Kids love them, adults are confused by them, and many people invest countless hours of their time on putting up tacky Christmas lights.
These days it is not just the lights that are crazy, but there are entire light shows that are quite overwhelming.
If you desire to put up an extensive Christmas light display in your front yard, but I am not suggesting that you do, here are the basics.
photos courtesy of flickr.com/photos/msvg/5270349562/, 8136496@N05/2121977084/, msvg/6455832953/, 8136496@N05/2121200011/, andrewmalone/2140133506/Warn Your Neighbors
Maybe bribe your neighbors would be a better way of putting it.
You will become a nuisance to the neighborhood, but all of the kids will love you.
Your neighbors should expect more traffic, more noise, more lights, and more commotion.
Try to come up with a lighting plan that works for everyone - perhaps turning the lights off by 8:00 on the week days and 10:00 on the weekends.
Start Early
You should start putting up your Christmas lights and decorations by November 1st at the latest, but most crazy Christmas light enthusiasts start in early October.
Expect to spend every weekend and most week nights after work on your light display.
Bribe friends to help.
Get good medical insurance since the #1 injury during the holidays is falling from a ladder.
LED Lights
Depending on how many hours you plan on powering your Christmas lights, you may want to trash the old incandescent lights and purchase new LED lights to save electricity.
Not only will they save electricity, but you can plug many times the amount of light strings together verses traditional incandescent lights.
More Power
You may need to invest in added circuits to power all of your crazy Christmas lights, so make sure to plan ahead since this step will require and electrician.
Also make sure to put aside hundreds of extra dollars for the high electric bill.
Make a Plan
Don't just buy a whole bunch of stuff and stick it in your yard.
Plan on where everything will go, what colors everything will be, and how everything will get electrified.
Take advantage of every available space on the ground as well as high in the air.
While planning, spend time testing all of your displays from last year to ensure they are in working order and all of the lights are still working.
Extra Tacky
To be extra tacky, don't just use lights.
Decorate your front yard with animated wire figures, blow up figures, and hollow plastic figures of Christmas items such as Santa, stockings, reindeer, bows, snowflakes, etc.
Flashing lights and extra large colored lights are also extra tacky.
Extras
To take your Christmas light display over the top, you can add animated music where certain lights turn on and off according to the music being played.
You can also add a snow machine, live reindeer, and a live Santa and Mrs. Claus.
