Do you decorate the outside of your house?!

[userno53627]

Exactly that really. Do you decorate the outside of your house for Christmas?

When I was growing, it felt like hardly anyone did. Maybe one or two and they would be famous for it and you'd drive around to have a look. It seems to have become increasingly popular which is great - dc love the lights.

Last year most houses on our street decorated outside and a fair few in the village. Some have gone all out and others more subtle.

I felt a right Scrooge because we've never really bothered with the outside - only indoors.

Am I really a Scrooge?

I just don't have the patience to sort it out - or the money!

Where do people store outside lights all winter in small houses with bit garage?

I brought a little light up tree for outside last year, but that’s about it. I sometimes put things in the windows, but don’t know whether or not I’ll bother this year. I’m not one to cover the whole outside with lights.

We did but only white fairy lights. I could actually see them when the curtains were open as they wrapped around the hedge on front of the window.

This year, new driveway, hedge is gone and I am lost. We have some miniature magnolias on one side so will crap the lights around them.

I always loved it when I came home in the dark.

We have a few outside and a small reindeer on the grass. The lights I can't stand to see are the ones that have a shape that flash out and then in again. Looks like an open sign for a shop!! 😂

We don't go mad. A holly wreath on the front door and we have 8 trees in the front garden which lose their leaves and look lovely with fairly lights twisted around them, plus a reindeer head light silhouette on the apex of our roof. We did have some lights around the roof but the gardener pruned them by mistake the year before last so we might replace those this year. There are people in the village that go crazy and it's very cheerful!

No I find it extremely tacky. I don't even bother with inside most years either (no children, I would if I did have kids!)

I find some minimal warm white twinkly lighting round a live tree in the garden quite classy and nice.

I do think all the multi coloured lights and icicles and ornaments a bit tacky but I do quite like to see them and they make me smile. I’d just not want them in my own garden 😂

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy

Inside we have 2 (sometimes 3) real trees, a 6 ft felt tree and lit up twig trees in each of 3 bedrooms. Garlands on 2 (sometimes 3) fireplaces and staircases.

It takes us most of December to put it all up and most of January to take down

Well aren't you a lucky duck to have that much money to waste, No need to brag.

I’m not sure the poster is bragging financially , once you’ve bought these things you reuse them. It’s not a lot of money over the years, honestly.

I don’t understand why it takes a full month to put up though, I have garlands on two fireplaces, on the stairs and six foot trees in both living rooms, plus a small tree in the hallway and again in my daughters room. I can do them in two days, one if I put my mind to it, and don’t understand why it takes the poster a month to put up and a month to take down. That does sound odd.

Will decorate the laurel hedging in the front garden with solar lights etc.
We have a Christmas tree in the front garden too, which we'll decorate.
And have two large star burst type decorations.

But no saggy Santas or snowmen hanging off the porch roof.
I do like to look at other people's outside decorations but the good ones are clearly expensive to buy in the first place and their electricity bill is probably frightening.

We have ones like this on the outside. I also have a large tree and wld love lights on it but I bought 2000 lights on 10m and we got only half way around so I gave up 😂 ended up putting them on my indoor tree instead.

Wreaths on our doors and Christmas tree in the porch. That's it for outside.
Hate the projector things that are springing up everywhere and the OTT house decorations since Home Alone.

Worse than all of it are those that leave the external decorations up all year - Santa and Reindeer bolted the the walls etc - grim and seriously tacky.

@userno53627

Exactly that really. Do you decorate the outside of your house for Christmas?

When I was growing, it felt like hardly anyone did. Maybe one or two and they would be famous for it and you'd drive around to have a look. It seems to have become increasingly popular which is great - dc love the lights.

Last year most houses on our street decorated outside and a fair few in the village. Some have gone all out and others more subtle.

I felt a right Scrooge because we've never really bothered with the outside - only indoors.

Am I really a Scrooge?

I just don't have the patience to sort it out - or the money!

Where do people store outside lights all winter in small houses with bit garage?

I totally agree, OP. What's the point of spending money on decorations and lights you won't see plus the cost of electric to run them? Makes no sense. I don't care about 'impressing' the neighbourhood.

Also, I've noticed recently the trend to have down/up lighters in rows along the roofline of homes. What's that about? Baffled as it doesn't light up anywhere where people will walk, just highlights the roofline. OK if you highlight around your front/back door, that makes sense but the other lights? Weird.

since Home Alone

So since 1990? Thirty-one years ago?

Last year around our area more people decorated the outside of their houses as part of a local initiative to cheer everyone up after the horrible year everyone had had.
I expect many will do so again, having bought all the lights and decorations. The housing stock where we live accommodates quite a lot of storage, as most people have large garages, garden sheds and lofts.
We will put up exterior lights and light up a small Christmas tree in a pot. It’s a bit of fun in dark and damp times!

This was our house last year. This year our front has been redone and we have a pretty bench under the window. I’m not sure the see saw will be back out, it suffered some damage last year but we’ll see. I’m adding a lamppost, reindeer and sleigh and some lights on the fence this year.

Me and one of my neighbours are in competition. We were comparing notes recently 🤣🤣 I love coming home to it. It makes me so happy. Ours are all off between 10pm and midnight though. I’m the earliest leaver out of our neighbours in the morning so would only be annoying myself leaving them on all night

Bit chavvy if you ask me

Sorry @Travis1 that wasn't directed at you but the general thread of christmas decs outside

A door wreath, which I've made this year.

😂😂 @icelolly12 no offence taken. Each to their own. If I thought we were pissing any neighbours off then I’d reconsider but we’re in a small cul de sac and I’d say about 75% of us all put at least some twinkly lights out. Two doors down have a toddler and there’s a young girl at the end of the quadrant who is disabled and her dad decorates their house big style so it all fits for us.

Yes I can see if the neighbours all did it, it would look a bit scrooge like not to join in especially when the children get pleasure out of it.

Yes we have lights they go all over the front of the house and on a large tree. Also a big wreath on the front door. The window cleaner puts them up on the first weekend in dec. the whole street participates actually most of the housing estate does. One of the kids favourites bits about the run up to Christmas is walking round looking at all the Xmas lights

Of course the hoards are appearing declaring that anything other then warm minimal fairy lights are tacky/chavvy.

Live and let live, and try not to be so judgmental. If they make the owners happy and they're not harming anyone then why look down on them so judgementally? I honestly think some people think it's a class thing.

Apparently it costs 18p to run a string of 100 LED outdoor lights for 6 hours a day over 37 days. Not exactly massive compared to a lot of things. In comparison it cost £1.50 to roast the turkey on Xmas day! In fact Britain uses 20% less energy overall over the Xmas period compared to the rest of the year because all the offices, schools, etc are closed up. And thats with all the Xmas lights up:
www.peoplewithenergy.co.uk/news/energy-usage-over-christmas
As for the risk to epilepsy, most Xmas lights flash at a rate below the level to trigger epilepsy (under 2hz), so the simple answer is to just ban the sale of those lights that flash over that rate or keep them on slow fade.

Yeah just coloured lights round the porch. I often think I would quite like some LED reindeer to graze on the front lawn but I've so far managed to resist the urge

It's a bit of a leap to blame Home Alone for all of this Although if I owned the Home alone house I would most definitely got to town on the outdoor lights.

Just some white lights round the door, looks really pretty.