Christmas Lights

[gregsAUII]

Christmas is getting closer and im keen to see what designs, set ups every one has done or are planning on doing this year.

Also how much coin your planning to spend, spent. Because i know im getting close to $2000 so far.

these are my attemts from last year.
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Cant wait to get home to start setting up even more lights this year.

[poppa smurf]

well done....brings the kids enormous joy.....I'm afraid I'm a chrissy tragic and lights for the kids are one of my biggies......sad isnt it!

[Kable72]

You're the biggest softy ever, poppa.

[TheSneakiness]

The bloke up the road from me already has his lights on, has been for the past week.

I don't know if it's because he genuinelly loves Christmas or that he wants to get a reaction from the many, many Muslims that live in our area.

[gregsAUII]

Yeah when i first moved to my place Glenmore Park there were no lights any were but i started talking to my neighours and every year were always trying to out do each other, its a good atmosphere in the street and the kids love it.

[TheSneakiness]

Love going on a drive during the Christmas Lights tour, I like having a look around and my wife and son love it too can definitely appreciate the money spent by the home owners to do up their houses for this.

[poppa smurf]

amazing what a little "street pride" can do......I've seen one feller in a ratty street do his garden up and slowly the rest of the street follows suit

same with lights, only takes one......we got into strife a bit here though a couple of years ago...too many cars on xmas eve, blocking up the thoroughfare so we had to give santa the boot....he used to sit out the front and hand out lollies to the kids

big, dopey, ugly old bugger but the kids loved him

I miss that suit!!!

[TC200six]

It's almost that time of the year, already?

The best street for Christmas lights I've come across is Dory Close in Redland Bay, Qld. During the last couple of years the houses on the short street have had rather big budget light displays, last year it appeared they made a community effort out of it and had the road closed so the public can view the light display. When I went to have a look, the street was packed!

[Spudz27]

I love christmas lights. I wish I had the funds available to put some up for my kids. I know a few streets that every year now they block the street off and make people park and walk. It took me 35mins to move 300m, so unfortunitely we give that street a miss now. But I can always get to say I got to see it back when christmas lights were not so popular.

[Ben73]

This will be the first year I have had my own house, missus wants some lights up. If she pays for them Ill happily put them up.
I do enjoy looking at all the lights people put up.

[Spudz27]

Actually looking around I might be able to spend $200 and do a decent job.

[thefargo]

one of my favourites, an oldie but a goodie

[grandpa_spec_F6]

HAHAHA that's gold! I'm just putting up a 36m string of coloured ones.

Will go up and over the single garage in a "U" shape, come back up and go along the roof guttering above the front door until our hedge. That should take care of most of the string so next is some net nights for the bushes

[The Yeti]

Yea we're doing our usual at the outlaws, well not usual it changes every year.

I'll post picks

I'm also looking at doing a Christmas light cruise, not sure it'll get off the ground but there's plenty in the Hawkesbury nepean area

[gregsAUII]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

Yea we're doing our usual at the outlaws, well not usual it changes every year.

I'll post picks

I'm also looking at doing a Christmas light cruise, not sure it'll get off the ground but there's plenty in the Hawkesbury nepean area

A cruz from some where like windsor downs through cranbrook, glenmore park the finish at silverdale might be alright?

[sgt_doofey]

If you like DIY, then look at this site: http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/forum.php

Build your own lights and put them to music!

[hawkgirl]

id be in the crise

might even put some solar lights on the aloominum falcon

[XARATE]

A tip for those putting up lights- when the time cones to take them down it can be hard to store them without making a mess. So go visit your local auto elec and ask for any empty wire rolls. Just wind the lights on and no knots to deal with next year

[Mickxr8]

Would love to know how much this setup cost lol ( oldie but pretty cool I reckon ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmgf60CI_ks

[2011G6E]

Guys I know who do it buy stuff slowly off Ebay through the year a bit at a time, so it doesn't end up costing very much. They also dive onto the post-christmas sales, where you can pick up lights for very cheap prices.

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Christmas lights are EXPENSIVE though ebay!

I got a 36m string set from K-Mart for $39

[The Yeti]

For those in The Hawksbury Nepeian why dont we put up the addresses of the good ones we see in our area then we'll see if we can coordinate somthing from Windsor, Richmond, through Penrith and beyond working on good quality /concentration of displays

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

For those in The Hawksbury Nepeian why dont we put up the addresses of the good ones we see in our area then we'll see if we can coordinate somthing from Windsor, Richmond, through Penrith and beyond working on good quality /concentration of displays

well done, good idea.....spread the cheer......god knows there aint no where near enough of it about these days!

[Russ]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

For those in The Hawksbury Nepeian why dont we put up the addresses of the good ones we see in our area then we'll see if we can coordinate somthing from Windsor, Richmond, through Penrith and beyond working on good quality /concentration of displays

So will you be dressing up again this year Mr Yeti

[gregsAUII]

sounds good yeti.

How would i go about making my lights dance to music is there a simply why of doing it?

[FDG 220]

Originally Posted by gregsAUII

How would i go about making my lights dance to music is there a simply why of doing it?

You can buy this software from Light O Rama
http://www.lightorama.com/ShowtimeSoftwareSuite.html

And then you will need a controller for your lights, skies limit here
Do you want just 8 channels of lights or couple thousand lol
All controllable through the software
This is just 1 example of controller you could use
http://www.lightorama.com/ShowtimePro.html

[gregsAUII]

sounds good yeti.

How would i go about making my lights dance to music is there a simply why of doing it?

[Silver Ghia]

I used to put up lights along the veranda, up each of the roof hips and along the top, we have quite a long house so it took about 6 sets of lights on the roof alone, plus more on the reindeer and other areas.

In addition we had a santa and sleigh with three reindeer about 5 metres long , on a steel frame, which went from the chimney and across the roof to a post supported by a bracket inside the roof, lit with spotlights. Also other lights in the front garden and xmas gtree and elves on the garage wall.

This photo gives some idea of what it looked like, except the trees on the left are hiding part of it, and there were more lights on the right out of the photo.



Took about 2 full days to put up, less to take down again, did it for about 8 or 9 years before it became a bit of a chore, and the worry about falling off the roof (two friends did that). We virtually started the trend in the mid '90's, the once we stopped others in the neighborhood also stopped. I dont think anyone does it around here anymore, possibly also because the kids have now grown up. Vandalism to nativity scenes didnt help either. Also the trees and shrubs have since grown, so much of it would not be visible now if I put them up.

[vanman_75]

Got a heck of a collection , good fun drinking in the blow up pool on the front lawn with it all lit up , bought a heap last year that won't see this Christmas due to travel ..

[sgt_doofey]

For storing lights, rolled up newspapers work well. Been using them for a few years now.