Do you unplug your Christmas tree lights at night and during the day?

i like to have them on day an night.

Yes, I unplug them when I’m not home and at night. :)

We unplug it when we go to bed. The rest of the time, the lights are on.

I bought a live tree last night. The first time in 20 years. And, the smell… :)

We turn them on in the evening when we get home and we shut them off, but do not unplug them, before going to bed.

The kids turn them on first thing in the morning. When I’m leaving the house or going to bed for the night, I turn them all off. I feel like if the lights are on, especially the tree lights, when no one is around, they might spontaneously combust.

We have a kind of extension cord we use for the lights on the tree. The cord has a big button on it that you push to turn the lights on and off. It’s so much easier than trying to reach under and behind the tree!

I guess I really should have asked, “Why or why not!”

LEDs. Always on when it’s dark.

Yes, I do. They are only on when I am awake and at home.

The two reasons being, to save energy and because we have a kitteh who is very active at night and he may try to chew on the lights while we are sleeping.

I turn them on as soon as it starts getting dark and off when I go to bed. I never leave them plugged in when I am not home, either.

We have our tree lights on a timer. They turn on at 5PM and off at 1AM.

@pearls us, too.

My tree lights and also all the outside lights are on timers. On at 4pm, off at midnight.

@elijah Huh…that’s exactly what we do. too. Same times, even. :-}

I leave them in the box. In the attic. Or I would, if the movers had included that box when I moved back here seven-plus years ago. The tree is still up there, anyway.

I unplug the lights too my Christmas tree before I go to bed. I turn them on at night, or during the day only when its dark and raining outside.

But WHY ya’ll???

Why what, Val?

Why ya’ll unplug your lights? The little ones on the tree use virtually no electricity, and they don’t have enough voltage to start a fire, so…why even ever turn them off? (And lurve for calling me by my real name, and not “Val123.” “Val123” makes me feel like a robot! But….I had no choice. :)

Even though logic and reason tell me there’s not really a fire hazard, it’s the kind of thing I worry about. We’ve already had our tree for a couple of weeks, and it’s already drying out. Yes, I keep the base full of water! I just envision the whole thing going up in a ball of flame, the way our Christmas trees did when I was a kid and my dad would torch them in the back yard. One match, and poof! It made an impression on me. :)

@MissAusten Ah! Yes, I see.

Wires can short out…the low voltage doesn’t insure that there isn’t going to be a fire. It’s just extra peace of mind that we leave & the tree’s off.

@jbfletcherfan Now…I’m paranoid. Although…I don’t have a tree and my lights are strung on my big, year around living plants….

I am way to lazy…I mean busy…to turn the lights off let alone turn them back on…

I don’t know where you heard that they don’t use enough voltage to cause a fire, they use 120 volts, just like anything you plug into your wall. A short can still cause a fire. I would never leave my Christmas tree lights on unattended.

And virtually no power is not no power. I do everything I can to reduce my energy consumption, and turning off the tree lights is too easy.

@Val123 Don’t be paranoid, honey. Just watch them closely, & maybe when you leave the house, turn them off. Better safe than sorry. Besides, if no one’s there to enjoy the lights, they really don’t NEED to be on.

During the day,I do.I think their only pretty at night.My husband unplugs them at night just before he goes to bed.

@Snarp Do you leave nightlights plugged in, or any other light in the house on during the night? Porch light? Stove light so people can find their way into the bathroom?

Yeah, we do. The only lights in the house left on at night are the numerous night lights around the house. Christmas lights always get turned off. During the day, there’s just kinda no point. My friend left Christmas lights on all day (except the night) and they left burn marks on his wall. That hasn’t happened to me (not sure if it had something to do with the type of paint or whatever), but you can’t even see them during the day.

They are only on when we are home and awake.

@Val123 No.

But also, Christmas tree lights have long, thin wires, and in our case are hanging on a real tree. A night light generally is plugged directly into the wall and has no external wiring. Same goes for stove light, any room lights.

We also have three cats, which increases the risk of shorts.

@Snarp Good point about the cats but….what about things like toasters and lamps that have external wiring and a lot more voltage than the tree lights?

@Val123 The voltage is the same (120V AC) if it is a single bulb on a tree a 4 slice toaster or a 16 bulb light fixture. Any one will kill a cat or a person for that matter. The tree lights have a low current fuse in the string but the fuse will still allow way more current than what is required to stop a human heart. Also the cord on a toaster probably costs more than an entire 300 bulb string of christmas lights. Also, from a cat’s point of view, the tree lights are on a huge brand new indoor toy with lots of fun things to chew on. IMHO.

@csimme01 Thanks for that ‘splanation @csimme01. And no doubt a cat would be tempted to attack them…

@Val123 We learned years ago that a 10 pound cat cannot climb a Christmas tree being held upright by a standard tree stand. We now tie the top of the tree to the wall using an existing curtain rod bracket so it cant fall over. Now if we cound get my little friend Cooper see avitar to stop using the tree as his own personal indoor outhouse.

@csimme01 Crap! I got one of those! Stupid little dog. Only male among two females. Big females. He thinks the more he pees the bigger he gets!

@Val123 Yes, I often wonder where he holds it all, He only weighs 3 pounds and sometimes I swear he pees more than that!

Yeah….my little one actually belongs to my son, who’s making plans to re-move out again after the first of the year. I like the dog, but I get so sick of him leaving his mark all over everything!

Yeah, what @csimme01 said.