It’s the most wonderful time of year… for making your home look its best! The holidays give you a chance to make your property stand out and shine – literally, in some cases, if you really have a thing for lights! There are all sorts of ways you can spread the Christmas cheer at home, but you should also be careful when it comes to decorating, whether inside or out. Let’s go over some holiday season decorating ideas as well as some must-read safety tips to consider along the way.
Miniature Christmas Village Display
Did you grow up in one of those families that were obsessed with building elaborate little holiday village displays with moving parts, lights aplenty, and fun characters amidst a blanket of fluffy fake snow? Bring that magical feeling back! With everything from tiny artificial trees and motorized ice-skating rinks complete with skaters to even miniature model railways that play Christmas music, these can turn your coffee table or dresser top into a mini winter wonderland.
Regarding safety, one thing to watch out for is the placement of candles. Simply put, don’t risk using them, and opt for LED lights instead for safety reasons. They’re also very energy efficient, so there’s no harm in using them! Many village buildings and fixtures have LEDs pre-installed already as it is. Additionally, be sure to organize your cables so that they don’t become a tripping hazard and try to keep your village setup out of reach of children or pets, unless if you want the dog to eat the local choir and bury Santa in the snow. It happens!
Real Trees vs. Fake Trees
Are you going for a store-bought fake Christmas tree this year? They’re easy to assemble, and your home is kept cleaner by using one. However, be sure that you choose one that is fire resistant to be safe. The cost can also be much more if you go for a larger one, so that’s something else to consider, but bear in mind that you’ll get many years out of it!
Real trees obviously look more beautiful, but not all will last very long. If your heart is set on a real tree this Christmas and you don’t want to be sweeping up needles every day, pay attention to what kind you get as well as how old it is. If you pick a tree that’s drying out and easy to pull the branches off, it’s not going to last long. Instead, either go for a fake tree (there are some large, lovely ones out there) or a healthy, recently-cut one.
Being Proactive with Tree Ornaments
When decorating the tree, it’s common to stick to a colour scheme or style to match your home’s décor. You can still do this while keeping the kids and family pets safe it just requires being a bit more careful. The bigger the ornaments are, the better, as they’ll less likely be carried off by little hands or whiskered mouths. Plus, it’s yet another reason to invest in either a fake or healthy, real tree that can handle the extra weight on the branches.
Hanging Lights
Now, who doesn’t love running outside with a big ball of tangled lights and going crazy with them? It brings out the little kid in many of us — it’s exciting to plug them in and see your home decked out in its merry best. You can mix and match light shapes, colours, and layouts for all sorts of stunning results. Whether you want to bathe your front lawn in warm lights or dazzle the neighbours with a glittering, multi-hued display, hanging lights on your home and trees is a great way to drown the winter blues away. In fact, many local residents keep their indoor and outdoor lights up throughout the first few months of the new year to fight away the cold and darkness.
We have a couple of tips on hanging Christmas lights safely. First, try to bring home LED lights, which can protect against overloads and allow you to keep your display up for longer without worrying about the hydro costs. Second, always ensure you have a sturdy, reliable ladder that can safely get you up and down when hanging lights inside or outside, and never line lights across metal as they can then conduct electricity. Never attach extension cords to each other either, as it can cause electrical overloads.
Whether you want to deck the halls in a new set of LED lights, take the family out to chop down a tree in the traditional way, or put on the Christmas tunes and get to hanging ornaments, we wish your household a happy holiday season! With these tips in mind, we hope you have a fun, safe, and magical time as 2018 draws to a close.