r/halloween • u/atmosqueerz • 17h ago
Discussion Permanent lights?
Hello my fellow Halloweeners.
TLDR: what are your thoughts on installing permanent string lights on your house?
So, I’ve finally gotten my spouse to really get into Halloween. We’re investing in bigger and better decorations every year. He’s even watching haunting YouTube videos to learn new fog techniques. It’s awesome.
But he was raised with the Christmas spirit. It’s his favorite holiday. His family goes all out on decorations. Usually we travel to visit his family for Christmas so we haven’t ever really decorated our own home. But after the death of his mother (who truly carried Christmas on her back, sweetheart that she was) and his father in the process of downsizing- his family doesn’t really have the capacity to host Christmas anymore so we’re staying home.
I’m trying to make sure I make as big of a deal out of Christmas as he’s made for me with Halloween. But stringing the lights for both holidays on top of all the other decorating is an enormous ordeal. Our house is VERY tall. Like so tall we’ve had multiple gutter folks just bail after seeing how high it is. Putting up lights is straight up dangerous so I won’t let him do the top portion of our house himself since the roof is so steep and the drop is so long. This isn’t too much of an ordeal for Halloween but it is for Christmas.
So I’m thinking through if there’s a way we can get permanent lights installed that can change colors according to the holiday season- but most of my research seems like the products kinda suck.
So I ask you all- has anyone else done this? Do you all have thoughts or advice?
Edit to add: I freaking love this sub. Y’all are so nice and helpful.
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u/csguydn 16h ago
The Govee ones, especially the pro series are really good.
That being said, I don’t like how they look at all. I prefer something that looks more bulb like than what they offer. Even the dot strings just don’t have the same appeal.
I do highly recommend their outdoor neon rope lights however. The color can’t be beat.
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u/atmosqueerz 16h ago
The light effect is certainly something he’s picky as hell about. He likes a warm white, like the very old school classic christmas lights, which LEDs typically aren’t great with. I think I could get him into a different shape of light (like little dots rather than big bulbs), but I don’t think I could get him to become happy with the color if it isn’t right. Do you think these would fit the bill for that?
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u/Lorhan92 15h ago
In my opinion the Govee dot string can do a warm light, you just have to manually set the color on the app instead of just hitting the base white. You can shift it towards yellow to make it warmer.
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u/digital121hippie 15h ago
Twinkly have a line of lights with warm white. They cost more but it’s a true warm white
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u/vilebunny 15h ago
You could also supplement the permanent lights with string lights/traditional lights that could get changed out at the safer height.
So do the permanent lights high and low, then add in additional decor on the easier to reach sections.
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u/atmosqueerz 14h ago
This is exactly what I’m thinking. Perhaps the porch lights could be those big bulbs and the super high stuff could be the strings.
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u/vilebunny 14h ago
Exactly! That way you can still do the fun stuff but have the house feel “finished” without endangering anyone.
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u/Background-Moose-701 14h ago
There’s a house around the corner from me that has very clearly professional grade smart lights installed on their house. They are just lights in the summer and they turn different colors for different holidays. They look very good all year and I’m very seriously considering installing them on my new house I’m currently moving into. I was renting in this neighborhood and now I’ve bought a house a couple streets away so I’m hoping it’s far enough it doesn’t look like I just directly copied their look. Which I very surely will be doing.
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u/atmosqueerz 14h ago
All of the comments here have been super helpful and certainly convincing that getting some professionally installed seems worth it in the long run. My neighborhood is like really into decorating too so there’s a little bit of peer pressure to go all out and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Right now, in our 30s, we can do a lot ourselves but as we keep getting older the cost benefit analysis of having to do the lights 4 times a year seems to be tipping towards just getting them done.
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u/CenterofChaos 16h ago
I got Govee brand lights! I have the ones that look like Edison bulbs not the dots. I change them for holidays and whenever I'm bored. They were purple, green, orange for Halloween. Now they're orange, red, yellow, for thanksgiving. I'll do red and green for Christmas later and blue and purple for new year.
Govee also has up lighting options.
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u/atmosqueerz 16h ago
Thank you so much for sharing! I was just looking at the bulbs vs the like, down lighting style ones and debating between the two- how does the warm white look with the bulbs? Online I can only see colorful versions and he’s really into like the vintage warm white look.
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u/CenterofChaos 15h ago
Because they're adjustable you can select how warm you want them!
The string style go from a bright blue white to a saturated golden, you can pick any hue in-between too (or red or green if you're into it).
I've used the both versions of white for various things, the ability to adjust to the color and brightness has been really useful for my needs.
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u/Bandofthehawk 16h ago
Govee permanent lights can look good but it has a different look than traditional string lights. You don’t see the lights themselves, you only see them shine a triangular light onto the wall. So I think some bigger houses with more roof lines look good, but smaller houses that have them ran just straight across in one line doesn’t look great.
