for xLights! With these, all the hard work is done for you, and you just import the file to xLights, and match the sections to your specific layout. 

A couple places to find premade xLights sequences include Pixel Pro Displays and RGB Sequences, but there are others as well. 

Part Three: A Step Further

DMX devices

Moving head lights, fog or “fobbles” machines, wash lights etc. are a step up from pixels, but once you’ve mastered the basics with pixel lights, it’s a fun way to take your light show to the next level! At Above AVL, we are experts in moving heads, wash lights, and other more advanced light show features, because we come from the stage lighting industry. I’d love to help you find the right elements to add to your holiday light show!

Interested in adding moving beam lights like the Dominar X or Dominar Beam IP to your show? Check out our Moving Beam Lights playlist to learn more!

Want something different? In this video I share three ways to use non-standard lights in your Christmas light show.

The world of stage lighting has plenty of cool lights and effects that can be borrowed for a Christmas light show. We'd love to help you to get started or take your existing light show to the next level!