How to Decorate a Front Yard for Christmas

Many people choose to decorate their front yards for Christmas as well as the interior of their homes. Putting Christmas lights and decorations up can enhance the season for those around you and make your home stand out. How you decorate your yard depends largely on the style of your home and your own preferences, but you can use common tips to make it look festive.

Instructions

1. Assess your yard and come up with a plan. Many people make the mistake of decorating without having a plan, which can lead to a mismatched yard or too many decorations. Create a budget, a list of the decorations you have and what you need to buy. Draw a map of your yard and note different locations where you want decorations with stickers or construction paper until you find one that you like.

2. Use a spotlight on the yard's focal points. Nativity scenes often look very nice when they are lit up at night by a spotlight or other lighting techniques. These scenes often work well as simple designs in the front yard. Use LED lights to save money on your electricity bill.

3. Go natural by using evergreen boughs and other winter plants, such as using potted live Christmas trees on your porch. Using natural objects can add an interesting twist to the usual Christmas decorations. Try solar powered Christmas light ropes to keep energy use down.

4. Create a children's wonderland. Put up handmade signs for the North Pole and a Santa decoration. If you live in a cold climate, you can also involve the kids in the fun by building snowmen into your scheme. Targeting the decorations for kids can be fun if you have young children or want to feel the magic of Christmas again yourself.

5. Make outdoor Christmas trees from your landscaping. Hang net lights over shrubs and bushes to provide even lighting. Wrap lights up around tree trunks and within the branches. Hang weatherproof, large plastic ornaments on your tree branches as well.

Tips & Warnings

• Buy used Christmas decorations. Front yard decorating can get expensive and you only use Christmas decorations for a month or two at most. Look for lights and other outdoor decorations at yard sales, online auction sites and on sale at after Christmas sales. Or, swap Christmas decorations with friends so that you get to switch your decorations without having to spend extra money to do so.

• Put safety first in your outdoor decorations. Use only decorations and lights that are specifically for outdoor use. Be extra careful to only use outdoor extension cords to power any lights that you have up. Outdoor lights must always be plugged into a ground-fault circuit interrupter to prevent shorts and fires.