Last year was a phenomenal, record-breaking year for professional holiday lighting.
Many homeowners, businesses, and municipalities found themselves eager to
spread holiday cheer and chose to do so by decorating with festive exterior lighting.
Driving to look at lights was a fun excuse to leave the house and see friends while maintaining a safe distance. They were also a great way for neighbors to “ooo” and “aww” at each other’s creative displays. Let’s just say, no one wanted to be the neighbor with the least impressive set-up. It reminded everyone of an easy way to enjoy the holidays and took holiday lighting to a new level.
With visions of last years’ holiday lighting displays still in mind and a booming economy, this year is sure to be another great year. Not to mention, with more people feeling comfortable gathering in larger numbers, more homeowners are sure to host holiday festivities and parties again. For many this will be evident in their extravagant decor, including lighting displays. In preparation for the upcoming holidays, here are the top trends we predict to be big this season.
1. Classic Traditional Colors
Warm white, red, and green holiday colors are the favorite choices year after year and this year is no exception. Nothing says the holidays quite like this combination of colors. These cozy and inviting colors never go out of fashion. - Pro Tip: Incorporate pops of these colors by adding net light, ribbon lights, and trunk wraps to tree trunks/branches, bushes, fences, and shrubs for quick and even light coverage.
2. Wreaths with red bows A classic trend that has been growing in popularity over recent years is hanging multiple wreaths with bright red bows along the front exterior of the home. Adding wreaths with red bows on all the windows, doors, and gables makes for a timeless, festive look that is sure to make your traditional high-income homeowners smile and impress their neighbors. Light posts, building entrances, and fences are desirable places to hang wreaths and bows in municipal installs like parks, city buildings, and city streets. - Pro Tip: If you are decorating double doors, use one smaller wreath per door. If the homeowner has a lot of windows and likes the look of greenery, but is hoping to cut back on costs, consider hanging a wreath on every other window or only on the windows that create focal points.
3. Energy Efficient Eco-friendly is only the start to LED light strand benefits. They allow you to use more lights for a fraction of the cost, are more low maintenance, efficient, durable, reliable, and longer-lasting than fluorescent incandescent lights. They don't burn out and come in a variety of styles, sizes, and colors.
Our LED SMD bulbs use 0.58 watts each as opposed to the 5 or 7 watts the incandescent options use. They are dimmable, give off a more vibrant color, and have more visibility from the sides. Since each bulb only uses 0.58 watts per bulb, you can run up to 800 feet and they have a 60,000 hours light life span. - Pro Tip: If your customer likes the look of incandescent, but wants to take advantage of LED, use our filament bulb. You’ll get the same low 0.58 watts and brightness as an SMD with the traditional look of an incandescent bulb.
4. Smart & Convenient Control Smart Plugs are the way to go this year. They make life so much easier for the end consumer and for you as the professional contractor. Our TIME-700 and TIME-800 plugs connect to phones through a free downloadable App which allows you to control the lights at any time and from anywhere with a tap of your finger. The App also features voice control, grouping, device sharing, and it’s compatible with Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, and SmartThings. It doesn’t get easier or better than that! - Pro Tip: Talk to the end consumer about what kind of control they’d like to have before you install. For example, they may want to control the roofline separate then the lit trees and bushes. Our TIME-700 allows you to create one zone per outlet so you’ll want to plan your power runs accordingly.
5. Customizable Permanent RGB Lighting Why stop with just Christmas lighting? More and more consumers are seeking to light their homes for various occasions and holidays throughout the year. We are seeing significant growth in the permanent year-round lighting market. People are more willing to invest and spend money on their homes today than ever before. Check out our Infinity Lighting line and Prime Patio Landscape Lighting to learn more. - Pro Tip: Schedule annual maintenance visits and add traditional holiday lighting add-ons like trees, bushes, fences, driveways, and greenery to ramp
