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 |
48 in. Cupid Silhouette (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
The star. In the alcove, out from the front door and clear of the garage wall. The garage sticking forward has already built you a three-sided room. Put the best thing you own inside it. This one works just as well mirrored to the other side of the walk, so if a tree, a slope or the way you come and go says the far side is better, swap it and swap its partner with it. What matters is that it is beside the path and not standing in it.
|
4' H | 1 | $49 |
| B |
18 in. Lighted Heart Stakes, 6 pack (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
6 pieces
Sidekick, left. Left of the walk against the front bed.
|
1' 6" H | 1 | $24.99 |
| C |
24 in. Lighted Heart Wreath (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
Sidekick, right. Right of the walk, tucked against the garage corner. Keep it out of the swing of a car door.
|
2' H | 1 | $24.99 |
| D |
Pink Solar Path Stakes, 10 pack (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
10 pieces
Walk and alcove lights. Both sides of the walk, then turn the corner and run along the base of the garage wall. That turn is what stops the alcove from going black.
|
1' 3" H | 2 | $46.78 |
| E |
Pink Mini Lights, 300 count (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
300 pieces
Roofline, both planes. Main roofline and the garage roofline, which sit at different depths. Lighting only the back one makes the garage look like a shadow stuck to the front of your house.
|
2" H | 2 | $25.98 |
| F |
Bare Arch, Dressed
Build it
The garage wall. A prop rather than a decoration, so leave the frame almost bare. Put two or three arrows through it: one stuck into a leg at an angle, one lodged in the crown, so the arch reads as something that got shot at rather than something that got decorated. That only works if it is otherwise plain, which is why this is the cheapest dressing in the catalog. Line the arrows up on roughly the same trajectory, all pointing the same way, so somebody on the sidewalk can see where the shot came from and follow it back to the cherub.
|
7' 4" H | 1 | $31 |
4 things need an outlet, about 0.7 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 $202.74 of decorations. Buy it once and it comes back out every year.