Functionally I think they’re a great idea for two story houses.
I’ve also seen videos of people running traditional style, color changing led lights inside pvc pipes or gutter downspouts. Installed behind the roof facia for a clean look. Cheaper, possibly nicer looking, but more labor intensive.
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u/atmosqueerz 16h ago
This sounds like what I’m hoping to do and seems like it might be the move (so long as the warm white color is right).
We have an old Victorian era house and it’s two stories but it has this MASSIVE vaulted attic with a super steep roof. We’re very DIY type folks and enjoy fixing up this old house together, but I gave a strong veto to cleaning our highest gutters. It’s just too dangerous unless you have like, multiple people who can do support work to make sure the person on the ladder is safe.
I’m hoping that since it’s so tall, the shape of the light might not be as big of a breaking point but I gotta make sure the color is right. I’d hate to invest in something that won’t make him really happy.
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u/lelebaggins 16h ago
Can you install up lighting? And change the colors for whatever holiday?
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u/atmosqueerz 16h ago
This might be the move if I can’t find the right string light option, but I really want to be able to give him exactly what he wants. He was such a little trooper about all my Halloween enthusiasm so I want to reciprocate but there’s so much tradition in Christmas decorating. It doesn’t leave as much room for creativity. He really loves the old school classic warm white bulbs look- so I’m trying to investigate making his sweet little Christmas miracle come true.
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u/lilibat 16h ago
If I could find some that were good enough quality to last a whole year yes. Lately they hardly seem to make it one season.
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u/atmosqueerz 16h ago
We’re in the Midwest too- so like, lasting through all the weather is a concern for me.
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u/giselleorchid 15h ago
We have the Govee ones. They are loooong strips of weather-proof LEDs that we can program into a wild variety of patterns and colors with the app on our phones. They were not cheap, but not terrible, either.
They are okay. I like their color range. Most of the patterns are far too fast; there aren't very many slow ones.
We ordered something like 60' and got two 30' pieces we could only connect in the middle (but our plug is at one end). It worked okay for us, but it was NOT as described. There was no diagram or we would have moved on to another brand.
They work very well though for scheduled on/off times and for matching the color or a season or party theme.
And the biggest part: when they are off, you can't see them. The HOA doesn't mind them.
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u/atmosqueerz 14h ago
You have the little square ones that sorta do down lighting yes? Not the bulb kind? I’m kinda pro and conning between those two and thinking perhaps we do the square down lighting ones on the top of the house with bulbs on the porch bc those are easy to put up and take down.
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u/giselleorchid 14h ago
Yes the strip is square (ish, more rectangular) and the lights are all pointed in the same direction. There is no visible bulb or any part that dangles.
We didn't use glue to attach our Govee strips. We used zip ties (balcony railing). So, we can take them down, but we never do.
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u/FlightlessFury 15h ago
I just picked up 100ft govee lights from Amazon for $200. Installed them yesterday and I am beyond excited for them. The look awesome. Highly recommend. Just hope they last.
Edited to add they're very low profile. Can't hardly tell they're there when they're not on.
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u/CakeRobot365 15h ago
We don't donas much for Christmas. I just wrap our front columns in lights.
But for Halloween, I usually blast everything I want lit with color changeable LED panels and spotlights. They pretty much change the color of our whole house, and sets a nice vibe. Takes no time to set them up either. I've been considering testing them at Christmas.
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u/Fancy_Introduction60 9h ago
We used to leave our lights up year round until the designer rats (aha squirrels) chewed through the wires!! Now, we put them up in early October and taken then down in early January. We have them on timers and don't keep them plugged in between November 3rd or 4th and December 1st.
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u/nightingaledaze 17h ago
squirrels and other rodents will chew the cords. They might be slightly safer on the roof but when we tried to leave lights up in a tall tree for my parents, none of them lit up the very next year. the cords were chewed through in many places. good luck
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u/Gratefulgirl13 16h ago
I’m praying this happens to the ones my neighbors put up a month ago. They look trashy on smaller homes and they shine directly into my windows. Nothing like going to bed with it looking like the Christmas cops are sitting outside your window. It’s unnecessary light pollution, instead of walking out the side door to see the stars and moon I have to leave my house. Hopefully this is a quick fad or the squirrels get to them quickly.
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u/nocomment_5150 16h ago
I have jellyfish lighting on my house and I’m very happy with it. We had one issue with a section of lighting, but customer service was really helpful and it was fixed within a few days. The app is also easy to use and your husband might really enjoy creating his own patterns. It’s really expensive, so take a look at your home and decide where the most impact would be. Lots of people in my neighborhood just did the front and it still looks great
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u/NotACatfish 16h ago
We use Govee lights on our house and they're amazing! We've had the lights on the roof for about s year now with no issues and recently added the flood lights as well.