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Halloween is fast approaching. In fact, at time of writing, it’s only a couple of days away. It is probably the second best decoration related holiday of the year, but we all know which holiday takes the cake for the best- that is the Christmas season.
While the creativity that can be put into Halloween decorations is apparent, there’s something magical about Christmas and Christmas lights in general. The bright colors against the night sky bring up feelings of joy, togetherness, and a form of nostalgia that only comes with this special time of year.
However, there are many people out there who don’t know much about Christmas lights. Sure, there are lots of helpful articles out there about how to put up Christmas lights, or where Christmas lights originated, but what about the lights themselves? What types of lights are there, what colors do they come in, what is the best way to put them up? Well, all these answers about Christmas lights and more will be in the following article. So that everyone around Canada, from Stouffville to Victoria, can now be educated about all aspects of Christmas lights.
How should one put up Christmas lights?
What is the best design for Christmas lights? Should they be in some places as opposed to others? What colors should be placed where? Before we can answer any of those questions, we should look into the different types and colors of Christmas lights first, and how they interact with each other.
The different types of Christmas lights.
One may not think the type of Christmas light they choose holds any importance. Why would it? Why can’t a homeowner just throw up a bunch of lights on a string and call it a day? Well, because different types of Christmas lights demand different types of attention, power, and some can even be easier to put up than others.
Plug in lights: these lights are pretty self-explanatory, as what they are is in the name. They are lights that plug in to an external plug, and are the ones that are the most commonly used. However, one has to check their property before they can choose to use plug in lights. Is there a feasible place for these lights to be plugged in? An external plug where the Christmas lights can get their power? If not, can one use extension cords in order to get power to these Christmas lights? Keep all this in mind before choosing the plug in lights.
Battery powered lights. Some may think this is the obvious choice. One isn’t going to be using power from their house, and in fact is just going to be using batteries to keep these lights alive. But keep this in mind- what happens when the batteries run out of power? Does one want to be going up and down ladders all season changing the batteries in and out? How expensive is that going to be, having to constantly change batteries for lights?
Solar powered lights. These are ones that are obviously powered by the sun. These can be a good option, if ones area gets a lot of sun during the Christmas season. However, for those living in, say, Stouffville, this may not be the best option as Canada tends not to get as much sun in the winter as other places.
Besides how the lights are powered, there are also different types of lights and how they look. LEDs and Incandescent lights are the norm, but there are also lights that stream down trees like icicles, and there are also lights that look like little reindeer! Those final two are called novelty lights, and they can spruce up an otherwise mundane light display on a property.
The different colors of Christmas lights.
This is probably the most simple aspect of the Christmas lights, and should be what one looks at after they have chosen what type of lights they are going to choose.
The main three colors of Christmas lights one is going to see are- white, red and blue. There are two choices one can make when choosing a light display- they can either go with one uniform color, which always looks great and together, or they can mix it up. Luckily, red, blue and white often go great together, so if one chooses those three colors they can rarely go wrong.
However, there are some outlier colors, like purple. There are pros and cons to choosing these colors. On the upside, choosing a color like purple may set ones light display apart from the others in the neighborhood. However, on the other hand, purple may not mix as well with blue, for example, and may end up hurting ones display. It’s all about risk and reward, choosing where to put what and how to put the Christmas lights up.
So, how should one put up Christmas lights?
Well, this may sound like a cop out answer, but it is the one that holds the truest- it all depends on what ones property is like. What does ones house look like? Are there any trees on the property? What parts of the property would one want to accentuate?
Let’s take the average house from Stouffville Ontario. A two-story house, a decent sized front yard, perhaps some little foliage like small, youthful trees here and there. One would have to assume that one would want to make most of the attention divert towards the house, however one can perhaps dangle some icicle lights off the little trees. Maybe some reindeer shaped lights could adorn the front yard.
Say one has a big pine tree in their front yard. That would be an example of something one may want to accentuate with their Christmas lights. But what does one do? Should they mix up colors and kinds of lights? It is the opinion of this writer that a big tree should be a uniform color, but should be the brightest thing in the yard.
Think about it this way- one wants to treat their yard like they would a movie scene. Think about levels- the highs and lows of the property, and how each should be covered. There are also many other questions to ask- how are certain colors going to clash with others? Would the purple look better next to the white, or would it look better on its own around the giant pine tree? These are all the questions one has to ask themselves before putting up their Christmas lights.
There are a couple of pieces of good news here- the first being the only person one has to please is themselves. As long as it looks good to the homeowner, then it is good. Another piece of good news is that these days, homeowners aren’t alone in their plight. They can hire all sorts of different companies to come in and not just put up Christmas lights for them, but also to make the decisions and designs for them! Take all that pressure off!
And so, this article about Christmas lights has come to an end. But what did we learn today? Well, we learned about all the different types of Christmas lights- how each is powered, how easy each is to put up, and how much maintenance is going to be required for them throughout the Christmas season. We also learned about the different colors of Christmas lights and which ones go together the best. Finally, we also learned about the best ways to put up each set of Christmas lights, and we learned that they mostly depend on the type of house that the homeowner owns, as well as the landscape on their property. Now all that remains is to put up the darn things, or better yet, to hire a company to do that pesky task. At the end of the day, wether one chooses to put up their own Christmas lights or not, always remember to enjoy the holiday season. Remember to spread joy and happiness with those beautiful, brilliant Christmas lights.