Community Corner
Ho Ho HOW MUCH Is That Lawn?
Before the high cost of plugging them in, take a look at what your neighbors spent on holiday lawn decorations.
Everybody knows Christmas lights can put a sharp spike in your electricity bill, but what about the cost of all those inflatable snowglobes, glowing boxed presents, and animatronic deer? We took a look at the shelves of Des Plaines Home Depot and the nearby Lowes to see how much your neighbors laid out this year to make you say "ooh...pretty." The least you can do is send them a card, because even the most modest lawn costs more than your monthly mortgage.
Yes, you read that right. Let's see what the real world cost is when we shop at our neighborhood Home Depot.
Top 10 Most Common Lighted Lawn Ornaments
- $20 - Basic string of colored house lights
- $40 - Candycane sidewalk liners
- $40 - Ugly Lighted Wireframe Doe
- $70 - Pretty Animatronic Deer
- $70 - Trio of Lighted Present Boxes
- $70 - Inflatable Santa
- $80 - Inflatable Frosty the Snow Man
- $100 - Inflatable Snow Globe
- $100 - Inflatable Children's Choir
- $120 - Lighted Sleigh
This is for a pretty conservative lawn. Let's say your classy neighbors decided to bring out a sleigh, four reindeer, Santa, and some presents, plus four modest strings of house lights. That adds up to a $560 investment before you plug them in.
Weird Holiday Lights
This year, though, for $40 you can spice up the lawn a little bit with a flying pig, a frog clutching a candy cane, a cross dressing bear, or an entire family of Christmas Chickens.
Since we all know Chickens can't fly, for $80 Santa can bring them in his inflatable, lighted biplane, because we know Santa likes to keep it a little retro. While you're setting up an acid flashback experience for your wacky uncle visiting this Christmas, toss in a $60 dancing lighted mouse in a hula skirt and a $80 Peacock with flashing lights. It's not entirely clear what pigs, frogs, chickens, peacocks, or hula skirts have to do with Christmas, but put them all together and you're guaranteed to have a lawn the neighbors can't stop talking about.
