Advice for Exterior Christmas Lights

If this is the first year you'll be decorating your house, it's a good idea to start with a plan. Make a rough sketch or outline of your house with measurements of its height and width and the length of walkways and railings. Note where there's an exterior electrical outlet and any trees or yard details that you want to include. This sketch will help you create an ultimate design for displaying holiday lights on your house, but you don't have to do everything the first year. Break up the design into components and add one of them each year. With a master plan the end result will be a coordinated design where you make several small investments over the years instead of one big one.

When choosing light sets consider the exterior miniatures which are the most efficient to operate (But if you ask me, the full size bulbs are much nicer. It's your choice...). And check the package to find out how many light sets can be connected to each other so you don't overload your circuits. You can determine the number of Christmas light sets needed to string lights across the roof line or around the front door by checking the dimensions on your sketch with those on the package.

 To figure out how many feet of exterior miniature lights it takes to decorate a bush or tree just multiply its height by its average width in feet and then multiply this number by six. If you're using full size lights cut the number in half.

Place yard ornaments like your lighted Reindeer or Nativity display in the focal point of the front yard. To do this, position the figure so it can be seen best from the street. This might mean experimenting before you set it in place. Use a floodlight or two to focus attention on it if it isn't already lit.

In general, strings of lights outline the architectural lines of your house while floodlights call attention to a special feature like a wreath on the front door or a stately pine tree. Buy only flood or spotlight bases that are rated for outdoor use with plastic, double insulated bases.

Invest in heavy duty outdoor extension cords and tie the ends together to prevent them from coming apart underneath all of that snow. I find that covering each plug and connector joint with plastic wrap to protect it from moisture is pointless. This process can even trap moisture inside, a condition that can cause an unexpected show on the front lawn! :) Finally, remember to prevent accidents by running cords out of harm's way, not across a walkway or door opening.

by Randy and Matthew Bialek, mts.net/~tyndall/cmas/

This page was made to preserve the advice of the Bialek Family Christmas Light display page which is no longer on the web.

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