Christmas projectors

[BaymaxFan78]

Christmas is only a few months away and that means Christmas lights!
Christmas lights are a huge thing in my neighborhood, there have been contests and light shows. Its pretty fun. One thing people have started doing is using those star shooter projectors, on top of the lights they already have. Or to light up a tree. We are considering getting one (or multiple) to light up the roof. We were going to use regular lights but have no way to attach them without damaging the roof. Does anybody recommend or have a favorite brand for the projectors? I have seen some cheap ones that break easily and some expensive ones that seem good but too pricey. I have been looking for something programmable so it could be used for more holidays besides Christmas.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

We bought one last year at Walmart for $25. Nothing fancy but it did the trick. Multiple picture options as well as different color options. Came with a remote making it easy to turn on and off from inside. I don’t know if they had any that worked for more holidays than Christmas.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

We got one from Bed Bath and Beyond that does Halloween and Christmas.

 

[Klayfish]

Just personal opinion, but I'm a huge Christmas decoration junky...what we do inside and outside our house is insane by most standards except Clark W Griswold. Not a fan of those projectors, unless you spend serious money for a professional grade one (which is a whole different animal than what Wal-Mart sells). Skip it. Use different types of lights, or more lights, if you want to spruce things up. There are some in window projectors I've seen which are pretty neat, I haven't gotten one of those yet. They display a scene on your window, looking as if something were going on inside the room (Santa is there, a ghost is there for Halloween, etc...).

 

[tinkerhon]

Just personal opinion, but I'm a huge Christmas decoration junky...what we do inside and outside our house is insane by most standards except Clark W Griswold. Not a fan of those projectors, unless you spend serious money for a professional grade one (which is a whole different animal than what Wal-Mart sells). Skip it. Use different types of lights, or more lights, if you want to spruce things up. There are some in window projectors I've seen which are pretty neat, I haven't gotten one of those yet. They display a scene on your window, looking as if something were going on inside the room (Santa is there, a ghost is there for Halloween, etc...).

 

[Klayfish]

Yep, pretty much. However, I'm not a ladder climber or roof guy, so everything is on the ground or the first level of our gutters. Time is getting short for me, I no longer have the free time to set up the type of display I used to. Even my meager display took about 60-80 hours to set up. However, in my basement I have well over 40,000 lights, blow ups, 20 fake trees, wire frames, PVC to make things (like arches), countless extension cords, etc... Our lights dance to music played on FM radio. Frankly, though what I do is cool, it's nothing compared to the people who are REALLY into the hobby. Even at its' peak, my display was stone age compared to some people I know.

We still do over the top inside the house. We usually have 8-9 trees up, for example.

 

[verleniahall]

there is only so far u can angle them up due to aviation regs - the projector can blind piolts

 

[RangerPooh]

My husband use to be really into Halloween and Christmas lights. But then we moved and our house is not as great a landscape. Plus our availability has decreased. DH wants to get back into it, but sadly we just don;t have the time. Even our kids are asking for the insanity to return, lol. We use to start decorating in early September it took so long. These days we just put up a projection light and basic house lights along the raingutter. Sad.

This is one of our light shows that we did for Halloween years ago. There was more going on than what you can see in the video.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

Just personal opinion, but I'm a huge Christmas decoration junky...what we do inside and outside our house is insane by most standards except Clark W Griswold. Not a fan of those projectors, unless you spend serious money for a professional grade one (which is a whole different animal than what Wal-Mart sells). Skip it. Use different types of lights, or more lights, if you want to spruce things up. There are some in window projectors I've seen which are pretty neat, I haven't gotten one of those yet. They display a scene on your window, looking as if something were going on inside the room (Santa is there, a ghost is there for Halloween, etc...).

Oh yes my house is like a modern version of the Griswolds just without all the sparks and stuff... We really want to do roof lights but our roof is made in a weird way where the only way to hook them on is to use gutter hooks in the shingles and gutter hooks don't last long here in the Florida sun and wind.

 

[L&Lfan]

Personally I think they’re tacky but I can’t say they’re not popular here in New Jersey.
My boyfriend and I just have a wreath, Nativity scene and a tree. No projections or inflatables in the yard. We’re boring...

 

[Klayfish]

My husband use to be really into Halloween and Christmas lights. But then we moved and our house is not as great a landscape. Plus our availability has decreased. DH wants to get back into it, but sadly we just don;t have the time. Even our kids are asking for the insanity to return, lol. We use to start decorating in early September it took so long. These days we just put up a projection light and basic house lights along the raingutter. Sad.

This is one of our light shows that we did for Halloween years ago. There was more going on than what you can see in the video.

That's awesome! RGB was the next "evolution" I had started to toy with but never got to. In fact, I have a controller and power supply sitting in my basement, along with a couple of RGB that I bought as test strips. I even programmed 4 or 5 songs, but then the project got abandoned.

 

[Nancyg56]

I have used the laser projections with the green and red dots, but they are wearing our. I was looking at projectors that show snow and snowflakes. Has anyone used them and do you think they are effective?

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

I haven't used them yet, but I bought about 20 of the cheap ones on 75% off clearance in January. I'm gong to light up all the trees in our front yard. Yes, I know it's tacky, that's what I'm going for.

Anyone else have dogs that eat electrical cords? Last year our two dummies ate all the outside decoration cords. Any ideas how to keep them from doing so this year?

 

[tvguy]

I have a covered front porch and mount the snow flake projector so that the front door and front porch are covered in snowflakes.

And just to throw gasoline on the fire. Christmas decorations need to stay in use until the Epiphany on January 6th, which is the traditional conclusion of the Christmas season. None of this taking stuff down on December 26th.

 

[Klayfish]

Don't know what an Epiphany is, but it all starts coming down around Dec 28th or 29th, it takes a while....

 

[ImDMous]

We have a Disney projector that does colored Mickey heads, but it kind of stinks. It doesn't project very far and only covers our garage door. I love that they have the Disney brand outdoor Christmas line, but some of it is just expensive "cheap" crap. There is some stuff I like a lot, I just wish you could tell the difference between the good stuff and the junk before you bought it.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We have a lot of those in our neighborhood. Sort of like when everybody got the icicle lights 10-15 or more years ago. Lots of duplicity. I have yet to see one that is a good display. All seem very dim and underwhelming. JMO.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

And just to throw gasoline on the fire. Christmas decorations need to stay in use until the Epiphany on January 6th, which is the traditional conclusion of the Christmas season. None of this taking stuff down on December 26th.

We usualy start taking them down the Saturday closest to the 6th

 

[BaymaxFan78]

I think the star shower ones are tacky because it's just very dim dots. I really want one that has a pattern to it. Maybe I'm thinking of a gobo projector.

 

[MrJT]

I go nuts with Disney, mostly Mickey, when decorating for Christmas. I have regular lights on the roof, a couple of Mickey and Minnie inflatables, and last year I added a projector, Disney of course. I just use it to project an image on my garage door.