Neighbour asked us to stop our Christmas lights flashing

[SuddenlyISee]

Outside Christmas lights got put up on Sunday morning going around a couple of the windows at the front of the house (we live end terrace on a close).
We were out till late on Sunday evening so they were only on for probably an hour that day and then I switched them on when I got home from work at about 3:30 yesterday. Within an hour, my opposite neighbour knocked on my door and said that although he really likes the "Christmas cheer", could we not have them flashing all the time as they are disturbing him at night. They are turned off no later than 10pm as that is when we go to bed. There are multiple settings and I can't control that my children keep changing them when I'm not in the room where the plug is. I just feel like I'm going to spend the next few weeks worrying that our lights are offending him and wonder if I should just take them down. The neighbours either side of the neighbour that complained have both got the same lights as us so I have the same view as him, if not more so, and I can't see how it would affect anyone

I have photosensitive epilepsy. Your inability to control your children and / or indulge them wouldn't just annoy me or give me a migraine, they would have a high chance of hospitalising me.

Control your kids or switch the stupid things off please.

I had this with neighbours lights. They meant to turn them off at bedtime but often forgot. I ended up sticking bacofoil over the Velux and the window panes to block the light. My bedroom was a black hole over the whole festive season

Well done Op for taking a reasoned and considerate approach to your neighbour's polite request. I'm afraid I'm another one who dislikes flashing lights, can't bear them even on our Christmas tree.

My neighbour opposite me has put up non flashing, not overly bright Christmas lights, and they are really pretty. I love looking out of my kitchen window on these dark gloomy afternoons and evenings and seeing their lovely glow, it really cheers me up.

YABU 100%. My neighbour opposite put up flashing lights last year. I have a glass front door and a glass internal door and all I could see was these flashing lights when I was trying to watch tv.

I didn't want to cause ill feeling and it's only 3-4 weeks, so I covered my internal door with brown paper so that I couldn't see them. (That made it very dark during the day time though so I had to take it down every day and tape it up again at night).

Luckily another neighbour mentioned it to them and they put the lights on static and we all lived happily ever after.

and you can control your children, that is a parents role, to tell them what to do, with consequences if they misbehave. If they are too young to understand then the controls should be out of reach for safety reasons.

YABU

YABU, if he's asked nicely, going to bed before 10pm probably means he's getting up for work. You don't really need the lights on that late, are your kids still up at that time, how old are they? All seems a bit odd. Flashing lights all evening would give me a migraine anyway. I'd use an eye mask if necessary but nothing wrong with him asking

Just turn the flashing lights off and if you can't control them/your children, take them down. No one should have to have flashing lights disturbing them at any time of the day or year.

The 'not controlling my kids' thing is such a cop out. Tell them they get X hours of flashing lights and if they mess with the control again the lights come down. And then stick to it. It's really not that difficult.

TBH I have every sympathy for your neighbour. I loathe flashing lights - any and all of them.

I don’t like flashing lights tbh. But probably wouldn’t complain to a neighbour. For the sake of being neighbourly just set them on static and switch them off when the kids go to bed. Surely you can tell the kids not to touch them.

Flashing lights are very annoying, twinkling ones less so. Static lights are fine though.

I also commend your neighbour for talking to you rather than starting a MN thread about "AIBU? Neighbour's flashing lights"

Some of these responses are bewildering. One poster even said everyone’s lights flash where she is, so they all just shut their curtains so they can’t see them. Block out their own nuisance, 😂

biggest concern is unable to prevent kids touching the cables.yes you can.
flashing lights is utterly selfish.

I put my lights up mid November this year with the intention to turn them on properly on 1st Dec. (I did this as historically something awful always happens in the first / second week of December and it never gets done)

One evening I came home after dark and the lights were unexpectedly on due to a timer error. The bright white cluster lights across the garage were flashing horrendously, as that was the 1st setting and I hadn't fiddled with them yet. I felt so bad that the neighbours opposite had dealt with that for an entire evening.

Stop the flashing!

YABVVVVU. Take your visual pollution inside your own bedroom and stick some bloody duct tape over the switches if you can't control your own kids.

Just have them on like 3.30pm or 4pm until 8pm @SuddenlyISee Shouldn't annoy the neighbours then!

We have thousands of lights around our house and garden (it's a detached cottage on a big corner plot, and there are lots of bushes and a few trees, including a 12 foot high fir tree.) So plenty of places to put lights. A few do flash yes. Some are still. Some kind of 'ripple' like falling snow IYSWIM.

Not had a single complaint. Indeed, lots of compliments. People LOVE them! Some people come from out of the area to look at them - and a few others in my area who have lots of lights too. - (Middle class/upper middle class area.) The children in my street love them, and they sit looking at them from their windows, and their mums have told me their kids are enchanted and mesmerised by all my lights, and one even thanked me, as our lights are keeping them quiet! 😆

But yeah if someone is whingeing about it, you could just switch them off sooner. Not many people are around after 8pm anyway. Most people are about before 7pm I would say. Ours are on 3.30pm to 8pm. Every night.

The snobbery - and faux shock-horror (from some) on here, towards flashing Christmas lights, is both hilarious, and nauseating in equal measure. Clutch those pearls tight ladies! 😂

That would annoy the hell out of me. I really don’t blame your neighbour.

Another vote here that it is the flashing that is horrendous. People shouldn’t leave flashing in especially past 9pm. Twinkling just about ok but it’s the hardcore flashing That is horrible even driving around.

If you can't control your children, and can't trust them to be safe with electrics then maybe you should unplug the lights, or supervise the kids.

Damn, someone beat me to it 😂

Have to say some of the flashing light settings on some Xmas lights are awful!

I wouldn't go as far to complain though, I'd just shut my curtains 😀

If your relative doesn’t have photo sensitive epilepsy then they won’t be triggered by flashing lights. That doesn’t mean others won’t be

Yabu flashing lights would drive me insane plus they can trigger migraines and epilepsy. Teach your children to not mess around with the plug and keep the lights switched on to on or off not flashing.

My opposite neighbours put up flashing lights outside all around their windows every year. Drives me mad, but i would never tell them. I just close the curtains.

Not surprised they complained. Really annoying.