It’s Christmas time…and that means one thing: streets saturated with a glow of festivity in the form of Christmas lighting.
We all remember the days when we would drive around to look for the best display of Christmas lights in Town, but as we grow up to decorate our own homes, there is more to think about than just the aesthetic appeal of our outdoor seasonal lights, such as the cost of the electricity that comes with being the brightest house on the street.
But how much does it really cost to include Christmas lights in your yearly festive display?
Of course, this would depend on the amount of lights you use. For instance, if you are going for something more subtle, like white lights wrapped around the tree in your front garden, this isn’t going to cost as much as if you want your house to be seen from space, like Danny DeVito in Deck The Halls.
According to ‘Which?’, the average monthly cost for maintaining your Christmas lights during the festive season in 2022 was approximately £8.94. Alternatively, to save a bit of extra cash to go towards gifting, you could save that £8 by switching to LED light bulbs, and this reduces the electricity bill to around 90p!
There are other benefits to using LED lights as opposed to incandescent ones, such as the fact they are safer, which is a great option if you have children or pets. LED lights still generate heat, but internal technologies contain the heat to the inside, meaning they are not hot to touch and, therefore, safer for your family home. This, combined with their cost-effectiveness, makes LED lights more useful for your Christmas decorations.
Are incandescent lights really that bad?
Although we have discussed the potential downfalls of incandescent Christmas lights, there have to be some benefits for them to have made up the majority of indoor lights up until recently.
According to ‘Christmas Tree World,’ one of the main attractions to incandescent lights is the warm glow that they produce, which clearly aligns with the festive cheer you want your house to portray.
