7 Tips for Creating Your Holiday Light Display

Let's face it— your home's exterior can look kind of plain and boring during the winter, especially if you don't have a nice fresh blanket of snow to brighten things up. Whether you have snow or not, some festive lights can add that brightness and beauty that your home's exterior needs during the cold months. Explore some tips for creating your own holiday light display.  

  1. Make a Plan

Designing your light show and mounting all the lights is probably going to take longer than you expect, especially if you've never done it before. Plan where you're going to put the lights well in advance, and include strategies for getting to hard-to-reach areas.  

  1. Gather Supplies

You may need to buy or borrow a longer ladder, purchased outdoor-safe extension cords, and purchase clips for safely mounting the lights. Do all the prep work in advance, and you won't have to stop partway through the project to run to the store.  

  1. Measure the Areas

Before you actually purchase the lights, measure the spaces where you want to mount them. For example, if you want lights all along the eaves of your house, you need to know how many feet that distance is in order to have enough lights on hand for your holiday light display.  

Measure deck railings, pillars, posts, window frames, planters, and other areas where you'll need a specific amount of lights. For decorating hedges, bushes, and trees, just estimate the number of light strings you'll need to create the effect you want.  

  1. Do a Safety Check

If you're putting up pre-owned lights, borrowed lights, or lights you've used before, check all of them for damage. Look for frayed cords, and test the lights to make sure they are all working.  

  1. Recruit Friends

Hanging outdoor Christmas lights is a lot more fun when you have help. Recruit your family members, friends, and neighbors to help you create the best holiday light display on the block! Make it an outdoor party with holiday music, hot drinks, treats, and hard work.  If you're short on help for the installation process, opt for net lights, which you can simply lay over bushes or hedges.   

  1. Take Care of Your Trees

Be sure that you don't wrap strings of lights too tightly around your trees, especially young ones. The strong winds of winter can cause the light strings to rub against the trunk, damaging the bark. To be safe, just lay the strings of lights across branches and loosely wrap them around the trunk a couple of times, leaving just enough slack while still maintaining the look you want.  

  1. Install a Timer

To save electricity, install an outdoor timer. This way, you won't have to remember to turn the lights off when you go to bed. If you have the budget for it, splurge on a timer with a light sensor so that your lights will turn on at dusk and turn off at a specified time.  

Contact Kurtz Bros., Inc. for additional outdoor supplies to make your winter even more wonderful. We offer salt to keep your driveway and walkways safe, mulch to protect your flowerbeds and tender plants from the cold, and grass seed to fill in the bare spots on your lawn when spring comes. Call us anytime for advice or supplies to keep your outdoor space beautiful.  

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