5 Tips for Decorating the Outside of Your Home for the Holidays

With the holidays upon us, many people are rushing to their garage (or the store) to unpack all of the decorations that will make their home look like a beacon of holiday cheer. Whether it’s giant inflatable snow globes with a penguin family inside, colorful lights, twinkling reindeer, or giant candy canes, outdoor decorations are a great way to participate in neighborhood festivities, give neighbors something fun to look at, and create your own holiday traditions.

But decorating for the holidays, especially on the outside of your home, can come with its own set of challenges. Finding the right positioning so that your lights and decorations can easily reach a power source, figuring out a design scheme, and ensuring that you’re easily able to turn everything on and off are just a few off the considerations you’ll want to make before turning your home into its own holiday island.

Here’s what you can do to make the process as easy and stress-free as possible:

Use Smart Lights

Smart lights might be pricier than traditional lights, but boy are they cool. With the ability to control your lights via an app, you can easily change their color, create your own custom design, and turn them on and off with a tap of your finger. Couple that with the fact that you can purchase holiday smart lights in a variety of different kinds of strands (curtain lights, cluster lights, globes, etc.) and you have options that are worth the investment.

Even cooler? Many of these come with the ability to sync your lights to music. Just imagine how amazing your holiday lights will look, twinkling to the tune of Christmas carols.

Decorate Early

How many years have you said you’re going to put up the lights by a certain date, only to watch that date come and go? But, by not procrastinating and getting your decorations out early, you’ll have more time to enjoy your lights and more importantly, have a longer period of time between when you put them up and when you have to take them down.

You don’t have to put your lights or yard decorations out right after Christmas, on November 1st. But consider a (somewhat) early date so that you can check hanging those lights and plugging in those inflatables before the hustle and bustle of the holiday season gets into full swing.

Check HOA Rules First

We know. You have a vision and you want to bring it to life in the form of epic outdoor holiday decorations. However, checking your HOA rules is always great to do, especially before you start decking your house out to the nines.

Simply put, many HOAs have restrictions on the type of decorating you’re allowed to do. For example, that 30 foot inflatable of Rudolph you were wanting to put on your roof may not fly. Most of the time, HOAs have clear rules on when you can begin to put your lights up, and when they should be taken down. But make sure you take a closer look at any guidelines for how you decorate. There’s nothing more annoying than spending the time to put something up, just to have to take it down again shortly after (or risk being fined).

Inspect Your Decorations Beforehand

If you’re no stranger to decorating with lights, you know that all it takes is one dead bulb to completely destroy an entire strand. With that in mind, make sure you test every string of lights you’ll be using before they go up on the outside of the house. You’ll want to ttest all inflatables, light up decorations, and really, any decoration that requires electricity before taking the time to clean them and place them.

Likewise, check all of your decorations for dents, cracks, and overall quality so that you can decide if you want them to go up, or if you’re ready to say goodbye.

Invest in Storage

Using the right kind of storage for your decorations is imperative to keeping them around for longer. Stuffing a strand of lights into a dusty bin, or shoving a light up Santa into a random corner of the garage simply won’t cut it. If you want to make sure your decorations stay in tip-top shape, and that the money you spent on them will at least give you a few holidays worth of cheer, then be sure you store your decorations properly.

Especially this time of year, it’s easy to find solid storage solutions to keep your decorations dust free, break free, and easily locatable so that you can use them year after year.

Although it’s tempting to just unpack all of your holiday decorations, resolve to put them up, and play the rest by ear, going into your project with a plan can make all the difference. Ensure you’ve done your research, know what your restrictions and limitations will be, and know that all of your decorations are in working order before you begin to create your winter wonderland. That way, you’ll have fond memories for years to come.