Multi coloured Christmas lights

Multi coloured or rainbow

Multi coloured sets carry the classic four or five colours, red, green, blue, yellow and sometimes pink, repeating along the string. Rainbow sets use a wider spread of hues so the string grades through the spectrum rather than repeating. On a tree the two look similar from across a room; close up, rainbow is softer and multi coloured is bolder. Both are listed here and the product title says which a set is.

Making coloured lights look good

Coloured LEDs are brighter and busier than white, so use the static setting unless you want movement, and use slightly fewer of them than you would in white: 500 rather than 600 on a 6ft tree. They pair with glass baubles in mixed colours, with tinsel, and with the retro fairy light shades, and they are the first choice for a children's tree. On a house front, a multi coloured net on a hedge or a cluster set on a porch reads as cheerful from the road.

The range

Treebrights and Supabrights tree lights up to 1,000 LEDs, cluster sets to 2,000, nets and curtains for windows and hedges, Noma classic and Victorian lantern retro fairy lights, path stakes, and battery sets from 20 to 1,000 LEDs with a timer. Colour-changing sets that switch between multi coloured and white are listed with the tree lights.