One of the best parts of the Christmas season is decorating your home, which quickly fills up with festive cheer and wonderful scents. With cookie baking and present wrapping, the Holiday season is a fully-charged and festive time of year. But what do you do when it comes to the outside of your home? Here are some outdoor holiday decorating tips that will leave your home looking elegant, festive and jolly.

Outdoor Holiday Decorating Tips

  • Minimize Clutter: Keep your decorations simple and stunning. Unless you are trying to get everyone in the neighborhood to come visit your hectic yard overrun with lights, larger than life Santas and blow up snowmen. Don’t place lights in every square inch of your yard, that will make your yard look very cluttered. If you want to use a nativity scene, don’t go overboard. Choose one and keep it tasteful and simple.
  • Highlight Architectural Features: If your home has outstanding architectural features use them to your advantage. Porch railings, unique architecture, windows and ridges are perfect places for decorations. Use lights, ferns, bows or wreaths to decorate all these lovely features of your home. If you’re decorating the back yard as well, don’t be scared to decorate the pool. You can decorate the pool cover with lights or other light weight material. How about painting the pool cover to make it look like an ice rink or snowy scene? If you don’t have one already you can find an In the Swim pool cover to help take care of your backyard Holiday needs.
  • Stick With a Theme: When you are decorating outside (front and back) stick with a theme. Too often people see yard decorating, or any holiday decorating for that matter, as a free for all. But that’s a big mistake. When decorating you want to keep a design theme in mind and avoid a free-for-all, mismatched look. For a whimsical look, try using colored LED lights, large colored ornaments and a large, colored wreath for the front door.
  • Keep it Traditional: For a traditional Christmas, use fresh ferns lined around the porch or pedestals, red bows and white lights. Use a wreath made out of twigs, pine cones and cinnamon sticks to decorate the front door. Check out Pinterest or Etsy for some decor ideas that won’t break the bank.
  • Have Some Fun With the Lighting: For a fun twist this year, set your outdoor lighting to music. Music synchronization kits allow you to turn your holiday yard into a dancing wonderland. It can be a bit costly, but if you want to start a new tradition this could be your ticket item. According to DIY Network, a standard plug-and-play system divides your light display into 16 different channels ranging in price from $800 to $1,000, which includes weatherproof speakers. The pre-synched music is around $30 per song.
  • Don’t Forget Your Driveway: If you have a large, winding driveway decorate it with a string of lights sticking in the ground. You can also use this space to place fun Christmas signs or a light up reindeer. With the right use of string lights you can make your driveway look like an icy, flowing river leading right to your porch.