I have always started at the top. This way I do not lean on any of the lower branches that have been set as I wind the lights around the branches and trunk.
Good luck!

Hmm.. We always did ours from the top down. I also start the garland and pearls from the top down also. Makes it tricky at times. Our tree is always against the wall so I wrap the leftover in a bunch on the back.

I always start from the bottom up. The plug is on the ground so I plug it and work my way up.

I was googling this very question this morning and found people doing either top down or bottom up, but I have another question (sorry if thats hijacking);do you wrap the strand of lights around each branch or just around and around?

Top down...
and I decorate by the branch NOT just 'round and 'round.

Need to start the plug into our star, so top to bottom on the inner branches of the tree and then bottom to top on the outer branches. We do that round and round thing, just for the fun of it though! :c?

I'm assuming you are talking about putting lights on a real tree. However, if you are have an artificial tree, then this is what I do. I put the lights on as I assemble the tree. One layer of branches and then the lights going back and forth on each branch. This way when the tree is completely assembled, it's complete with all the lights and they really add some depth to the tree because they are not only on the outside of the tree.

I wrap each individual branch of my artificial tree, start from the bottom and moving up. My biggest problem is DH has every single Star Trek ornament ever made, and many need a light plug to do their thing. But they all seem to require DIFFERENT types of lights! So I have to make sure I string a couple different types of lights in the middle and top (where the dogs can't eat them) so he can plug in his ornaments.

LOL Meghane! I solved the problem, initially, by having a lighted garland in our bay window & hung all the ST & Star Wars ornaments there. But, we only have the Hallmark ornaments so they all use the same light type. That worked well until we had too many that not only was there not enough room, but they also took too much power and the lights were dim.

Last summer (2008), my DH built a display case for all the ST ornaments...b/c he wanted to see them year 'round! (He also did it b/c our bay window was no longer available for hanging the garland now that we remodeled the kitchen...it's now right over the sink instead of table space.)

LOL, tomorrow! I start from the bottom due to the plug. Then, if I have extra at the top, I just start back down! The other way, I would probably have trouble making sure I ended with the plug in the right place.

Maybe I could borrow your DD tomorrow-that sure would simplify things for me. Alas, DS is 30 and doing his own and DH is a scroogieboy.

I've done both but I have learned that it is easier to start at the bottom and if you have leftovers you just start back down like cyn427 said. My 10ft tree is a down swept tree so I just basically go around. My living room tree has more space between the branches so I do each branch. All the other trees I just go around.

I've always started from the top and worked my way down on a real or artificial.

I, too, start at the top and work my way down...wrapping each branch individually. Usually takes me two hours and 11 or 12 strands of lights. (100 light strands.) I have a cord with three outlets on it the goes up inside the tree along the trunk. Keeps me from having to plug too many strands end to end.

It's a solo job. The Husband must be home,in case of an accident, but he is banished from the room while I put up the lights. This has been the rule since we tried to put lights on our first Christmas tree, 27 Christmases ago. ;^)

I read somewhere to divide your tree into 3 sections (vertical) so basically you'd have 3 triangles. Then you put on the lights per section from the top down, that way you avoid having to go round and round.
I tried it last year and it worked out fine.

---Posted by cyn427 on Sat, Dec 5, 09 at 14:50
I start from the bottom due to the plug.----

Same here as Cyn427 and for the same reason....the plug. lol
I plug in the first set of lights at the outlet.
The outlet is just to the right of the tree.

Having the strand lit while I start at the bottom helps me see if I'm filling in the tree with equal amount of lights all the way around.
I learned my lesson by starting at the top and not having enough lights/cord to reach the outlet.
Then having to search Hades to find an extension cord at 1 in the morning just to get the strands lit.
That extension cord added just one too many cords to the continuous strand of lights and I was having black-outs all through the season. LOL

Oh, and not that I'm anal or anything like that *giggles*......but those two or three little lights that hang in mid-air from the wall outlet to the tree....
they get a piece of electrical tape wrapped around them.
At night, with tree lit, to me it just looks better not to have little lights...lit, hanging in mid-air.