Lighting Up for the Holidays

November 10, 2016

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{Thinking that this photo will be our Christmas card this year. Milo looks adorable in the holiday sweater from Walmart.}

Typically, I prefer to wait at least two weeks after Halloween to decorate for the holidays, but when Walmart recently reached out asking us to share how we light up our home for the holidays in support of Children’s Miracle Network, I couldn’t say no. There’s just something about Christmas lights that ignite the magic of the holidays, and seeing outdoor lights strung this time of year always brings me back to time spent with my family. Every year when I was I child, my family and I would drive around on Christmas Eve, going from house to house, admiring the outdoor décor, trying to pin point which house was the winner – it was the best! I always dreamed of having a big house that I could decorate, but in Toronto that kind of prime real estate is difficult to come by. We are fortunate enough to live in a townhome that offers a small patch of property and a pretty cute doorstep (if I do say so myself). This year, Walmart is running a contest on its Facebook page where you can vote for your favourite decorated house. With each vote, Walmart will donate $1 to Children’s Miracle Network. It’s such an easy way to support a great cause, so I definitely suggest heading over there and casting your vote before November 25 (psst, I voted for The Graham/Scheepers family). Although our house didn’t make the cut, I wanted to share how we went about getting our front yard ready for the holidays with the help of Walmart’s outdoor light selection. Keep reading for some great tips and tricks on adding light and a little holiday cheer to your décor this holiday season.
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Jamie and I headed to Walmart last week with no real game plan in mind for how we wanted to decorate our front yard this holiday season. For some reason, I always find I work better under pressure, so I figured once I got to the store, inspiration would strike. Luckily, I was right. The first thing we found were live mini Norfolk pine trees that had been subtly sprayed with silver glitter. I knew immediately that I wanted to create a very free-flowing and organic looking garland on our railing so we grabbed two trees along with three packs of battery-operated string lights for the garland.

To make the garland, I simply used shears to cut the tree branches off and secured them onto the railing with wire. There is no wrong way to add the branches, which makes this project super easy. Once my first layer of branches was laid out and secured, I could easily tuck and tie the branches where I felt they needed to go. After I tucked in the branches and got a full garland on the railing, I added some silver dollar eucalyptus to add a more texturized and organic feel to the garland. Finally, I simply snipped some faux blush roses off their stems and wired them on.walmart-christmas-lights-3
{Besides the silver sparkles, the twinkle lights with green wire blend into the garland perfectly and add the prettiest subtle glow.}
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One item that we knew we wanted to use in our set-up was the Star Light Laser Projector. Because we don’t have a home that easily allows us to string lights, this projector was the perfect, no-fuss option for lighting up the outside of our home. As you can see from the photo, we simply plugged in the projector and our home was lit up with the most festive, almost confetti-like lights. While I liked the red and green lights shining solely on our black door, we loved that we were also able to change the settings to just red or green and that this light projector also covers up to 3,000 square feet.
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{I just love the look of the “confetti” lights that the Star Light Laser Projector produces on our door.}
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{Okay, maybe this is our Christmas card this year?}
wal-mart-christmas-lights-8{Another close up of the holiday garland.}
wal-mart-christmas-lights-9{Wooden logs wrapped in twinkle lights.}

Walmart has a huge selection of lights and outdoor holiday décor at low prices every day, so getting into the holiday spirit was so easy for us. For our doorstep, we wanted something that was both stylish and functional and didn’t get in the way of getting in and out of the house. We opted to pick up a simple green wreath for our door and wrapped twinkle lights around it, along with wrapping twinkle lights around wooden logs that we had left over from out camping trip in the summer. Finally, I decided to decorate what was left of my Norfolk Pine Tree (dubbed the Charlie Brown Tree after using most of it for the garland) with shatter proof bulbs from Walmart. I love the gold and black tones and textures of these bulbs that come in large and small sizes, perfect for bigger and smaller trees alike.
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{A little snap of what the house looks like lit up at night.}

This post is sponsored by Walmart Canada as part of the #MerryandBright program. In exchange for this review, I have received special perks in the form of products and/or compensation. All opinions on this blog are my own.

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