Let talk Christmas Decorations/Lights

[WalkerFodder]

Friends. Comrades of the statue/collectible underworld. Despite our egregious and sometimes unhealthy dedication to our expensive hobby, some of us have managed to secure a girlfriend and/or (against all odds) a family.

These girlfriends/family most likely enjoy the holidays as much as we do. Unfortunately, expectations for decorating often go hand-in-hand with this shared holiday cheer.

Let's talk lights. They're pricey unless buying just after Christmas. What kind of lights do you like or find to be the most bang for the buck (i.e. LED's, size of bulb, length of light strands, preference for timers?) Where and when do you prefer to buy them? Specific sales at local stores? Ordering direct from a specific website?

I've looked into LED's largely because they last longer and if a bulb is defective, it doesn't affect the rest of the strand. You're paying more for LED's (as usual).

[nbr3bagshotrow]

My neighbor has purchased a 'relatively' expensive projection system for Halloween. She has to map out the front of her whole house and then this system will project various 'spooky' projections on her house. The system can also do Christmas displays. I am anxious to see how it looks as I would like to have a nice display for Christmas but I hate hanging lights and running extension cords all over.

[OrangeCrush]

LED is the only way to go. Thier safer and thier brighter in most cases. I spent a pretty good sum of money a couple years back on 5-6 sets of solar charging LED outdoor sets that are weather proof. Unfortunately, we spend Christmas in Michigan and Michigan is usually cloudy and overcast in the winter thus the solar option really didn't work very well. They simply weren't getting enough light to get a charge that lasted long at all. I was getting like 45 minutes to an hour tops before they died out. So those are now all boxed up and sitting in my basement. I replaced them with normal plug in LED sets.

I light the tree right in front of our house, put a string around our 3 front winows and we light our X-mas tree. Thats as far as I go with X-mas lighting. At least for me, keeping it simple and subtle looks much nicer than these homes that go all out and wind up putting up 100 strings on everything from bushes to roofs.

[WalkerFodder]

I'm definitely going the LED route. We're first time homeowners and this is our first Christmas in the new house. We're playing host home to the family Christmas this year, so we want to at least light the roof. I'm not crazy about bushes/light nets because the trouble isn't worth the reward, but I do like the clean look of a nicely lined roof and light posts/trees wrapped candy cane style. It's festive and not too bad to take down.

I hadn't considered solar panels for the lights. That's brilliant. We've got some tall trees all around our house so it may not be an option for us either.

I've seen online where people hang white sheets inside their Windows and project Halloween or Christmas themed animations on to the sheet which gives a pretty cool show to outsiders looking at the Windows from the sidewalk. Ghosts to Santa putting gifts under the tree. Pretty neat stuff.

I'm trying to determine the best time to snap up a full set of LED's. Probably before Black Friday so everything isn't sold out? Only looking now so I can make sure I've done the research and get what I want with time to spare. Plus I think the misses is going to want Christmas lights up right after thanksgiving.

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by WalkerFodder

I'm definitely going the LED route. We're first time homeowners and this is our first Christmas in the new house. We're playing host home to the family Christmas this year, so we want to at least light the roof. I'm not crazy about bushes/light nets because the trouble isn't worth the reward, but I do like the clean look of a nicely lined roof and light posts/trees wrapped candy cane style. It's festive and not too bad to take down.

I hadn't considered solar panels for the lights. That's brilliant. We've got some tall trees all around our house so it may not be an option for us either.

I've seen online where people hang white sheets inside their Windows and project Halloween or Christmas themed animations o to the sheet which gives a pretty cool show to outsiders looking at the Windows from the sidewalk. Ghosts to Santa putting gifts under the tree. Pretty neat stuff.

I'm trying to determine the best time to snap up a full set of LED's. Probably before Black Friday so everything isn't sold out? Only looking now so I can make sure I've done the research and get what I want with time to spare. Plus I think the misses is going to want Christmas lights up right after thanksgiving.

