4 easy steps to make hanging your Christmas lights faster, easier and more enjoyable!
How You Too Can Be The Envy of Your Neighbors And The Talk of The Town This Holiday Season.
If this sounds like you keep reading…
Christmas light installation can be a difficult, frustrating and a time consuming task to say the least. Most people either love or hate Christmas light installation. There doesn’t seem to be much of a middle ground with this subject. What is more frustrating than a set of lights not working while you are only half way through decorating in 20 degree weather, in the snow, and with the kids asking when you’ll be finished? Not much that’s for sure! Here I’ll give you some tips to make your Christmas light installation less stressful, quicker and hopefully a little more enjoyable for those who can’t stand hanging those pesky little lights.
Step 1- Preseason Game
The first step in Christmas light installation (which I am aware doesn’t help until next season) is packing the lights away neatly. It is amazing the time you can save by taking a few minutes on each strand of lights to wrap it up the same way you would a hose or electrical cord. And it will save you an inconceivable amount of time. For example, you won’t have to worry about trying to figure out how a strand of lights could possibly become so tangled that the most talented cat’s cradle player would give up after a few minutes. I’ve thrown out many strands of lights because I just didn’t have the patience to figure out how to untangle it.
Step 2- Form a Plan of Attack
Secondly have an idea of the decorating scheme you want before you start taking everything out of the house or garage into the yard. You will have a much nicer display if you think about what you want before hand. Try to keep a constant throughout your decorations; it just doesn’t look right with a Santa relaxing in a hammock hanging from a palm tree right next to an eight foot tall blow up snowman. My recommendation is to not only keep a constant theme but also try and keep a constant size theme throughout. When doing your Christmas light installation it looks a lot better if you have an eight foot snowman alongside an eight foot Santa. It can look tacky if you have a four foot Santa alongside the eight foot snowman- which is sure to be mistaken for the abominable snowman by the neighborhood kids due to the size difference.
You also have to be careful with the mixing of clear lights versus color lights. When shopping for decorations please try to keep in mind the space you have to work with. You may want to reconsider that 15th blow up decoration in your 10x20 front yard. Keep in mind that with blow ups you will have to knock snow and ice off of them continuously throughout the Christmas season. Be sure to remember that when choosing how many blow up decorations to purchase.
While decorating your walkway or sides of your driveway it will look best when you keep the same decoration the entire length. For example, if you use candy canes along the walk way, use them the entire length; and don’t switch from candy canes to penguins to snowman back to candy canes.
Step 3- Check Your Gear
What I would say as a third step in your Christmas light installation is to check everything before you start decorating! Check all the lights strands, make sure all your blow ups actually blow up, that you have outdoor extension cords, you have gutter or shingle clips, your outlet that you will be plugging into works, and know the amperage of the outlet your using. With extension cords, be sure to have more than you think you will need. This will keep you from making unnecessary trips to the store two or three times during your Christmas light installation, unless you want the extra exercise.
Also, I will say it again because it is worth repeating; know your electrical setup and amperage requirements. If you don’t know, ask an electrician. This is very important. Now that I’m off my soapbox, let’s continue. If you are running your lights off of a 15 amp fuse remember the 15 amp is for a peak and shouldn’t run constantly above 80% of the total amps. In other words a 15 amp fuse you should only have 12 amps of Christmas lights running. Remember just because you have 2 outlets does not mean they are running off a different fuse. Each light strand varies so be sure to check your box. It seems like the hot sellers now are about .4 amps a strand and about half that for led lights.
Step 4- Have Fun
The last tip for your Christmas light installation is to have fun! Do not do it after a hard and stressful day at work it will most likely just stress you out more. Remember it WILL TAKE LONGER than you think, it always will! So try and do your Christmas light installation on a day where you can dedicate your full time and attention to it with out any other appointments or commitments you have to keep. I also highly recommend having electrical tape and tape EVERY connection and every open end. It’s just an easy thing you can do that will give you a safer peace of mind and help protect your gear against the elements.
I hope this helps make your Christmas light installation a little easier on you. If you still do not want to tackle this job yourself click to get your Christmas light installation done for you safely and professionally.
Matt “The Christmas Guy” Martoccio
