Late November through early January
Christmas
The big one. Six weeks of run time, the highest expectations on the street, and the only holiday where your neighbors are keeping score.
- start planning early October
- 9 themes
- 90 plans
what makes this one different
Before you buy anything
Christmas is the only holiday with enough run time to justify real money, which is exactly why it is so easy to overspend on it. Cold weather is the hidden cost: everything goes up in November and comes down in January, so anything fiddly gets handled twice with numb hands. Buy fewer, larger, simpler pieces.
pick a look
9 themes for Christmas
Each one works with every yard shape on the site, so pick the look first and the plan bends around your geometry afterwards.
Showing these on your Long Driveway, Rural Frontage not yours? pick one
- Wide Shallow, No Porch
- Narrow Shallow with Porch
- L-Shaped with Projecting Garage
- Deep Narrow
- Corner Lot
- Split-Level or Raised Ranch
- Sloped or Terraced
- Small Urban Postage Stamp
- Circular Driveway
- Long Driveway, Rural Frontage
We will remember it for next time.
Christmas Tree Forest
One idea, repeated. Trees at four or five different heights scattered at different depths, so the yard reads as a small wood rather than as a row of decorations. The easiest theme to get right and the easiest one to line up like fence posts by mistake.
1 free build plan in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageClassic White Christmas
One color, done properly. Warm white and nothing else, shapes instead of characters, and the restraint to leave things out. The hardest theme to get right and the one that ages best.
2 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageThe North Pole
Signposts, candy stripes, toy soldiers and a little workshop situation. This one is a whole place rather than a single motif, so it loves a yard with room to spread out and more than one thing to look at.
3 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageNutcrackers
Guards, not decorations. Red and gold, standing to attention, and the whole thing works on symmetry, which makes it the one theme where lining things up is correct rather than a mistake.
3 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageReindeer Pen
A herd rather than a decoration. A low white picket run, a buck, a doe with her head down and a fawn, arranged so it looks like they stopped in your yard on their own.
1 free build plan in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageSanta's Workshop
Busy rather than grand. Elves mid-job, a sack of parcels put down on the grass and a workshop with the lights on, so the yard looks like somewhere work is happening rather than somewhere things were arranged.
2 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageUnder The Tree
Presents, everywhere, at the wrong scale. Stacked boxes, oversized bows and baubles the size of beach balls, so the whole yard looks like the floor under the tree on Christmas morning.
2 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageVintage Christmas
Blow molds, fat colored bulbs and a street lamp. The look your grandparents had, which is currently the most wanted look on the street and the easiest one to get wrong by mixing in anything modern.
1 free build plan in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural FrontageWinter Wonderland
Cold blue and white, snowflakes and birch, with not one red bow anywhere. It reads as weather rather than as Christmas, which means it still looks right in January when everyone else has taken theirs down.
2 free build plans in this one
See it on Long Driveway, Rural Frontageor start from your yard
Which shape do you have?
If you already know your lot shape, go in that way instead. Every theme above works with every one of these.
- Wide Shallow, No Porch Lining everything up in one flat row parallel to the house. It turns your yard into a store display. Stagger the depths even a few feet.
- Narrow Shallow with Porch Buying one giant inflatable that fills the entire yard and blocks the porch. The porch is your best feature. Do not park something in front of it.
- L-Shaped with Projecting Garage Treating the entry as the center of the house and spacing everything around it. The entry is off to one side. Symmetry built around it looks lopsided from the street.
- Deep Narrow Putting everything up by the house where you can see it from the front door. From the street it collapses into one small cluster with 40 ft of empty lawn in front of it.
- Corner Lot Decorating the front door and leaving the whole side street bare. Half the neighborhood sees that side first.
- Split-Level or Raised Ranch Crowding the top landing. It is about four feet deep, it is the only way in and out, and everything up there is invisible from the road anyway.
- Sloped or Terraced Putting the tallest thing on the bottom tier because it is the easiest to carry to. It hides everything above it. Height goes up the hill, not down.
- Small Urban Postage Stamp Buying at the same scale as a suburban yard. A 9 ft inflatable in a 12 ft setback is not festive, it is a wall.
- Circular Driveway Decorating the island and leaving the house behind it dark. The island reads as a floating blob with no context unless the roofline is lit too.
- Long Driveway, Rural Frontage Putting everything at the house, where the road cannot see any of it, and leaving the mailbox end completely dark. Most of your audience never gets past the mailbox.