Kasa Smart Plug for Christmas Lights (2026): Schedule Your Holiday Lights for Under $20

Quick Verdict: If your holiday-light routine is "crawl behind the tree, find the plug, repeat every night for a month," a TP-Link Kasa smart plug ends it for less than $20. Set a schedule once — lights on at sunset, off at bedtime — and the tree runs itself all season. No hub, no electrician, and it keeps working the other eleven months as a lamp or fan timer. This is the easiest smart-home win of the year.

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The Problem: Christmas Lights Are a Nightly Chore

Every December the same ritual repeats: reach behind the tree, fumble for the plug, and try not to knock ornaments off. Forget once, and the lights burn all night. Old-school mechanical timers help, but they tick loudly, drift over time, and can't handle "on at sunset" — because sunset moves every day.

A smart plug fixes all of it with one setup session:

• Sunset-aware scheduling. The Kasa app supports schedules tied to local sunrise/sunset, so the tree lights exactly when it gets dark — automatically shifting as the days change.
• Voice control. "Alexa, turn on the tree" from the couch, or Google Assistant if that's your ecosystem.
• Remote control. Left for a holiday trip and can't remember if the lights are off? Check and toggle from the app anywhere.
• Away Mode. Randomized on/off cycles make the house look occupied while you travel — useful well beyond December.

Check the Kasa smart plug price on Amazon

Five-Minute Setup, Honestly

There is no hub, bridge, or wiring involved:

1. Plug the Kasa plug into the wall outlet behind your tree.
2. Plug the light strand (or your power strip of strands) into the Kasa plug.
3. Open the free Kasa app, add the device, and join it to your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi.
4. Create a schedule: on at sunset, off at 11:00 p.m. Done for the season.

The plug's compact form factor matters here: it is designed not to block the second outlet, so the wall socket behind the tree still has a free slot for the vacuum or phone charger.

What It Handles (and What It Doesn't)

Great for:

• Christmas tree lights, garlands, mantel lights, and window candles — all indoor LED strings.
• Any dumb lamp you want on a schedule year-round.
• Making the house look lived-in with Away Mode while you visit family.

Not for:

• Outdoor lights. The standard Kasa plug is indoor-only. Roof and yard lights need an outdoor-rated smart plug in a weather-protected outlet.
• Dimming. A smart plug is on/off only. If your light strand has its own controller with modes, the plug simply cuts and restores power — most LED strands resume their last mode, but cheap ones may reset to default.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Under $20 and often sold in multi-packs, so one order covers the tree, the mantel, and the bedroom lamp
• Sunset-based schedules — no more adjusting a timer every week as days shorten
• Works with Alexa and Google Assistant, no hub required
• Compact design leaves the second wall outlet usable
• Useful all year for lamps, fans, and holiday-season Away Mode

Cons

• 2.4GHz Wi-Fi only (like most budget smart plugs) — a non-issue for most routers, but worth knowing
• Indoor use only; outdoor light displays need a different, weather-rated model
• On/off control only — no dimming or color control of the lights themselves

Who Should Buy This

If you put up any holiday lighting at all, this is close to a no-brainer purchase — it's the cheapest item in the smart-home aisle that removes a genuinely daily annoyance. It also makes a practical stocking stuffer: nearly everyone has a lamp or a tree that would benefit. For more ideas in that direction, see our Christmas gift picks.

See current price and multi-pack options on Amazon

Buyer's Guide (based on published specs)

Everyday use: charge nightly if battery is sub-2-day; pair once and rely on the ecosystem it supports (Apple/Wear OS/Alexa). Check the IP rating before outdoor use — IP67/8 means immersion-safe, IPX4 means splash-only.

Internal Picks

• Looking for a ready shortlist? See our Christmas Gifts
• Looking for a ready shortlist? See our Valentine's Gifts