Decorating for the holidays always starts as a big process of breaking out the boxes, slowly emptying them, bringing them back, and sometime in January, or February… or April, you break out the boxes again and put everything away. Sometimes, it helps to have a simple decorating theme to work with to make everything a little easier to put up and to tie it all together. Here are five ideas for decorating the outside of your home without stressing out over where you should put all those lights.
Garland Everywhere
This is a great method indoors, as well, but you can find lengths of holiday garland everywhere from your hardware store to the dollar store, and you can get a lot of credit for putting lightly-decorated garland on all of your pillars, doorways and other spots that need an extra something. They’re made of wire, so they twist around things easily, and with a few inexpensive baubles, you can put a few decorations every half foot to a foot along it, making your pillars and windows extra festive.
Entryway Decorations
Whether you’re going inflatable this year, adding some garland, or going the rustic way and decorating with old dry sticks and adding decorations to that, your doorways and entryways will give you and your guests a taste of what’s to come. You’re setting the scene, so the more your doorway says “do open, holidays inside,” the more you’ve done your job. Lights around a doorway are great, too, adding a welcoming warmth to your entryway.
Garden Container Decorations
Especially if you’ve already got planters or other garden containers outside, this is the time to spruce up any bushes or trees that have lost their leaves or, if they’re empty, add a candy cane or other piece of visual interest. These can be great for lining your walk, or simply just for dotting across your property as little sources of light or visual merriment.
Make it Peppermint
One of the simplest ways to decorate – especially if you’ve already got white pillars on your house – is to add some red ribbon and make it all look like candy canes. You can also get red and white ribbon, of course, in case your house doesn’t have any big white areas. Ribbon can go just about anywhere, and it obviously helps you out in the bow-making department, because every house needs a bow, or several
The More Trees the Merrier
Maybe you’ve got your indoor tree, and a little one upstairs, but don’t forget all of your trees outside. Decorating the taller ones can be difficult, though net lights can make things a little easier for that (less climbing). It doesn’t have to just be evergreens, either – anything tall enough to see is a great opportunity to add some warm lights to your property, and the more bare branches you have, the easier they are to decorate. Some folks even add an artificial tree on their porch or lawn if they don’t have enough evergreens.