My favorite thing about the Christmas season has to be seeing everyone’s houses decorated and decorating myself. However, in recent years, there has been a notable change in the colors of the lights on people’s houses. 

When I think about Christmas lights, there are three major categories: the classic lights (red, green, pink, green, blue and yellow), white lights and newer lights (blue, red, yellow and green). Of course, there are other color combinations that exist, these are just the most common. 

My favorite has to be the classic multi-color, as they are the best at brightening a house or even just a room. They remind me of how happy Christmastime can be. I’m also a fan of white lights if they are paired with a balance of other decorations to make them less plain and underwhelming. 

My least favorite; however, is the newer multicolor lights that cut out the pink entirely and have an overwhelming amount of blue. In comparison to the classic multicolor lights that I grew up with, newer lights just aren’t the same. The traditional lights have brighter colors and can be seen all around the block. Newer lights have darker colors, and their visibility isn’t the same as older lights. 

The darker color of newer lights is largely due to the fact that they are LED lights, rather than older lights that were made with fluorescent bulbs. LED lights themselves actually tend to be brighter than the previously used fluorescent lights, but the colors themselves are darker. With the colors being darker in general, the blue becomes the brightest color, so it easily drowns out the rest.

That’s not to say that a switch to LEDs wouldn’t be beneficial, though. LED lights are much better for the environment, as they are more energy efficient and they last longer. However, switching to LED lights doesn’t mean the lights have to be darker. A perfect example of bright LED lights are the string lights that people commonly use to decorate their bedrooms. If those lights can be bright, then why can’t Christmas lights be, too? 

A switch back to the brighter lights would add so much to the holiday season. The brighter lights that used to be everywhere are filled with so much more joy and nostalgia than newer lights with different colors. A switch to LED lights could also present more opportunities for customizing with decorations. As observed in LED string lights, LED lights have the ability to change colors, and can even have custom colors, something perfectly displayed in LED strip lights. 

If people were able to make their own combinations of colors, fans of the original colors and fans of the newer colors would be able to decorate how they wanted. Customization opportunities would also be able to open a whole new world of decoration possibilities. 

Ultimately, the recent change in Christmas colors isn’t one for the better, but there are some positives that could come out of  it. LED lights are a great step in decorating more sustainably, and LEDs could give more opportunities for decorators to show their creativity. However, the colors that I grew up with are irreplaceable.