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Outdoor Christmas Decorating
How To Make Your Lights Look the Best, for Less
A guide on installing
minimal, cost effective Christmas lights, with
maximum results
We all love Christmas lights, and usually, by the last week of
November, we're already procrastinating about what on earth we're
going to do for outdoor decorations this year. This article will
cover a few of the little things we can do to make putting up the
lights more fun, and much easier this year.
Instead of lights on the house, try accessorizing your yard this
year instead. If you have trees in your front yard, hanging balls
of white lights make beautiful accents. You can pick up these
creations at your local drug store, or Wal-Mart. Or, you can make
them at home, with a few wire hangers, a pair of pliers, and a roll
of thin wire. This will be a craft you'll want to do on your own;
sharp edges on the hangers may scrape or cut little fingers.
Untwist the coat hangers, and shape the wire carefully, preferably
with gloves on, into sturdy, well-formed circles, using the pliers
to twist the ends back together when the circle is complete. Do
this with four wire hangers, and form them into a sphere. Use the
roll of thin wire, and weave over and around each wire, making sure
that the shape is secure. After your wire ball is complete, weave
your white lights over the wires completely, and use some of your
leftover wire, or some clothesline, or whatever you'd like as long
as it's strong enough, to securely hang your ball of lights from
the tree. Then, just plug it into your extension cord. Lights
accomplished!
For yards without trees, many people like to put fake trees out on
the lawn, or wire tree frames with lights attached; you can buy
these also, for a decent price at a pharmacy, or wherever you
usually buy your decorations. Or, involve your family, and make
some! A fun activity to share with the entire family, is making up
some Christmas tree shaped frames, by simply hot gluing some
collected dead branches and twigs to a 2 x 4. Drive it into the
ground firmly. Afterward, attach the Christmas lights of your
choice to the tree frame. And later on at night, after turning on
your lights, you'll have a beautiful illuminated little grove of
Christmas trees in your yard, instead of spending all the money on
top dollar decorations elsewhere.
One more decoration idea, is to simply take one or two sets of the
colour of Christmas lights of your choice, and stretch them out.
This works excellent for front yards that are sloped towards the
street, as most are. Simply stretch your lights out on your lawn,
and make your choice of designs. Simple spirals, or asterisk
designs can make gorgeous illuminated accents, or you can make the
shape of a star, or snowflake, by using a few more strings of
lights. After dark, you'll not only have beautiful lights right on
your front lawn, but also your very own work of art.
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