The Outdoor Christmas Lights Drive By

Every holiday season, people pile into their cars to go look at all the outdoor Christmas lights in town. These drive by tours are sometimes a problem for other traffic, but it is a tradition that a lot of families like to participate in.

If you own a house, and you’d like to have cars go by your house, you’re going to have to get creative and you should expect to spend a lot on outdoor Christmas lights. That’s because people usually won’t drive by your house if you only have a string or two of lights on your pine tree outside. People drive by and slow down when you have electronic Santa Clauses, and reindeer, when you have LED outdoor Christmas lights that sing and blink and when the entire yard is full of this stuff. That’s what causes cars to slow down and stop and that’s how you can possibly get your home’s picture in the local newspaper as well.

Outdoor Christmas Lights -Neighbor Wars

When a house goes all out with their outdoor Christmas lights, it often causes their neighbors to do the same thing. That’s why it’s very common for these drive by outdoor Christmas light tours to involve several houses on the same street. These are usually the product of neighbor wars. That is, each neighbor tries to outdo the other by having more outdoor Christmas lights and decorations than the other. What you’re left with is entire street that’s covered in lights and sounds and it definitely looks very Christmasy, but it’s also usually very annoying for those neighbors who aren’t participating.

The Drawback

Getting involved in these neighbor outdoor Christmas light wars is fun and all, but there are some drawbacks to participating. One of them is that you run the risk of ticking off your neighbors who don’t feel like participating. Sometimes, these neighbors will complain to the local authorities or to your community board so that you end up being harassed, ticketed or even fined. The other drawback is the cost of having such a war. Not only are you out to spend a lot of money on all of the decorations it costs to have such a war, but you’re also going to spend a load of money on electricity to keep it all powered.

Still, it’s very festive and it truly shows that you’re in the Christmas and holiday mood when you have a load of outdoor Christmas lights in your yard. Plus, you’ll bring joy to those loads of people who pile into their cars just to drive slowly past your house to look at all you’ve done. That, for many, is enough to go all out every season to see who can put the most decorations and lights in their yard.