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 |
Wooden Snowflake Stakes
Build it
The star. On the lawn to the left of the walk, halfway between the sidewalk and the porch steps, not straddling the path itself. The left side is the bigger piece of lawn here: the driveway eats the right one. Nine feet is the ceiling. Anything taller and people have to crane their necks back to take it in from the sidewalk, which is only 15 ft away.
|
3' 6" H | 1 | $24 |
| B |
16 in. Lighted Snowflake Panels, cool white, 2 pack (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
2 pieces
Sidekick, left. These hang rather than stake, so give them a fence rail, a porch post or a garden hook. Flat against something solid beats swinging from a branch.
|
1' 4" H | 1 | $25.99 |
| C |
11 in. Solar Flickering Lantern (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
2 pieces
Sidekick, right. Right of the walk, matching the left. Watch the driveway edge, it is closer than you think.
|
11" H | 1 | $39.99 |
| D |
Cool White Solar Path Light Stakes, 10 pack (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
10 pieces
Path and porch edge lights. Both sides of the short walk, then carry the line along the front of the porch. On a yard this size the lighting is doing most of the work.
|
1' 3" H | 1 | $20.69 |
| E |
Cool White LED Mini Lights, 100 count (opens in a new tab)
Amazon
100 pieces
Porch and roofline. Outline the porch roof first, then the main roofline above it. Two stacked lines of light is the entire trick on a shallow yard.
|
2" H | 2 | $51.98 |
2 things need an outlet, about 0.2 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.
- 1× 25 ft Outdoor Extension Cord, 16 gauge (opens in a new tab) 2 plug-in pieces across 1 spot $16.98
- 1× Outdoor Timer with Photocell (opens in a new tab) Switches the whole display on and off on its own $14.98
- 1× AAA Batteries, 8 pack (opens in a new tab) 4 AAA needed, none included $8.99
- 2× Garden Hook, 35 in. (opens in a new tab) Only if you have no rail or post to hang from $19.98
About $60.93 of hardware, on top of the $162.65 of decorations. Buy it once and it comes back out every year.