For nearly a hundred years, adorning our residences with lights and decorations has been an American custom.

What started in the 1920s with the inaugural residential light display eventually grew to become a defining feature of suburban life over the subsequent five decades of Christmas celebrations.

However, it wasn’t until the 1970s that America escalated its newfound obsession with Christmas lighting to unprecedented heights. The suburbs were illuminated with Christmas fervor and, in true American style, neighborhood Christmas lighting competitions blossomed across the nation (a tradition that persists to this day).

If you’re gearing up to partake in your neighborhood’s Christmas lighting contest this festive season, it’s crucial to give it your all if you aim to secure victory (since you’re competing, why not compete to win?).

Christmas Lights and Decorations

To triumph, you’ll need to deploy every resource and edge available. Here are 6 pointers for bringing your best and clinching the top spot in your local Christmas lighting contest:

Tip 1: Ignite your imagination

First and foremost, before sketching out (or at least finalizing) your lighting schemes, it’s vital to ignite your imagination. Do this initially as it will impact all your subsequent actions and significantly enhance the quality of the design you craft (and even how you implement it).

Typically, in the realm of Christmas lighting, the focus tends to be on making things larger and more impressive. More lights, a bigger area, a greater wow factor (I see you, Clark Griswold). However, innovation plays a crucial role in your ability to stand out and leave a lasting impression as well.

Therefore, take some time to engage in activities that inspire you and allow you to tap into your creativity. There are numerous methods to achieve this, including:

  • Watching old Christmas classics
  • Searching for past Christmas lighting contest participants (especially winners) online
  • If the season is in full swing, visiting any renowned or notable Christmas lighting neighborhoods or locations in your area that you haven’t explored before (or revisit places as they might have implemented new ideas this year!)
  • Don’t overlook social media. Plenty of inspiring posts, pictures, and groups are available to help you create your Christmas masterpiece.

No matter how you choose to spark your creativity, aim to offer the judges (and everyone who comes to admire your lights this year) something they’ve never experienced before!

Tip 2: Devise a comprehensive game plan

Now that you’ve generated some distinctive and innovative concepts for your Christmas lighting project, it’s essential to be methodical about implementing them.

Formulate a comprehensive, meticulously detailed site plan and document it somewhere easily accessible (whether that’s on paper or even the notepad of your smartphone). This plan is crucial because it will direct you throughout the entire installation process and keep you focused on your central design vision.

Ensure all aspects are covered because the better you plan things now, the fewer issues you’ll encounter later, and the finer everything will turn out. This involves not just the aesthetics, but also the types and specifications of lights, decorations, and the installation hardware you’ll need since you’ll want to get all this upfront (which we’ll discuss in the next step).

For example, the right clips and stakes are essential for keeping your lines impeccably straight along driveways, walkways, and property borders, so consider in advance what you’ll need to assemble your display with precision.

Remember to fully utilize the ideas you came up with in tip #1, but strive to keep things structured and coherent. Have a clear idea of what kind of theme or overall design layout you want and only use the unique designs and ideas that align with that plan. If your design is haphazard or overly busy, it will have the contrary effect and end up feeling overwhelming or missing the mark.

Tip 3: Invest in quality

Now that everything is plotted out, it’s time to procure the essential supplies to bring your creative Christmas lighting vision to life.

Ultimately, your ideas and the plan you use to execute them are only as good as the quality of the tools and supplies you use. This is crucial not only for ease of installation and the appearance (which is significant in itself) but also for the sake of reliability. The last thing you want is for the lights to start failing, malfunctioning, or for something to break, thereby nullifying all your hard work and effort.

That’s why it’s imperative you use only the highest quality commercial-grade LED Christmas lights, displays, clips, stakes, and any necessary installation hardware. You likely have a budget and some combination of lights and supplies already, so evaluate what you’re missing and how much you can procure within your budget to make your home as luminous and stunning as possible.

The most critical point of all is to ensure you acquire top-notch, commercial-grade LED Christmas lights. Lower quality LEDs from retailers like Walmart, Target, and other superstores often emit an irritating flicker that can even cause headaches. Soensure to invest in this aspect before anything else.

Additionally, it’s important to remember that superior quality lights and hardware will save you in the long run, making them more of an investment than an extra expense.

Tip 4: Prioritize Safety

While you’ll undoubtedly be driven to go all out and make your home as stunning as possible in an attempt to win the contest, when it comes to setting up Christmas lights and other outdoor Christmas decorations, that inevitably involves some potentially hazardous situations.

From climbing high ladders to navigating icy rooftops and handling equipment that generates strong electrical currents, the risk of injury is real.

First, it’s essential to equip yourself with the appropriate clothing. Gloves with traction and cleats on your boots (like Cougar Paws) are ideal to keep you well-grounded when scaling ladders and walking across your roof.

Next, monitor your electricity usage to ensure you don’t overload your home’s electrical circuits. Most likely, this will only trip a circuit, which is easily replaced, but it can potentially cause sparks which pose a much greater hazard. You can track your electricity consumption with a device like a kill-a-watt meter.

Lastly, because you never know what might happen, it’s important that if your children are assisting, they understand what they can and cannot touch and where to stay when you’re on the roof or ladders. Decorating with your kids can be incredibly fun, but the last thing you want is an accident, so make sure you set clear guidelines and they know their role in the decorating process.

Tip 5: Seek professional assistance and advice

Leveraging every tool and resource at your disposal is what will determine whether you win or…just participate (to put it politely).

Beyond what we’ve discussed so far, there are a few steps you can take to draw from experts and professionals to enhance your display even more.

Firstly, in many instances, contest rules permit the hiring of professional help to both design and install your Christmas display. It might sound unusual, but if this option is allowed by your community’s contest guidelines (as it often is), why not take advantage of it?

This is beneficial not only for achieving a higher quality result but also because these professional installers can help mitigate the risks involved with installation as discussed in the previous point.

Additionally, the internet is brimming with knowledge and advice on creating remarkable Christmas displays. There are plenty of excellent video tutorials, image examples, forums where enthusiasts congregate, and more that you can utilize to aid you at every step.

In fact, we have decades of experience with professional installation combined with our Christmas light and supply expertise. Have a question for us? Join us on Facebook and we’d be thrilled to help out in any way we can.

You can also check out our YouTube channel for tips and inspiration to help you along the way.

A neighborhood Christmas lighting contest is a fantastic opportunity to spread holiday cheer. While aiming to win is fun and rewarding, the impact that an outstanding Christmas display can have on everyone who sees it during the holidays is powerful and should not be overlooked.

Strive to win, but always remember that it’s about enjoying the process and spreading the joy of the season. If you can do that, you’ll be the true winner, regardless of the contest outcome.