tommygun32

Just wondering who here likes to put up Christmas lights every year...[&:].

Do you keep it simple or go all out 'Grizwald's' style? How long do you spend in planning, preparation, installing and then taking down the lights? Or do you prefer to leave it to others while you go cruise the usual neighborhoods looking at their light displays?

And of course, the addition of pics in your replies always adds to the fun.

AmishWarlord

My Feedback: (5)

I did a little last year. Just a few on the porch and the shrubs.

Just these few lights doubled my power bill!!!!

I can't imagine what a Grizwald style display would do to the electric bill!

Foxy

My girlfriend makes me, otherwise I probably wouldn't. I have to say she does make a nice tree.

sheograth

I don't really. Sometimes we'll put some lights up or something. Definitely no fancy setups. My dad likes to do more involved things.

tommygun32

WOW!! [X(] Just those lights doubled you electricity consumption?? That would definitely put a damper on that thought in the future..[:@]

Mr. Mugen

With the use of LED Christmas lights your bill will hardly move. Use technology to your advantage. When I was a lad my uncle owned a flower shop. My job yearly was to set up and tear down over 2000 different light strings and ornaments. He won the light contest yearly and even made it to the state level as far as attn. goes. News crews always gathered asking the big Q....how much does it cost to run all these lights. He said "not as much as it will cost next year". His power bills were around 1000-1500 a month for this display. Not bad if you seen it. I would have thought higher. With 4 200 amp sevices I am sure the man upstairs seen it! Now a day I might run 3 strings of lights and I ask her to do it....lol.

Kevin

P,S, I will see if he has any pics of it that I can scan.

splcrazy

we dont , but i enjoy it when other people do , feels like christmas and makes me happy somewhat that other people are happy about putting the lights up on the house , kinda makes me forget about my problems when looking at it

AmishWarlord

My Feedback: (5)

Kevin, those are LED lights and my power bill did move. In fact it jumped!

supersoaker548

My Feedback: (1)

last yr 1month work and BIG ELCBILL

supersoaker548

My Feedback: (1)

morepics

supersoaker548

My Feedback: (1)

ok 1 more

tommygun32

WOW!![X(]

A whole month?!?! Looks really sweet.

And what was the initial investment on the lights, wiring, wire frames, etc?....(before the electricity bill)

How do you handle the extra load without shorting something out?

sheograth

Some people have way too much time (and/or money). Tonight I'm going to drive around checking out houses with halloween decorations.

Ttam Says Blarg

Na no christmas lights for me. We have some amazing displays in socal tho.

tryingagain

My problem is I don't like the LED as much as the old incandescent. We aren't fancy but we have about 200 bulbs burning. If I didn't do it my son would have them up. One year we did not get them back up in the fall and when winter hit I decided for one year we could do without. My son put up with that until mid December. We came home one day to find him in the front yard with the ladder and a staple gun. Two feet of snow and 30 below but up they went. You're right splcrazy it helps it feel like Christmas!

Airplanes400

My Feedback: (349)

I'm trying to figure out a way to put Christmas lights on my plane and fly it around. I have a Snoopy Dog House "plane" that would be absolutely great if I could get some Christmas lights on it and fly it around.

I might even try to design a Santa Sleigh that flies. If it can be done with lawnmowers and Dog Houses, I see no reason why I can't make a Santa Sleigh fly!

AmishWarlord

My Feedback: (5)

True just take the flying Porsche design and reshape it into a sleigh.

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/Fairy-Lights905.htm

Tjettzky

I HAVE to. The house we rent is on a street that gets Legally Re-named "Candlestick Lane" during the holidays (we actually get new street signs from the city). Seriously, they have a silly little parade with kids "lighting" the houses and they have the local news agencies come out and film it. I guess they've been doing this since the '50s. Part of the tour of the house when we first looked at it was "oh, and here is the big plastic candle you put out front and here are several boxes of decorations you can use." I was out replacing broken clips last weekend and if it doesn't rain, I'll probably get all the lights up on the house and in the trees this weekend. I'll leave the in-lawn decor until after Thanksgiving so I don't appear too crazy. We try to get most of our stuff AFTER Christmas when it's all on clearance and we have been slowly replacing the old lights with the LEDs that way for the last few years. Clearance sales are a God-send for us. Also to increase the show but beat the recession, we did Tomato-cage trees last year. Upside down Tomato-cages with some cheap garland and a string of lights and you've got yourself a little forest of cheap Christmas trees. We did see a big 'ol light-up Hippo at Menards this year...for $80 bucks...and we're trying really hard to talk ourselves out of adding that this year. The moose does look lonely...

supersoaker548

My Feedback: (1)

Its taken yrs to make up all the stuff. I like to do a little welding so every yr i make something new and it takes me about a month to set up . my boss lets me use the big genny to run it all and one of my buddys is and elc. so he helps with all the wiring and stuff.

all the kids love the 4 wheeler, mybuddy likes to play santa so he sits on the bike and all the kids get to sit on his lap i bet he gos thur about 50-75 kids a night, for2 weeks befor christmas


as for the investment i dont want to think about it LOL

pete236

My Feedback: (2)

I used to put up all sorts of lights for the holidays. Not just Christmas, but Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter.

I say used to cause both of my girls have grown up. I'm sure I'll get back into it when the grand kids start arriving!

Happy Holidays to all!!!!

Jim_Purcha

My Feedback: (8)

My lights can down in the hail and wind storms we've had the last couple of years. I don't like the new cheap light bulb hangers which are sold now a days. The old incandescent bulbs clipped nicely under the eaves troughs.

Happy Halloween.

Jim

Airplanes400

My Feedback: (349)

Thanks. I think those lights will work perfectly.

SyCo_VeNoM

http://www.hobbypartz.com/ledlights.html LED strips lights

378

My Feedback: (4)

Nope. I'm so far out in the sticks that nobody will be able to see and/or enjoy them if I did put them up. Even if I was reasonably close to civilization, I don't really get into the christmas spirit anymore. The holiday is a mere shambles of what it used to be, and to be honest I can't afford to 'celebrate' as modern society expects me to even if I want to.