Creating your own display

Whole displays don't start up big unless you are mega rich. It is best to start small not only due to cost but also your ideas and understanding of a cohesive display will change as you see how your environment affect lights and display pieces. Choosing solar, low voltage or mains powered lights are your next decision. Solar does not cost in power, is easy to set up and does not require running power cords however the rechargeable batteries will need replacing at some stage if the solar panel doesn't get crazed prior and in New Zealand it does not get dark until late and lights will only come on at dusk plus if you get a couple of overcast or rainy days the lights may turn off early or not come on at all. If your display gets really large the lights may not turn on at all if other lights shine on the solar panel.

If you are looking at putting up an outdoor display, start with one or two sets of lights which you can hang around the eaves of the house, put on a fence or drape over or around some trees or shrubs. See how you feel at the end of Christmas and you need to take them down before you decide to go any bigger.

If however the bug is starting to bite. Now is the time to find a dedicated location to store your outdoor display pieces. Initially allow space for 10x the space you currently need. Does that scare you? That will be just the start. As the next Christmas approaches start thinking about where else you want to put lights. More trees and shrubs, more fence, the roof, around the windows. If you make it through the next Christmas you have been bitten by the bug. Now is the time to set a budget for your display not just for lights and outdoor decorations, the power usage or cost of replacement batteries, but also for the accessories you will need.

A basic list of essential items for a display includes

Scissors

Craft knife

Hammer

Drill

Cable ties

Cable clips

Cup hooks

Insulation tape

Roof light clips

Glue gun,

Glue sticks

Tent pegs and or weedmat pins

Multi boxes

Extension leads

Waterproof boxes for outdoor multiboxes

There are heaps of resources online that give suggestions on how to set up a display but you must remember that most of these come from the Northern hemisphere and most commonly America. There are a few very important differences between here and there. Firstly it is winter there and summer here. If you are using powered lights the low voltage transformers generate heat in winter the cold temperatures don't allow them to overheat but here if you have too many transformers in close proximity then some of them will overheat and effectively cook themselves. Once a transformer has overheated it is useless and will need to be thrown away. If it miraculously starts working again it is at a very high risk of overheating again and catching fire. The other major difference is in the American power supply compared to New Zealand. America's power from an outlet is 110v whereas ours is 240v. In NewZealand most outdoor lighting runs through a transformer that breaks down the voltage to safer levels. Most commonly today that is 31v, but you will find lighting running off 12v, 24v and 36v. Very new is outdoor lighting running off 4.5 - 5v usb inputs. Regardless having low voltage means that the bulbs tend to be a very low voltage and this is lower the more lights there are on a circuit. In the USA most outdoor lightsets operate at 110v and therefore each bulb can have a higher voltage making them brighter than similar sets in NZ. A design that works in America may not look as impressive with duller bulbs.

So you have now been putting up and taking down lights for a couple of years. How do you feel? Do you want to continue? Do you want more? If you do want to get bigger now is the time to decide what you want to do in the future. It is too easy to go mad buying all sorts of bits and pieces only to find they don't suit your idea of a display. So what do you want?

Time to put pen to paper and write down what you want to achieve next year. My plan is in an exercise book. It's a fairly large display and I like themes separated into areas, so I use half a book for each year. Each area has one or more pages dedicated to it and I put aside several pages for items needed to complete the display and design ideas.

Working to a plan means you can estimate the resources you need for the next year and purchase some during the year reducing the December costs. I start my plan as soon as I open the display to the public by jotting down what worked or didn't, what was popular and what caused issues. By December 25th there is a fairly clear set of ideas for the next season so when the Christmas sales start I am able to buy spare sets for replacement of existing lights, new lights for the ideas I have and miscellaneous odds and sods to fill spaces or enhance an area.