The holidays have arrived, and that means that it’s time to start decorating your home or business for the cheerful holiday season. While it may not snow in San Diego, that doesn’t mean that you can’t decorate like it’s a winter wonderland. From planning how you’ll decorate to tips on saving electricity, here are five of our landscape design tips for Del Mar properties during the holiday decorating season.

LED Lights Will Help Save Money

Buying LED lights might be somewhat of a financial commitment to start out (especially when you can get incandescent lights for a fraction of the cost), but trust us when we say that LED lighting can make or break your holiday season by helping you save on your electric bill. LED lights use a small fraction of the power that other bulbs do, meaning you’ll pay less in the long run for decorative lighting. Plus, LED lights are more durable and last much longer than regular string lights, meaning you’ll likely have them for many holiday seasons to come.

Consider Net Lights

When decorating outside you’ll likely want to look for ways to do it that will help save you time. No one wants to spend a lot of their time hassling with string lights outside in the winter—even in Del Mar. Use net lighting on bushes and trees to cover an entire bush in just a few minutes. Instead of stringing an entire strand of lights through the bush, simply throw the net lighting over it and plug it in. Plus, they’re much easier to pack up and store until you use them again next year.

Keep Them Up Year-Round

There is no way around it—decorating for the holiday season is often a hassle, especially when it will only be up for a couple of weeks out of the year. Many people choose to set up their holiday lighting once and leave it up year-round. If you like the look of lining your roof, consider doing it in LED tube lighting that can withstand any weather conditions long-term. You don’t have to keep your lighting on year-round, but when the holiday season comes around all you have to do is plug it in. This is likely the best way to save time when decorating for the holidays, plus you don’t have to store all of the lighting since it will remain on your home permanently.

Carefully Plan

Have you ever walked past a decoration months after you should have taken it down and wondered how you never noticed it? If you have, you’re not alone. Take some time to carefully write down your plan for holiday decorating to save yourself time while you put the decor up, and so that you know what you have to take down. This will take a bit of extra time beforehand, but it will save time later on when you’re removing your decorations. No one likes putting holiday decor away anyway, so saving time on your take down will feel more productive and efficient.

Know When To Hire Out

Hiring out a company to decorate your Del Mar home or business can be costly, but worth it because of the time it saves you in your day to day life. Many companies also bring their own decor, helping you save money (and be less wasteful) by not having to buy your own. If you’re busy, or if you don’t have the time to decorate both your home and business, consider hiring a company to do it for you. There are many services in San Diego that will do the dirty work in holiday decorating for an affordable price, meaning that the only thing you have to do is enjoy it.