Guess what next month is. It’s really obvious. Seriously, look at the design of this blog, then think about it.
Still no clue?
It’s CHRISTMAS IN JULY BABY!
We here at Christmas Central, of course, are super pumped. It means 6 months to Christmas. It’s a mile marker for us. It’s around the time we start busting out our Christmas lights, start setting up our Christmas trees, and it’s when we start buckling down for the coming season.
It’s also a time when we (and many other Christmas companies) are clearing out space for our in-coming Christmas seasonal merchandise. What’s that mean for you? It means, well, there’s never a better time to buy your Christmas decorations. As we’ve mentioned before, the real trick to a stress-free Christmas is to plan ahead. We are, and we think you should too.
But until then, enjoy a few of our favorite Christmas tunes, remixed for the summer.
For corporate decorators, event promoters, retail display installers and interior designers, the Christmas holiday season is one of the biggest and most complex decoration installations of the year. It’s the time when retail stores pull out all the stops to impress and push Christmas specials. It’s a time when corporations put up their best displays - elaborate Christmas light displays, massive artificial Christmas trees, store wide garland strands and much, much more.
With the complexity of many of these commercial or retail Christmas displays, it’s important to plan ahead, even as far ahead as, well, Christmas in July.
When planning for commercial-level displays, you have to establish scale first. How big is the space you’re decorating? Where is it located - inside, outside, or in a store display window? What is your budget?
With any size budget, it’s a mistake to try and get by with normal, home-grade decorations. Store, community and corporate Christmas displays need commercial-grade Christmas decorations. They are more durable, more reliable, can handle larger scale (as the average commercial Christmas display can dwarf a home set-up) and, as a marketing tool, needs to convey a certain image, whether matching the quality of your company or complementing retail products well.
Suppliers such as Christmas Central specialize in this level of decoration. When coordinating your display, you may want large-sized decorations such as 12-foot Christmas wreaths, or 15-foot pre-lit artificial Christmas trees. It’s important to plan for your space - if you’re getting a large item like that tree or wreath, you should be sure that it will fit, and ordering ahead of time will also help you get more bang for your budget dollar.
As the weather gets warmer and the sun stays out longer, the last thing most people are probably thinking about is Christmas.
Why would you? You’ve got months to worry about Christmas shopping, Christmas decorating, Christmas clean-up and Christmas stress.
But it is always good to get your Christmas planning (and shopping) out of the way early. Why? It’ll save you time, worry and, ultimately, money.
Sales:
Last season’s Christmas designs might be dated by retailer standards, but really, does Christmas ever go out of style? Check sales or closeouts - especially at online retailers like Christmas Central - to find Christmas decorations, Christmas lights, Christmas trees and more for much, much cheaper than you would, say, in November when demand is at its highest.
Plan your decorating:
It’s November, the day after Thanksgiving. And it’s time to hang your Christmas lights. You initially think you could do the same thing you do every year - wrap your trees in lights, cover the bushes, etc. But one strand is dead, three more are missing bulbs, and your wreaths disintegrated after your basement flooded last spring. How are you going to decorate your house?
That’s why it’s a good idea to have a look at how your Christmas decorations, lights and more are stored - you’ll have a better idea of how you want to decorate, and what you have that will make it work. Need to buy new lights? Get them now, while they’re cheap. Planning ahead will only save you headaches.
Those are a couple tips we have for saving yourself Christmas stress in May. Have you got any others?
Christmas lights are a bear to put away (as we mentioned before), but instead of simply stowing them away, why not get some more use out of them? Christmas lights can be repurposed for other uses - accent lighting, crafts, school projects and much more. The best part of reusing them is that you don’t have to deal with putting them away.
The Patio Party
We here at Christmas Central are always up for a good party, and with warm spring and summer weather on the horizon, the patio is where it’s at. Our favorite way to light up the patio? Well, other than tiki torches and lanterns, we’ve found Christmas lights are the best for mood lighting on our patio. Forget a bright, harsh spotlight; just string lights along the railing of your deck or patio for subtle ambient lighting perfect for an evening party.
Got colored Christmas lights but at a loss for making them work out of season? Try this patio light project, courtesy HGTV, using water bottles to jazz up the look. It looks like a pretty simple project, and one that can add a unique look to your patio.
More than just a patio
The Home Improvements Depot has a list of other alternative uses for Christmas lights: Try using them as under-counter lighting, the tried-and-true dorm room decoration route, or (my personal favorite) television backlighting.
Got a bar? Try a project similar to this liquor bottle lamp set up, but instead of an LED touch lamp, try stuffing a bundle of Christmas lights in the bottle - set those bottles up behind your at-home bar and you’ve got a sweet set-up for entertaining.
Another cool DIY decoration: grab a Mason jar (or a mayonnaise, pickle or peanut butter jar, empty of course) and spiral a strand of lights along the outside of the jar. Then fill the empty space with glass beads, marbles or even potpourri. Cap it off, plug it in, and you’ve got a cute little kitchen decoration. With the potpourri, the warmth of the Christmas lights even help spread fragrance.
It’s probably a scene playing out in homes across the country:
It’s spring cleaning season, and families are heading into their basements, closets and garages to de-clutter and organize. Among boxes of clothes, trinkets and other stuff, many are probably coming across piles of Christmas decorations they stashed after the new year. Boxes of stockings stuffed without care, rats’ nests of Christmas lights last strung when Santa was last there. (Sorry, got a little poetic there.)
Anyway, these tips are for all those people out there that could have put away their Christmas lights a little neater than they did.
Plastic tubs are always better than cardboard: This might be obvious, but plastic tubs are always going to be better for your Christmas decorations than simple cardboard boxes. Many Christmas decorations, while only appearing seasonally, have heirloom status or are valuable in some other way. Using plastic will not only protect decorations from moisture, basement or attic odor or other physical damage, but plastic tubs last longer and are easier to handle than cardboard boxes. It’s worth the investment.
De-tangle those Christmas Lights: Tangled Christmas lights are one of the biggest pains of any cleaning project, and most people forget about the trouble until they’re about to string up the lights for another season. Taking care of them now will save you a lot of stress when the already-stressful holiday season gets going. DIY Life (by way of Curbly)has a cost-free tip for organizing lights - it’s a cardboard panel with notches for wrapping lights around neatly. I’ve tried that strategy, and it does work….for only a small strand of lights. For those of us who are managing a large amount of lights, a good solution would be light wind-ups - they’re cheap, save you the trouble of making your own, and are strong enough to handle a long strand of lights.
Oh, Christmas tree: As Sarah at About:Housekeeping suggests, the original box your artificial Christmas tree came in might seem like a natural storage solution, just like I mentioned with the tubs above, cardboard deteriorates. A durable Christmas tree bag is a much more reliable solution, and you don’t have to worry about getting those branches to fit back in the box they came in.
Those are just some tips I’m sure you spring cleaners will come across as you’re clearing out your basement/garage/whatever. If you have any other tips, send them along in the comments!
Our Renee has been busy, busy listing all our fabulous afghans for you and let me tell you the selection is outstanding with new additions being added weekly…
For corporate decorators, event promoters, retail display installers and interior designers, the Christmas holiday season is one of the biggest and most complex decoration installations of the year. It’s the time when retail stores pull out all the stops to impress and push Christmas specials. It’s a time when corporations put up their best displays - elaborate 
Our Renee has been busy, busy listing all our fabulous afghans for you and let me tell you the selection is outstanding with new additions being added weekly…