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Saturday, 21 September 2019 12:28

Plan Your Lights Now And Enjoy After Thanksgiving Holiday

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If you're an expert Christmas Fanatic, you already know precisely what you will plan for this year's Christmas light display. You've likely thought about the lights you'll be installing and where you'll be installing them.

But if you are a newbie Christmas Fanatic, you likely do not have all the lights planned out. You probably do not know which lights to buy or where to put them. Or perhaps even how to install them.

No need to worry, though!  Because now is the most suitable time to prepare and plan for the Christmas light display later this year.

Here are 3 action steps for Christmas Fans to follow, and this will take you through the process of preparing this year's Christmas light display for your home:

1. Figure Out Your Spending Limit

Yes, it's the most important thing. Christmas is a 'spendy' time of year. Household budgets typically become somewhat strained during the holiday season. So, before you begin spending on Christmas lights and décor, it would be smart to find out how much you can comfortably manage to spend and set a budget.  The best time to buy is during Christmas clearance sales and use it next year.

Once you have made your budget decision, set that amount of cash aside and start with the Christmas light buying spree up to your budgeted limits.

2. Selecting The Lights You Need to Buy

Now that you know how much you can spend, you must choose what to spend it on. Begin by determining what direction you want to go for your display.

Consider a few simple questions:

Will your lighting display focus on your home?

Will it cover the whole home or highlight specific areas?

Will your light display cover your landscape? And if so, are you going to lighting:

  • Trees?
  • Outlining driveways and walkways?

Consider all these questions to determine where you'll install lights, how many lights, and the types of lights you'll use.

Before you purchase your lights, consider the sort of lines you are going to be using. You'd be very sensible to go with empty socket lighting lines. You should also consider how much power your planned display will require.

3: Buy Installation Supplies

Setting up a Christmas display requires more than just lighting. You will also require tools and specialized equipment to hang those lights professionally and safely.

These supplies usually fall into three broad areas:

  • Clips and Attachment Accessories: Regardless of the kind of surface to which you may intend to attach lights, there is a purpose-made attachment device ideal for the situation. As part of your planning process, you will be sensible to assess your requirements, discover the best attachment supplies for your situation, and order accordingly.
  • Hardware and Miscellaneous Supplies: Will you require electrical tape? Tie wraps? Staples? Try to anticipate everything you'll require through the installation process. And the order in advance, so the absence of supplies does not derail your Christmas light installation procedure.
  • Electrical Equipment: Do you have loads of extension cords available? You also want to ensure that the wires you plan to use are in good shape. This is also the time to consider whether you will use timers.

Christmas Displays Aren't All About Lighting

When planning your Christmas décor, remember that great Christmas displays aren't all about lighting - at least not completely. Adding some holiday greenery can do much to elevate your Christmas display to a higher level.

And adding some non-traditional lights can do the same. Specialty lights such as snowfall tubes, by way of instance, can enable you to make a dramatically distinctive appearance.

Let The Christmas Craziness Begin

For Christmas Fans, just about everything having to do with Christmas is fun. And that includes setting up light displays. For many Christmas Fans, installing their Christmas lights is among the most pleasant of Christmas activities.

And that's why planning your lighting program is crucial. It can help to guarantee that all goes smoothly through the installation procedure. It can help to ensure that nothing spoils the fun.

But do not think of the planning as a dull, tedious chore. It is anything, but it's a chance to plan, dream, and scheme - like a gardening lover pouring over seed catalogs in the dead of winter.

So, planning the Christmas lighting program for your house will be your first fun of this next holiday season. Let the fun begin!

Illuminating Security in Holiday Decorating

Whether you plan to wrap a couple of lights around the trees in your front lawn or harbor a grand, Griswoldian idea of installing sufficient holiday glow to make the next-door-neighbor waking during the night, take heed of what emergency room physicians already all know too well: Connecting holiday lights could be dangerous to your health.

It is such a great time of this year, but we see a mix of different injuries linked to the holiday season. We see several people falling off ladders. That is especially worrisome when autumn fall victims are older, more unstable individuals because their injuries are far more critical than those experienced by their younger counterparts. But people of all ages, including children, are vulnerable to the perils of preparing for this season.

About 200 people daily experience decoration-related accidents this time of year. In December and November of the last year, an estimated 13,000 people were treated in emergency rooms around the nation for injuries related to Christmas trees, holiday lights, ornaments, and other decorations.

A study issued in September in the journal Injury discovered that, in the worst circumstances, falls while installing Christmas lights could be life-altering, leaving people with traumatic brain injuries and the inability to live independently. These drops can even be fatal.

For clinicians, it can be an emotional experience treating people for destructive, preventable injuries when there should be a joyous time of year. Among the most critical cases, which the injury study assessed, the average period of hospital stay was over a couple of weeks. It was found that five percent of [patients] expired, and a substantial number required critical care and operative intervention. Beyond bruises, bumps, and broken bones, the patients that underwent the worst falls -- usually older men -- sustained head and spinal cord injuries, in addition to internal bleeding, including from the liver, spleen, and pelvis.

When it is about hanging Christmas lights, there are stories of "near misses" that did not require an ER entry or involve critical injury but very quickly could have. 

So what's the safest way to light up your home without landing in the hospital?

Hire an Expert if you can afford it. Especially if you are planning an over-the-top, extravagant variety of holiday illuminations, consider hiring a pro to do it so you are not vulnerable to the fall risk.

  • Evaluate your physical abilities and limitations. We advise anyone with balance difficulties or taking blood thinners -- drugs that increase the risk of bleeding if an accident arises -- to prevent climbing ladders. Individuals with risk factors should likewise avoid working from heights, such as on roofs.
  • Survey of the weather. If DIYing, think about this: Do you need to install lights when it's 10 degrees below freezing and icy? Tackle the weather with respect. That means rescheduling your decorating attempts if a winter storm or other harmful outdoor situation could make the experience serious.
  • Be sure to have a firm footing. Falls can happen from railings and roofs, and experts say they generally involve a fall from a ladder. So, ladder safety Is Essential:
  • First, choose a ladder that is long enough for the job
  • Place the ladder only on level, solid ground, and ensure it can support your weight.
  • Set up the ladder at a 75-degree angle and away from doors that could be opened or power lines.
  • Have someone hold the ladder.

Also, CPSC offers other ways of making holiday prep less fraught with risk. One of them: Throw out broken light collections and get new ones if any lights are broken, wires are bare or frayed, sockets are cracked, or there are unsecured connections.

Keep candles in solid, heat-resistant areas and always exterminate the fire before moving out of a room or going to bed. Additionally, keep lit candles away from evergreens and other decorations, and take care to ensure children aren't in an unsafe way. Keep the Christmas tree watered, too, suggests the CPSC, since a dry tree can be fuel for house fires.

Finally, be mindful when you get out holiday decorations as well.

Experts say the purpose is not to extinguish holiday moods with sobering warnings (though be careful not to drink too much either). It's quite the opposite. Alerting people of dangers can help celebrate the festivities flowing and the accidents absent. The holidays should be a fantastic time not adorned with avoidable tragedies.

Read 4594 times Last modified on Thursday, 03 November 2022 16:42