By
eHow Holidays & Celebrations Editor
Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Things You’ll Need:
- Christmas lights
- Computer
Step1
Get organized. You will need to have a plan on how your lights will look in your yard. All good lighting displays start with a brainstorming session. Start thinking about what you want it to look like, how big and where it will go.
Step2
Put pen to paper. After you get the rough idea in your head, you need to plan everything out on paper. This might sound like a boring step, but it is very necessary. When you are making such a large display, everything needs to be organized.
Step3
Go shopping. The best and easiest part of the whole setup is going shopping. In addition to decorations and lights, you will need to purchase a software program that attaches to both the lights and your computer. This is what makes your lights flash to music (see the reference section for Web sites that can help you buy the software).
Step4
Begin putting everything together. You will want to test your software with small batches of lights before getting the whole display up and finding out it doesn't work.
Step5
Check the power. Large Christmas displays draw more power than you might imagine. Check with an electrician if your display is very large.
Step6
Throw the switch. After you get the software and the lights all hooked up, just throw the switch and enjoy the decorations.
Comments
mattburgess said
on 10/29/2007 You may also want to get ideas from the pros at website like the Tacky Light Tour (http://www.tackylighttour.com). There you will find pictures and videos of computerized, synchronized Christmas lights.