Congrats. There is nothing like celebrating X-mas for the first time in your very first home. It will definitely be one of your more memorable X-mas's. I remember that X-mas vividly, not only because it was our first X-mas in our first house, but also because we lost the first X-mas tree we purchased that year. We went all out and purchased the largest tree we could find, but the guy in the tree lot didn't tie the tree down properly. We were on the freeway going home and all of the sudden I felt this huge shift in weight with the car and the tree went flying off the top of my car right into the middle of the freeway. A huge semi truck ran into it and it literally exploded into a thousand little pieces.

In all honesty, were lucky that tree didn't wind up killing someone. The fact that it didn't hit a car on its way down and the fact that a semi truck wound up hitting it and not some smaller car was an absolute godsend. The truck driver didn't even try to avoid it nor did he try and slow down. I think he knew there was no chance of missing it so he just held tight and barreled right into it. Again, the tree just exploded into a thousand pieces. It was really quite depressing as it really was a beautiful tree. We got off at the next exit, went back a couple miles and got back on the freeway as we wanted to make sure there weren't any big pieces left in the middle of the freeway. There weren't. That truck literally demoslihed it. There were lots of little pieces everywhere, but that was about it. Anyways, we wound up going back to the tree lot and they gave us a 2nd tree for free and they apologized for not tying the first one down properly. Needless to say, I took side streets all the way home that time and avoided the freeway altogether. And it did wind up being an amazing X-mas!

Since this is your first X-mas in your home, you really need to go all out and make it memorable. Its a beautiful feeling when you finally get all your lights set up and you have your tree set up. You just kick back, have a couple drinks and enjoy the holiday in your new home. Again, congrats and I hope you guys have a really great and memorable holiday!

[MrJones]

Firstly, I like the way the OP is written. Well put!

Along the same lines, this is my first Xmas with my wife in our townhome. Smaller roof, not even sure how to tackle the lights as I have neighbours attached on both sides but we will see how it goes. But I know it will go. My wife is all about decorating. Already my house had a beautiful autumn/Thanksgiving theme (Canadian) and has started transitioning into Halloween. Then Nov 1st hits and Halloween turns to Christmas, legit, she spends about 12 hours on the transformation. I love it!

[WalkerFodder]

OC - Your Christmas Tree story had me snuffing laughter in the men's bathroom at work (which is not where you want to be heard laughing). That is a HILARIOUS story only because no one was injured. I'm sure it was mortifying and frustrating as hell at the time. I read it twice and let my girlfriend read it and she was laughing very hard and loudly. Thank you for that.

We're going to blow this Christmas wide open. Big tree with lights on the house. I nearly bought a genuine Red Christmas Sleigh for $200 at an antique market. My girlfriend was about to take my wallet away.

We have 4 nieces and a nephew (all under 10) coming for the holiday and I know how important and memorable Christmas' are to children. We're going to rise to the occasion.

Anyway, maybe this would be a great thread for Collectors to show off their Holiday decorations, lit yards, etc. Whatever is spirited and makes you proud.

Mr. J- Congrats on the Townhome! Autumn is my favorite time of year, so I'm sure the townhome was warm and wonderful.

Looks like we both really need to perform this year. My girlfriend is already looking at sales for Thanksgiving/Christmas decor. Retailers are going to be relentless with the Ads as usual.

I think my girlfriend is just as inspired as yours when it comes to holiday decorating. We've mad wise decisions, my friend.

I'll share pictures of the house later on when it's time.

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by WalkerFodder

OC - Your Christmas Tree story had me snuffing laughter in the men's bathroom at work (which is not where you want to be heard laughing). That is a HILARIOUS story only because no one was injured. I'm sure it was mortifying and frustrating as hell at the time. I read it twice and let my girlfriend read it and she was laughing very hard and loudly. Thank you for that.

