Once again, the holidays are upon us! As folks may have noticed over the years, Christmas is pretty popular here at BrickNerd, and we’ve gotten nerdy about all manner of holiday decorations and traditions.

We’ve covered the trees themselves with the UCS Christmas Tree (Eiffel tower) and how to make a large-scale wooden LEGO tree. We’ve had plenty of articles on ornaments (Roguebricks Christmas Bauble Secret Santa and Deck the-Halls with Balls of LEGO). If you go way back in the archives, you even find full a brick-built tree! Expanding beyond our own little Nerdom, you have Chris McVeigh’s two excellent ornament books, and the LEGO company’s own ornament offerings, but we will stop there to keep the list short!

But I can’t recall ever seeing anyone who has made Christmas tree lights out of LEGO… Well, now someone has!

Light proof of concept on a single bulb demo light

Let me show you the process to making your own LEGO Christmas lights.

Days of Christmas Past

Before we get to the how-to, a little setup is needed. Why do I need LEGO Christmas lights in the first place? This year is the 10th anniversary of my LUG displaying at the annual National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows Way of Lights. I wanted to do something a little different than a cool LEGO thing on a table, so I proposed a Christmas tree with all LEGO Ornaments. To encourage participation, I ran one of our monthly contests as an ornament contest. The LUG really came through with ornaments, both those entered in the contest and those brought on setup day.

Contest photos by Derrek P, builds by GtwLUG Members (in no particular order Kim S, Eileen H, Ryan A, John M, Myself Derrek P, Michael B, John S, and Karen E)

The cluttered-family-tree look that I wanted really comes through. For me, that is the essence of a Christmas tree! Each ornament has a story—this one was made in grade school, this one was a gift from grandma at our wedding, we got this on vacation, and so on. A tree of ball ornaments is for department stores, not your home!

But a tree isn’t a Christmas tree without lights…

It’s Time to Light the Lights

This is a pretty simple project, but warning, it has its frustrations. You will need a supply of LEGO light bricks, a string of LED Christmas lights, a small Philips head screwdriver, and pliers. I was fortunate in that my LUG had a big supply of red-light bricks for me to source 60 from! I initially wanted to alternate clear and red-light bricks, but I couldn’t source enough clear ones.

The procedure is as follow. You can do this light by light or do a whole strand at a time.

Remove the LED cover on the light brick, this can often be done by hand, but sometimes I had to use pliers. Twisting the cover as you pull is also helpful.
Remove the screw from the bottom of the light brick, remove the grey push switch, batteries, and LED.
This is the tricky part. For the lights, the light socket part is larger than the hole in the light brick. There are a few solutions; I will discuss each, and you can proceed how you see fit.

a. Clamp the light brick over the socket. This will leave an angled gap, and you must be careful not to bend or crack the light brick pieces due to the finicky nature of option (b). I had to do this in a few places.
b. This is what I did for the majority of the 60 lights I covered.

i. It’s best to work with the lights plugged in (caution when working with electricity).
ii. Slide the light out of the socket slightly; you want it to stay on but just leave a little ring around the end of the bulb

Locating the top of the light brick on the light

iii. Place the gap in the lip of the light brick, line up the other half, and tighten the screw.

clamping the top and bottom over the light a small gap is always present

iv. If the lights go out, try again. You’ve pulled the light out too far.

This is the frustrating part: if the lights get jostled just enough, it unplugs the bulb, and depending on how the lights you purchased are wired, a good chunk of the lights go out. This is why I recommend doing this with the lights on; otherwise, you’ll have to “chase” the whole strand to find the loose bulb.

c. Open up the whole in the light brick to better fit around the socket, being careful not to drill or file into the screw boss. This method is more time-intensive, and you will likely need a few extra light bricks and probably a drill press to really make this work.

a strand of lights in progress, some light bricks installed and some covers removed

d. The option I wish I had thought of before starting this project! While it is more work than (a) or (b), it’s likely the best results. Trim the end of the light socket! The lip of the light brick is 0.060” (1.5 mm) thick. A hobby razor saw with miter box would be quick work. A bandsaw with a fine-tooth blade and a properly set fence would make superfast work, but that’s not something most of us have ready access too. Once the socket is trimmed the light can be reinserted and the light brick installed. I likely will redo the lights after the show with this better method!

Bonus Sparkle

I made a garland too; I had about 50 trans light blue chains that I made a garland with using alternating light bluish grey/dark azure and white/red bobbles. While the individual chains are short, they add up to a pretty good length of garland quickly!

A Well-Dressed Tree

Finally, with the help of my lovely and talented wife, we have a tree skirt! She used a pattern from one of her favorite pattern companies, Made for Mermaids and I used scans of the ice crystal (snowflake) and the classic large limb element to cut vinyl for the decorations. It’s subtle enough to get away on a non-LEGO tree, but if you know, be sure to get a smile when someone realizes it.

And To All A Good Night!

I hope this gives you a few ideas for something more than just a few LEGO ornaments and a winter village setup for your Christmas decorations this year.

Have you ever used LEGO for a custom solution to something in your life? Let us know in the comments section below!

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