Everyone I know absolutely loves the holidays.  The big thing in my neighborhood, as I am sure it is the same as most neighborhoods, is decorating the house.  It’s a giant competition each year between the homes in my neighborhood.  I love a good competition, but the two problems I have come across this year is what to decorate and how to keep the price down.  So, instead of decking my halls this Christmas I have decided to go for the gold in neighborhood competition and deck my deck with boughs of holly, so to speak.

So like I said the two big issues I came across was what I should decorate to be different and costs.  Because let’s face it….holiday lights and the electric bill are expensive, and everyone decorates the house with things, so what can I do to be different.  That’s why I chose my deck to decorate.  I entertain a lot so it will be great to add my deck to my decoration plan.  I am just envisioning having the fire pit going with the family bundled up with hot chocolate and making s’mores all the while waiting for Santa and his reindeer to fly by.   Once that thought entered my head, I knew I had my idea on how to one up my neighbors.

Okay, so after my choice of where to decorate you may be asking me this, “that’s great man, but how am I supposed to decorate my deck and keep the cost minimal?”  My response: dollar stores.  They have anything from stockings, ornaments, garland, tinsel, etc. …all for a dollar a piece.   Now that’s not saying you can’t do the typical stores and lighting for your deck, but I am choosing to look good and save money.  I already have a deck light off my house with two bulbs, just like any one.  I have picked up a red bulb and a green one – holiday ambience solved!  These two cheap bulbs light up all the decorations I have decided to do at night extremely well.  I have bought garland to line and wrap around each rail and spindle I have.  This works amazing because it reflects the light so well it looks like they are individually lit up.  I also added a different type of décor to every major post….example is stocking, teddy bear, etc…  Also I picked up a couple of dollar wreaths for the entrance to my home and main stepping onto my deck.  Now for the final touch. The dollar store I shop at had 15 count tubes of plastic ornaments for $1!  So I bout 10 of them and told my three kids it was a competition to hang as many ornaments in the garland that you can!  Winner gets to open the first gift Christmas morning.  This completing my decking the deck with boughs of holly for extremely cheap and keeping the looks great.

Mission accomplished! I devised a plan to compete in my neighborhood competition, and I managed to keep the cost on the low end of the budget.  Plus, my kids are happy and my deck looks amazing.  I hope this article will help anyone who is looking for ideas.  If you need me this holiday season look for the burning fire and the smell of graham crackers, melting marshmallows and chocolate and you will find me there, staring up at the sky hoping to catch a glimpse of the big guy and his sleigh.  Happy Holidays and Happy decking