We're going to blow this Christmas wide open. Big tree with lights on the house. I nearly bought a genuine Red Christmas Sleigh for $200 at an antique market. My girlfriend was about to take my wallet away.

We have 4 nieces and a nephew (all under 10) coming for the holiday and I know how important and memorable Christmas' are to children. We're going to rise to the occasion.

Anyway, maybe this would be a great thread for Collectors to show off their Holiday decorations, lit yards, etc. Whatever is spirited and makes you proud.

Mr. J- Congrats on the Townhome! Autumn is my favorite time of year, so I'm sure the townhome was warm and wonderful.

Looks like we both really need to perform this year. My girlfriend is already looking at sales for Thanksgiving/Christmas decor. Retailers are going to be relentless with the Ads as usual.

I think my girlfriend is just as inspired as yours when it comes to holiday decorating. We've mad wise decisions, my friend.

I'll share pictures of the house later on when it's time.

Since nobody got hurt, it is a funny story looking back. We were actually laughing about it later that night. We were both such nervous wrecks by the time we got home with the 2nd tree that we pulled out a bottle of tequila and did a bunch of tequila shots. We were honestly complete wrecks after that incident, but it is funny looking back at the whole ordeal.

There was actually one detail I forgot to mention about that whole episode. As I said, we wound up getting off of the freeway, turned around and got back on the freeway a couple miles back to make sure there were no dangerous pieces left in the freeway. As we approached the part of the freeway where the truck hit the tree, its absolutely reeked like Pine Sol. The smell of pine was so strong you would swear someone dumped like 50 gallons of pure Pine Sol all over the freeway. I couldn't believe how strong the smell was, lol. Anyways, it is funny story looking back and even to this day I refuse to get on freeways when transporting Christmas tree's. I always take side streets now to get home.

As for X-mas decoration, one of my favorite companies is At West End. Almost everything they make is hand made and made from recycled materials or repurposed materials. Short of a few misc items they carry year round, they constantly create new items and carry new stuff. So thier stock is always changing and thier holiday items are always different each year.

We have been buying from At West End for at least 6-7 years now and best of all, they have huge sales at the end of each holiday or season. So when X-mas is over, check out thier end of X-mas sale. You can usually get stuff for 50-75% off and simply use it next year. We have gotten a lot of great Halloween decorations from them including these great wooden ghosts that are like 2-3 feet long that you hang on the exterior of your house. We also have a set of 3 metal christmas tree's made of sheet metal that we display in the front of our house. Again, thier stock is always changing with new items popping up all the time. They have great stuff for the inside of your house as well. You and your wife should definitely give them a look. We check out the site like once a month to see whats on sale and to see anything new that has been added to the site.

Here is the link in case your interested:

http://www.atwestend.com


Here are also some great sights for x-mas or seasonal wreaths:

https://www.wayfair.com/Christmas-Wr...st_list=BL7483

http://www.houzz.com/photos/products...th-and-garland


And FrontGate is a great site for all kinds of X-mas decorations:

http://www.frontgate.com/holiday-dec...oliday%20Decor

[Blacksunn]

Originally Posted by nbr3bagshotrow

My neighbor has purchased a 'relatively' expensive projection system for Halloween. She has to map out the front of her whole house and then this system will project various 'spooky' projections on her house. The system can also do Christmas displays. I am anxious to see how it looks as I would like to have a nice display for Christmas but I hate hanging lights and running extension cords all over.

Here's my Halloween decorations. I change it up every night... I've been doing this type of setup for the past 6 years...

Tonight will actually be Zombie night so all the lights I will turn to red and Zombies in all the windows... My wife only lets me do it once a week cuz it's a bit gory and we want to be respectful since we have a TON of little ones on the block...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHZKEq6mE5Y

We also do it up for Xmas

[nidewetsuit]

I have a tree like this in front of my house. How much do you think it would cost if I put lights like these on it?

http://london.trusttown.net/wp-conte...-ideas-2-1.jpg