...to think that having Christmas lights in your garden...

[Fraidylady]

...is like making a bonfire with £10 notes?

We have some in a couple of our trees. They are lovely

Where I live you might as well just burn your money - they'd be stolen or vandalised within the hour.

I like them though

Have solar ones. You can't really see them from the road but the kids love them.

we have 3 enormous bells on the front of our flat and a string of coloured bulbs,costs me nothing as my flat is above the shops in town and is decorated by the town council

I have 3 strings of LED lights, the cost over the entire Christmas period is probably less than £1 and DS loves them.

my solar ones are great, they have to be charged in sunlight for a couple of days first and in winter they don't last long unless its been a bright day but in summer they last all night!

I have loads.
LEDs mostly so they're not toooo expensive.
I love the way it winds up the neighbours.

Our house is now lit up like Santa's Grotto

I'll worry about the leccy when the bill arrives

I can't wait to get mine out, dh not looking forward to hanging them all up though!

i love coming home in the dark to twinkly lights round our front garden, and have copied the nieghbours and put a few in the front room window - open plan house so we get the full effect.

It's wasteful - like so many other things that aren't as cheery!

I love looking at all the outdoor lights when I'm out running!

duckdodgers do you do the National Lampoon switch on ceremony: "Joy to the world ............."?!

I used to know a lady that moved into the house next door to the man known locally as Mr Christmas. Unfortunately she didn't realise until December that Christmas wasn't his real name and that she had to put up with a month of his brilliantly lit stable scene (complete with inflatable Baby Jesus) that attracted crowds from miles around!

Solar powered ones - pah. Bought some last year, got savaged by the monkey puzzle wrapping them round it, waited eagerly for darkness, and... they glowed half heartedly for 10 mins before plinking out. Rubbish.

Which brand Rhubarbgarden?

One of the houses in our street puts lights up every year. Their display looks so tacky!
My DD3 and myself were having a conversation today about less being more and that some of the best displays are simple and unfussy.
As we drove into our street she pointed out that maybe somebody should tell our neighbour that sometimes less is more.

monkey yes

My DH was ecstatic that he got his hands on a Mary, Joseph and Jesus blow mould this year as they don't make them anymore apparently, the shop had imported it from America - hes fixed a giant star on the fence above it. I will NOT be telling him about the stable scene or it will give him ideas for next year

I love looking at tacky christmas lights ,brightens up the drab December nights no end

Iloveshiny are you one of my neighbours then? Christmas in our street is not a time for "simple and unfussy"

DuckDodgers - I think it's a case of they're the only house doing it so they're going to put enough lights up for the whole street. I'm just glad I live along from them and not opposite!

Adversecamber - I love those white lights that look like icicles. They look so pretty!

There is a village near us that has made a big thing of it here www.lightsoflobethal.com.au/gallery.

It is super lame, but still attracts 1000s of people every year. Mind you, there's not a lot on in this part of the world.

Personally I think they are common

I got solar lights last year, they were useless, didn't work at all after the first couple of days. I actually thought they were broken but I got them back out in the summer and they were fine, there just wasn't enough daylight to charge them up in the winter. They were from Betterware btw, possibly not the best but I thought they were quite expensive for what they were.