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When you know the best type of holiday lights needed to complete each job, it's easy to brighten up your home and outside during the holidays. There are many different types of lamps available, and it may be difficult to know which lamp to use for each decoration item. To help you get a head start in holiday decoration, the following are the most popular types of holiday lights and their best uses.

Although holiday lights come in many different colors, sizes, and shapes, they belong to the general category. However, to choose the lamp that best suits your needs, it is important to understand the differences between bulb types, shapes, and styles.

Bulbs are available in a variety of sizes, wattages and voltages. For holiday lights, you can choose to use incandescent or LED bulbs.

Cone or strawberry-shaped lights are the most popular and well-known Christmas bulbs. These bulbs will have the letter "C" (for cone), with a number indicating the size in front of it. These lamps have smooth, transparent or multi-faceted surfaces.

The M5 bulb style has a slender shape and a "traditional" appearance. The M5 bulb style is indeed versatile. It can be used for indoor Christmas trees, garlands, wreaths, shrubs or small and medium-sized trees.

Cone bulbs are small, uniformly shaped cylinders that can distribute light evenly in all directions. These lights are best suited for smaller applications, such as surrounding branches of small and medium-sized trees, illuminating smaller bushes, railings or pillars, or indoor Christmas trees.

G12 bulbs are round and smaller than conical bulbs. Their small circular shape enables uniform light distribution and can be used in the same applications as 5MM bulbs. G12 bulbs look particularly cute on garlands or wreaths because they resemble lighted berries.

A light string is a light bulb connected in series on a wire. They are usually used in areas with long, linear areas (such as roof edges or porch railings). There are countless indoor and outdoor varieties of colors and bulb styles.

Icicle lights are a string of lights designed to imitate icicles hanging on the eaves. They are usually mini light strings that branch off from the central wire. They work best on the edge of the roof.

Net lights are another type of light string. The strings are interlocked to form a net. These lights are best covered on shrubs or structures.

The characteristic of the rope lamp is that the LED bulb is housed in a plastic cover. They are great for delineating doorways, windows and walkways.

These professional lights do not require installation and are designed to be time-saving alternatives to traditional light strings. They can be used indoors or outdoors. You insert them and point them wherever you want to project bright colors or patterns.

Battery-powered lights are ideal for displays that are not close to the power source. They are usually light strings with a battery back cover.

Smart Christmas lights are any lights that are wirelessly connected to smart devices. The device allows you to program the light on/off schedule, mode, color display, etc.

Most people use Christmas lights outside their homes, especially on the roof. Although hanging lights seem intuitive, here are some tips to help you hang them efficiently and safely.

Debbie Wolfe is a writer and content creator. In addition to being a writer for Forbes, she also writes for other leading online home improvement, DIY and garden media, and online retailers. Through her DIY expertise, she provides homeowners with the tools and resources needed to better manage their houses.

Lexie is an assistant editor responsible for writing and editing articles on various family-related topics. She has nearly four years of experience in the home improvement field and has used her expertise while working for companies such as HomeAdvisor and Angi (formerly Angie's List).