Every Needful Thing

Every Needful Thing...or all the stuff you need to decorate that you can never find or you don't have enough of when the time comes.

    It never fails.  Every year, when we are setting out to put up the lights and decorations we always end up needing something and can't find it or we're simply out of it.  Usually it is batteries and lightbulbs.  A couple of years ago I set out to eliminate that frustration once and for all by creating a plan to get ahead of the problem. 

      I first needed to make a plan of my decoration design.  That meant actually drawing it on paper so I could look at it and decide what I was going to be doing, and every year that seems to change a bit to keep things interesting.

 I drew a rudimentary picture of the front of my house, and then of my yard.  I filled in the features to consider, like windows, trees, doors, front porch, pillars, sidewalk, driveway, bushes, just every little thing that I needed to either allow space for or make a plan to decorate.

 Your drawing can be cute and creative like this one.

 Or simple and basic like this one (which is more like my drawing skill anyway)

Or you can use a CAD program (computer aided design) which will give you extremely accurate measurements to work with, and can be turned side to side, upside down and backwards.  

For me and my particular use, the basic drawing is sufficient. 

   Then I listed categories, such as Front Porch, Large Plum Tree, East Fence, you get the idea.  In the individual categories I detail my plan for decorating that area.  For 2014 my plan looked like this.

Front Porch: lighted garland over door, decorated sleigh, wreath, lighted trees in urns

Pillars: red uplights, shepherds hooks with lanterns

Bay Windows: Icicle lights

Roof Line: Icicle lights

Large Plum Tree: White uplight

Forsythia Bush: Twinkle lights

You get the idea.

You can even make copies of the picture and draw different ideas to see how they work.  Color in lights and see if you like it, if it's too busy, not busy enough, and if you know the dimensions of the areas you will know how many strings of lights in each color you will need to complete your design.  The last thing you need is to get all excited about a light plan and then half way through hanging it you realize you have too few strings of matching lights, or  for instance, the strands you have are too long and overhang in a way that doesn't look very clean.  So then you have to run out, get some more lights, and hope they match nicely, because not all whites are the same hue and not all twinkle lights twinkle at the same rate or speed.  It's happened to me enough times to have learned my lesson and plan ahead.

Once you have your plan in place you can then figure out say how many light hooks you will need for your roof and window lines, or staples, or what have you.  This time of year a lot of places already carry many of the decorating items you will need, and oftentimes they are on sale to get people buying them.  If they aren't available yet in your area, just keep track in your plan how many you will need when they do hit the store shelves.  Also, remember things like light testers, wire cutters, any tools you typically use when decorating.

If you use duct tape, and let's face it who doesn't, in your decorating, put that in your plan.  Add however many light bulbs your blow molds will need, the batteries moving displays use, and then spend a little time locating the supplies you normally use for set up (I use tent stakes and twine quite a bit) and get them into a storage container marked in a way you can identify it.  Then, and this is critical, put it where you keep your holiday decorations.  I know that sounds like a no brainer instruction, but, we all know how things just get separated or moved when they are just put "where we know we will be able to find it later".

You can keep your plan in a binder, or folder, or on your computer.  It will be very handy this year, and even for years to come when you want to plan something new or re-create the same look over and over.  You can also add notes of what worked, what didn't work, and what supplies you need to get for next year.  By the way, the days just after Christmas are the best time to grab some of those things as they are at clearance prices.


Now you have your plan, you have all your supplies either organized or a plan for getting them as they are available, and you put everything you need in the same location as your holiday decorations.  All you need to do now is wait and breath a sigh of relief that you are ready when the air turns crisp and the holidays are looming large. That is, until next month when we have another prep task for your holiday decorating.  Tune in, and be that much more ready.