When is "too soon" to put up Christmas yard decorations?

jdb in AZ

It could end up curdled
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...ts-too-soon-to-decorate/ar-BBWKQkg?li=BBnbfcL
Aside from the story linked above, some of our neighbors put up Halloween decorations and lights on the trees in their yard (beyond tacky with sooo many inflatable things) then remove the inflatables after Halloween, but leave up the lights and add tacky Christmas inflatables. But I digress. The neighborhood doesn't have a HOA so residents can basically do what they want, even if the lights are up all of Oct through Dec.
 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...ts-too-soon-to-decorate/ar-BBWKQkg?li=BBnbfcL
Aside from the story linked above, some of our neighbors put up Halloween decorations and lights on the trees in their yard (beyond tacky with sooo many inflatable things) then remove the inflatables after Halloween, but leave up the lights and add tacky Christmas inflatables. But I digress. The neighborhood doesn't have a HOA so residents can basically do what they want, even if the lights are up all of Oct through Dec.

We usually start outdoors around now because my husband puts up a considerable amount of lights so we like to try to beat some of the snow that can sometimes arrive early. But we don't actually light them until after Thanksgiving. We live in a semi rural area with no HOA. This year it snowed REALLY early so that foiled our usual plans a bit. I think in TX where you can put them up whenever it's kind of early. But I'm someone who likes to appreciate Thanksgiving time.
 


I might be in the minority here, but Christmas lights are kind of cool anytime of year, in my opinion. I don't think decorations for Christmas can ever be up to early, or stay up too late. love Christmas lights.

Lights would be one thing but if I had to stare at a 20 foot inflatable Santa with his sleigh and eight blow-up reindeer in August....I think that would be a little much!! :rotfl:
 
Sadly some HOA's go to far trying to regulate. I get not having Christmas lights up in August, but it's November... get over it. Property owners still do have rights, and a little thing about Freedom of Speech is a hard one for an HOA to fight.
If weather holds we'll put out Christmas lights this weekend and hold off on turning them on for awhile.

I have a series of Peanuts displays that I start out with a couple weeks before Halloween, then they come down and Snoopy's Dog House goes up and I have three different Snoopy's that I put up, with the final one shown below on the Monday before Thanksgiving. Then I begin slowly adding the Peanut's gang day by day on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, until they are all out. The week before Christmas I have a small speaker playing Peanuts songs, never had a complaint... just requests to take photos.

Personally I'm not a fan of blow ups, but I figure it brings them joy so that's what matters. There is so much negativity out there, I say smile, be happy and spread some cheer... and pass the Hot Butter Rum! Peanuts_Halloween.jpegPeanuts_Thanksgiving.jpegPeanuts_Christmas.jpeg
 


For us it depends on how elaborate our decorations are that year. We have had years where our Halloween decorations and lights are plentiful and time consuming and we woudl start placement in September. Once Halloween was over we'd remove anything Halloween related, and put up Christmas. DH was big into synchronized holiday light shows for a few years and it took a long time to get right. We were also trying to beat the snow.

These day's it more October for Halloween and sometime in November for Christmas. My kids put up the Christmas tree last weekend :)
 
@SteveH Love your decorations. Our HOA is crazy. I know, I know, we agreed to it, but sometimes it is hard to know when you are buying a house just how crazy the HOA is. A list of rules is one thing, but the enforcement is another.
Anyhow, we basically just don't have decorations in our neighborhood. :( Everything looks sterile because people just don't want to hassle with the HOA over things like the time period or what is considered "excessive."
 
Yes, HOAs are horrid, horrid things and I completely despise them. We're stuck in a community with one, because it was best for the kids, but we're outta here as soon as reasonable.

I'm a huge Christmas junkie. I've posted it before, at it's peak our outdoor display had around 25-30k lights, blow ups, a dozen fake trees, PVC creations, lights that dance to music I broadcast on FM radio, etc... One year I even had a real car in the front yard. It was a sports car (well, kit car) that I painted to look like a Hotwheels car. I wrapped a bow around it and had an inflatable Santa standing next to it. That was in the pre-HOA house, of course. The inside of our house is similarly decorated...sans car. :P That outdoor display takes a LONG time to put up. I'd guess something like 80 total hours. So I always started Nov 1st. In my current HOA house, I have typically started then too. My yard is smaller than in the past, but I still get a ton of lights out. I don't turn the show on until Black Friday, but I need that month to get it set. I have an entire room in my basement that's about 15'x13' filled wall to wall with Christmas stuff, plus the entire area under the basement stairs.

Sadly, this year we're going dark. It's Nov 14th and I haven't touched anything. Our kids sports schedule has swallowed up literally every weekend and I just won't have the time to get the display up. We'll still do the inside of the house, and I'm sure I'll get some lights on bushes, but no true "show" this year. I'm sad. Here are a few pictures from Xmas past. All at the new HOA house, not the old one. Since the lights dance to music, it's hard to capture them all on at once, but you get the idea....

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Sadly some HOA's go to far trying to regulate. I get not having Christmas lights up in August, but it's November... get over it. Property owners still do have rights, and a little thing about Freedom of Speech is a hard one for an HOA to fight.

Just here to clarify that Freedom of Speech means the government can't abridge your right to say what you want, but an HOA is a private entity and can indeed tell you when to decorate for Christmas.

Ours is 30 days before and 14 after. First you have to get caught, then you get a letter, then you get 30 days to comply, and by that time - It's December! So work the system and decorate when you want. ;)
 
Decorate whenever you want. If it's August and there are blow-up Reindeer in your yard, I may roll my eyes at you. That's my problem, not yours. We have no HOA, you are free to do as you please.

Our yard stuff goes up Thanksgiving weekend because that's when we usually have the time to do it. We don't have weather to contend with so don't need to do it earlier. There are a few houses around us that do huge well-known displays that every buses in to see. They start way earlier obviously because it takes so long to finish.
 
I personally don't care when people choose to put up their decorations but if your HOA says not before X date then don't do it before that.
 

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