Daily London
Driving around to look at Christmas lights is a treasured holiday tradition, but behind the incredible displays are everyday Australians who spend thousands of dollars and countless hours each year putting the experience together.
Andrew Walters has spent more than $30,000 over 21 years on lights and decorations to create an incredible Christmas display on his Adelaide home.
He has a total of 250,000 lights that adorn practically every inch of his home.
Walters starts planning a new design for his home each July and begins setting up around September for a December unveiling.
He said it was all worth it for the thousands of people who come by and the money they raise for charity.
“A lot of busyness around this time of year, you can lose sight of Christmas. These sorts of things can help bring back the spirit of Christmas,” he said.
”It’s really good to give people in the area the memories, but also my family those memories as well.”
In Perth, Charmaine Van Vliet roped her entire street into participating in Christmas displays after wanting to outdo a nearby street.
She estimates each house has spent anywhere from $1000 to $5000 on decorations.
Van Vliet creates and builds a lot of her decorations and helps her neighbours put their lights up all during the summer heat, which can exceed 40 degrees in Perth.
She also organises a mailbox where children can leave letters to Santa that she replies to, a bubble and snow machine and an elf who plays basketball with the children.
“Parents have trouble getting their kids to go home,” she said.
Van Vliet’s street has won the local council’s best decorated street competition for four of the last five years.
They donate the entire $1000 prize money to several charities.
“A lot of people do it tough during the year financially, and if in December, we can just bring a bit of free joy and entertainment and relief for people, that’s good enough for us,” she said.
Scott Church is new to the game after his partner had the spontaneous idea to create a Christmas display last year, but they have already spent more than $6000 to fill their front yard with lights and decorations.
He has also spent hours of his time creating his own decorations.
Church said he was surprised to find that creating the display would bring him as much joy as it has.
“It’s just amazing,” he said.
He has received offers for donations to help fund the project, but said that was not what he was doing it for.
“I’d rather the community just come to my house, get a candy cane, have a sweet, enjoy my lights and talk about it with their family,” he said.
“That’s what gets me: just the enjoyment and the excitement that it brings to people.”
