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Icicle Christmas lights are the fastest way to make a house look properly finished at Christmas. One clean run along the gutter and the whole front of the place lifts. They’re also the type people most often get wrong: not enough metres, cool white when they wanted warm, or an indoor-only set pinned under a Queensland eave a fortnight before the first storm.
And yes, we know. Icicles. In Brisbane. In 30 degrees. Nobody here is pretending otherwise, and the effect works anyway, because what it really does is draw a bright line against a dark roofline.
Dom chooses every light we carry personally, once a year, so everything below comes from stock we’ve had up on the wall ourselves.
Icicle lights are strings of short vertical drops hanging off one horizontal cable. The drops are staggered, usually between 20cm and 60cm, and that unevenness creates the cascading look instead of a flat row of dots.
One important difference: curtain lights use long drops of equal length to make a solid sheet, better for windows and backdrops. Icicles are built for edges: gutters, fascia, verandah beams, pergolas, balcony rails, fence tops.
The workhorse. Our 300 LED sets run 5.9 metres at $29.95, the easiest place to start if you want to test the look before committing to a full frontage. Steady or flashing, six colours, no controller to learn. For one window, a small porch or a carport edge, this is it.
These chase the light down each drop in sequence so the run appears to fall. Manufacturers label them “snowing” icicle lights, so that’s the wording on the packet, but the effect is really a downward chase. It’s the version people notice from the street. Our 480 LED sets cover 11.9 metres at $49.95; the 960 LED sets reach 23.9 metres at $89.95 with a timer built in, saving a trip to the powerpoint every night. Worth knowing: under about 4 metres of uninterrupted length, the cascade gets lost.
Built for long runs and displays that go back up year after year. Ours are 200 LED over 5.85 metres at $89.95, and they join end to end so you can build one unbroken line off a single power point instead of running four leads across a roof. Thicker cable, sturdier fittings, dearer per metre. Worth it on a double-storey frontage or long fence line.
We stock warm white, cool white, multicolour, carnival colours, vintage gold and white/blue. Some honest opinions after years of watching these go up:
One rule regardless: pick a colour temperature and stay with it across the display. Mixing warm and cool white on the same elevation is what makes a good display look accidental.
This is where most icicle light purchases go sideways. Measure every edge you want lit, add roughly 10% for corners, sag and reaching the outlet, then match against set lengths:
| Set | Length | Roughly covers |
|---|---|---|
| 300 LED | 5.9m | One window, a small porch or a carport edge |
| 200 LED heavy duty | 5.85m | One block of a longer connected run |
| 500 LED | 9.9m | One side of a single-storey roofline |
| 480 LED cascading | 11.9m | A double garage frontage |
| 960 LED cascading | 23.9m | Most of a single-storey frontage |
Buy the extra set. Running a metre short with the ladder up is an annoying way to end a Sunday, and the popular colours in the icicle lights range sell through well before December.
This matters more in Queensland than most people realise, because our display season sits inside storm season.
The Queensland Electrical Safety Office is clear on the requirements. Outdoor lights need an IP rating of at least IP23, and the higher the number the better sealed the set. Anything sold in Queensland must carry an Australian certificate of approval, shown as an approval number on the packaging or a tag near the plug, or as the Regulatory Compliance Mark. Indoor-only lights are not safe outdoors, including under a verandah where they look sheltered. The ESO also warns against overseas sellers, because other countries certify to different standards. To check a set you own, search the Electrical Equipment Safety System register.
A set with no approval number is a different product to a compliant one, and the difference only shows up in the wet. Extra-low-voltage LED sets at 12V or 24V are the safest option, and that’s most of what we carry.
Measure every edge you want lit, add about 10%, then divide by your set length. A standard single-storey Brisbane frontage usually needs 20 to 25 metres to look complete, which is one 960 LED set or two 480s.
Only sets labelled connectable, and only up to the maximum the manufacturer states. Our heavy-duty 200 LED sets join end to end. Never join non-connectable sets with an adaptor, because that’s how you overload a circuit.
Yes, provided they’re rated for outdoor use at IP23 or better and carry an Australian approval number or the Regulatory Compliance Mark. Indoor-only sets aren’t safe outside even under cover. Switch them off at the outlet during storms.
Very little. Money magazine reported analysis showing a 700-light LED display run four hours a night through December costs a Queensland household around $29 for the month. Older incandescent sets, phased out here since 2009, cost several times that.
Photos of icicle lights are close to useless, because what you’re buying is a colour temperature and a movement pattern, and neither survives a product shot. That’s why we keep a lighting wall running in the Shed at Archerfield, so you can stand in front of warm white and vintage gold and pick the one you want.
The Shed is open Thursday to Sunday. Browse the full icicle Christmas lights range, or all our Christmas lights if you’re planning a whole display. Or send us your measurements and we’ll work out what you need: get in touch. Happy to.
The lighting wall at the Archerfield Shed runs LED, solar and battery sets side by side, so you can compare warm white and cool white with your own eyes. Dom & Deb will point you to the right set for your spot.