I’ve never really understood outdoor Christmas lighting—it seemed like a lot of work to put it up and take it all down every year. But last year, I got to try out new permanent outdoor lights, and I am forever changed. You should use Black Friday as your excuse to grab permanent outdoor lights. 

It’s not just that permanent lights will relieve you of hours of labor every year. They are also smart lights, and you can change them to basically any color you want. On a regular Tuesday, they can be a soft warm or cool white. For Christmas, sync them to music—change it up for any holiday you want. (St. Patrick’s Day has never been so festive at my house.)

They really are permanent, at least in that mine survived the worst Portland winter in 50 years. The lights don’t use the hooks that you’re accustomed to: They go up under your eaves or on the bottom of your gutters. They throw light against the exterior walls of the house, so the farther they are from the house (the deeper your eaves are), the more light is thrown. But if you have tiny gutters or eaves, don’t worry—they’ll still throw off plenty of light. And because of the range of colors these lights can achieve (thousands of blues, for instance) you can wash your house in a peaceful ombre, or have it light up like a flashing rainbow. Your choice. 

Govee permanent outdoor lights

The only downside to Govee’s lights used to be their app, but over the last year, that’s been vastly improved; as I’ve noted previously, the app has received an overhaul to improve the interface and refine the selection of preset options. This is their second version of these lights, and I’ve used them the last two weeks without issue.

Eufy permanent outdoor lights

This is Eufy’s first year producing these lights, but so far, I find them competitive with Govee’s version. The UI is also slightly less chaotic than Govee. They offer a 50-foot strand that isn’t marked down right now, but this one is: