A decorative lighting apparatus provides user-selectable color schemes corresponding to several holidays and other occasions and themes for year-round use. In one illustrative example, a decorative lighting apparatus includes a decorative light strand having a first wire with a first plurality of lamps coupled in series therealong, a second wire with a second plurality of lamps coupled in series therealong, a third wire with a third plurality of lamps coupled in series therealong, and a return wire coupled to ends of the first, the second, and the third wires. Each lamp of the first plurality has a first light-emitting diode (LED) device (e.g. red) which is coupled in parallel and in reverse orientation with a second LED device (e.g. orange/yellow), each lamp of the second plurality has a third LED device (e.g. blue) which is coupled in parallel and in reverse orientation with a fourth LED device (e.g. green), and each lamp of the third plurality has at least a fifth light-emitting diode (LED) device (e.g. white). Preferably, each lamp of the first and the second pluralities is a two-leaded bipolar, bicolor LED. The first, the second, and the third wires are positioned together such that each lamp of the first, the second, and the third pluralities are positioned adjacent to each other but sufficiently separated such that little or no color mixing occurs between the lamps. A controller includes a first output for controlling an illumination of a color in the first plurality of lamps, a second output for controlling an illumination of a color in the second plurality of lamps, and a third output for controlling an illumination of a color in the third plurality of lamps. The controller is adapted to control the first, the second, and the third outputs to provide a different color scheme in the first, the second, and the third pluralities of lamps for each user-selectable switch setting of a decorating selector, to provide various simultaneously-illuminated combinations of color.