Christmas is on the way, and what better way to spread the joy than to light up your home. There are plenty of neighbours across our 2101 postcode who love getting into the Christmas spirit. Plus there are lots of streets worth visiting to see houses lit up like Christmas trees!
Christmas lights are a long-lived tradition that brings light and fun to any neighbourhood. Here, we take a look at a few ways you can light up your home and where to head in the streets of Elanora Heights, Narrabeen, North Narrabeen, Ingleside and more to find fellow festive souls.
The first Christmas lights
As you may well guess, Christmas lights started with candles. After the German tradition of the Christmas tree started to garner widespread appreciation, so did lighting the tree by placing candles on the branches. Of course, open flames and dry pine needles could be hazardous, so it was the advent of electricity that is the birth of ubiquitous Christmas lighting.
The first electric Christmas lights arrived in 1882 when Thomas Eddison displayed a tree decorated with electric bulbs to publicise his new incandescent technology.
In 1894, US President Grover Cleveland took note of the trend and set up an electrically lit Christmas tree in the Oval Office.
From the tree in New York to our own humble decorations, the rest is history.
Hollywood Christmas
The advent of cheap and efficient led and fibre optic lighting has made lighting large areas a popular trend at Christmas time.
Christmas movies like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation have also contributed to the love of festive flickering. Even though some have estimated that for having his 25,000 odd lights on for a month, Clark W. Griswold (Chevy Chase) would have paid close to $3,700USD in 1989, the display in that movie was a sight to behold. And, of course, modern lighting is far cheaper to run than the old-fashioned incandescent lights that Griswold was working with.
Christmas in postcode 2101
The suburbs of postcode 2101 have embraced the Christmas spirit over recent years, and there are few addresses that are worth driving past on a December evening most years.
This Christmas, drive or stroll down some of the following streets and you will enjoy some spectacular displays:
– Marinna Road, Elanora Heights
– Kalang Road, Elanora Heights
– Anana Road, Elanora Heights
– Alleyne Ave, North Narrabeen
– Rickard Road, North Narrabeen
– Ingleside Road, Ingleside
Joining the fun
If you want to join the fun and help spread the Christmas spirit you have plenty of options.
Whether you duck to Kmart, Bunnings or Big W for a few battery or solar-powered string lights or go all out, there is an option for everyone.
Stringing trees with Christmas lights is a popular trend these days, as is going all out with lights on your deck or balcony.
And, of course, lights aren’t the only option for Christmas decorations. You can find all sorts of ornaments online to decorate your front yard and spread joy.
Five quick ideas for Christmas decorations, lights and themes on the outside of your home:
- Gingerbread-style: Outline your peaked or gabled roof with a string of coloured lights, and you can create a gorgeous Gingerbread House effect.
- Clean and white: Add a touch of class by decorating with only white lights.
- Santa: Nothing says Christmas like Sant Claus. Get him out there in any shape or form. Kids love to spot Santa when they drive around the neighbourhood.
- The light show: With a hanging ball light or other flashing lights, you can put on an amazing light show for the neighbourhood (just remember to turn it off before it gets late).
- Religious: Get back to the roots of Christmas with a colourful nativity scene.
Choosing a colour can also be a nice way to decorate your home and stand out from the ‘competition’.
Christmas has a habit of sneaking up awfully quickly. Before you know it, all the best decorations will be sold out, especially with many products already being out of stock after COVID.
Here are some excellent online destinations with decent shipping times to try out to get ready for Christmas this year:
– Ebay.com.au (set it to Australia only when you search for a better likelihood of receiving your lights on time.)
Did we miss any of the best spots in postcode 2101 to see Christmas lights? Let us know if we should be stopping by your place this December.