Best Front Yard and Driveway Decorations
Best Front Yard and Driveway Decorations

Christmas is around the corner and there’s no happier feeling than the experiencing the magic of Christmas Lights.

 

One of the trickiest parts of decorating your house is handling the front yard and driveway display. Since these two locations are in front of your home, it’s necessary to give them a boost if you want to ‘wow’ your friends and neighbours.

 

In this post, we’re going to tell you how (and with what) you can decorate your front yard and driveway, along with some essential safety tips.

 


Location & Objects: Where and What To Put?


To enhance your overall display of the front yard and driveway, you can put decorations at specific locations as applicable. 

 

Here’s a list of few locations and decorative items you can put there:

 

Front Yard and Along the Driveway

 

LED Reindeer: This reindeer looks good in the front yard, especially in the dark areas with low light conditions.

 

Lights: First, make sure the lights are outdoor rated. Put driveway lights (C7 or C9 LED lights) along the path, keeping at least 15cm distance from the edge.

 

Inflatable Santa: Inflatable Santas go great in the garden or on the driveway, but they are BIG! Dont let them be the focal point of your display to detract from your other decorations. Consider placing big inflatables at the back or side to create depth.

 

Sleigh: You can either leave the sleigh empty with nothing but decorations or put Santa on it. If you have a walk in display, you might want to set this up as an area for the kids to take photos in!

 

Topiary animals: These animals consist of natural grapevines, metal wires and LED bulbs. They’re stuffed, unlike normal LED animals, and look more natural in the daylight. They’ll look beautiful in the front yard.

 

 

On the Porch

 

Stuffed Santa: If it’s a stuffed Santa, you should put it on the porch to save it from the wrath of bad weather, especially wind!

 

Christmas Tree: You can put a small Christmas tree on the porch to enhance your display. Add some baubles, gifts and a start to make it even more beautiful.

 

Bethlehem star: Although the real Bethlehem star, aka Christmas star, may not appear until 2080, you can buy artificial ones to enhance your display. Just put it on the top of the Christmas tree on the porch.

 

Bubble and Snow Machines: Add the dreamy touch to Christmas celebrations with bubbles and snow machines. Hide these machines out of public view but locate them close enough to the front footpath so that the kids can enjoy them! They work well along the perimeter and on the corners of your display. 

 

 

Along the Fence Lines

 

Garlands: Garlands are the best fit for fences along with some ribbons, stars and baubles. Additionally, you can also wrap lights on the garlands.

 

Baubles: Baubles are a godsend — you can put them on railings, hang them to windows, decorate the wine bottles, put them in a pot or even make a wreath using it. So you can put them almost anywhere in your front yard where you deem fit — for example, hang on the gates and fence lines or hook on the sidelines of the walls.

 

Lights: LED strip lights or LED C7 or C9 lights are best suited for fence lines.

 

 

Trees

 

Baubles: You can hang big size baubles on twigs, and branches of trees in your yard or driveway.

 

Net Lights: Hang the tree lights (net lights) on trees, bushes, and plants using a hanger rod.

 

 

Gate

 

Christmas wreath: The ideal spot for a Christmas wreath is inarguably the front door of the house. However, if your door is dark-coloured, you can put it on any sober coloured wall in the front. Don’t forget to get a satin ribbon of ~2.5 inches and tie a knot.

 

 

Lamp Posts

 

To decorate lamp posts you can put up some garlands, ribbons and wrap lights along with some baubles. If you have a light pole out the front of your house, why not wrap it in some tinsel.

 

 

Beginner Ideas: How To Get Started?

 

 

 

If you’re a beginner and maybe feeling overwhelmed with all the decorations possibilities, we’re here to help you. To give you a head start, we’re sharing some ideas for decorating your front yard.

 

By all means, this is not a standard, and you should use your creative freedom.

 

  1. Attach the Christmas lights along the sidelines of walls, letterbox, and front fence.
  2. Hang up a Christmas wreath on your house’s door hook. Don’t forget to decorate it with baubles, ribbons, and pine cones.
  3. Further, you can put pine garland on porch railings, fences, and entry gates. Decorate it with baubles and pine cones, keeping a distance of at least 2 inches.
  4. Now put the inflatables in the front yard but at a safe distance from the driveway.
  5. Other LED items such as reindeer or topiary objects can be put sparingly or collectively in the front yard, depending on available space and your preference.
  6. Make sure you fasten and secure all your decorations before connecting them to a power supply.

 

Safety Tips: How To Not Mess With Your Front Yard Decorations?


Safety should be the utmost priority when decorating your front yard. One mistake and the good day can go in vain. Therefore, it’s better to be prepared and planned to handle any potential hazards.

 

 

Follow these tips to ensure maximum safety of you, your kids and your family:

 

1. Safe Power Supply: You don’t want your kids or neighbours to get hurt with electricity. So it’s advised that you secure any loose power extensions and supplies, making sure that they’re at a height (or hidden) away from them.

 

2. Consider Weather: Weather isn’t your best friend at all, and it’s likely you’ll bear the loss if you don’t secure lights, inflatables, and other objects from bad weather conditions like winds or rain. Therefore it’s necessary to fasten your decorations.

 

Make sure you use clips to secure your lights on the roof. For the sidelines and windows, you can use an awning to protect them from rain.

 

Secure your inflatables using sandbags or gravel. You can also use twine to tie up the inflatables on the ground. Additionally, you can anchor them using stakes or use metal chains for extra security.

 

Wrap Teflon tape around the plugs entirely so that water couldn’t get inside. To prevent accidental damage, you can also connect the Christmas lights to Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI).

 

3. Security of Decorations: Other than the weather, decorations are also at the risk of getting stolen. Therefore, you should bring expensive items such as electricals and inflatable objects inside every night. 

 

However, if you have a front gate or fence, the risk is reduced, and you can let them be in the yard. But if not, consider installing security cameras and alarms that trigger when someone tries to steal.

 

4. Preventing Accidental Damage: It’s necessary to prevent accidental damage to decorations and the people who come to see them. Trip hazards, for example, are everyday things that happen around messy wires and cords.

 

You can take the following steps to ensure maximum safety for the admirers and your decorations:

 

  • Section off decorations like reindeer or inflatables to stop people walking into them. Tie a rope, create a small fence, put up a sign, or make a temporary pathway to do so.
  • Make sure walkways are well lit to stop people accidentally tripping over things or wandering off.
  • Even consider roping off your entire front yard and only allowing visitors to view via driveway.

 

 

FAQs


How soon before Christmas do I put up outdoor decorations?
You should start putting up Christmas outdoor decorations from November.

 

Ideas for decorating my small garden for Christmas?
First, make sure you plan out everything before you begin putting up decorations. Know that it’s not necessary to include each decorative item in your garden. The idea is to make the best use of the space available. 

 

For example, one LED reindeer or an inflatable Santa, along with some gifts, is enough to get a decent look. 

 

How do you weatherproof outdoor Christmas decorations?
Use Teflon tapes (electricity tapes) on joints and completely seal them to prevent water from entering and connect your Christmas lights to GFCI. Also, make sure lights on the roof and driveway are hooked with clips properly.

Like our website and what we do? Support us:

Contribute via PayPal


Change Region: