Do it yourself Free
One weekend, a sheet of plywood and some string lights. Costs almost nothing and still stops traffic.
| Spot | What to get | How big | How many | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A |
24 in. LED Blow Mold Snowman (opens in a new tab)
At Home
The star. Two feet tall, so he is a close-range piece even as the budget centrepiece: put him where the path brings people past him rather than out in the middle of the lawn. Warm white C7 bulbs inside, which is the right period glow and the reason not to stand him next to anything cool white. Two and a half pounds of hollow plastic — he will not stay upright on his own, so weight the base or stake him.
|
2' H | 1 | $39.99 |
| B |
Giant Peppermint Candy Stakes
Build it
Sidekick, left. Left of the walk, 5 ft out from the edge. Keep it under about 60 percent of the centerpiece height.
|
3' H | 1 | $22 |
| C |
11 in. Solar Flickering Lantern (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
2 pieces
Sidekick, right. Right of the walk, mirroring the left one. Same distance out, same height.
|
11" H | 1 | $39.99 |
| D |
Solar Path Light Stakes, 10 pack (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
10 pieces
Path and perimeter lights. Both edges of the front walk, then keep the line going along the side yard. Do not stop at the corner of the house. This run is the thing that ties your two street faces together.
|
1' 3" H | 2 | $49.38 |
| E |
24 in. Blow Mold Santa (opens in a new tab)
At Home
The corner moment. Waist height, so it only works where people pass close — beside the path or at the corner of a bed, not out on open lawn where it disappears. Turn him a few degrees off square to the street. A small figure facing dead ahead looks like it was put down rather than placed.
|
2' H | 1 | $39.99 |
| F |
Warm White Incandescent Mini Lights, 300 count (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
300 pieces
Roofline and porch. One continuous run along both street-facing rooflines. Skipping the side roofline is the number one corner-lot regret.
|
2" H | 2 | $51.98 |
4 things need an outlet, about 2.4 amps all together. That all fits on one 15 amp circuit, you are fine. Outdoor GFCI outlets only, and leave a drip loop in the cord at every plug so rain runs off instead of in.
You will also need
The cord is the part everybody forgets, and stores run out of them at the peak of every season. Outdoor rated only, and plugged into a GFCI outlet.
- 2× 25 ft Outdoor Extension Cord, 16 gauge (opens in a new tab) 4 plug-in pieces across 3 spots $33.96
- 1× Outdoor Timer with Photocell (opens in a new tab) Switches the whole display on and off on its own $14.98
About $48.94 of hardware, on top of the $243.33 of decorations. Buy it once and it comes back out every year.