How Americans Deck the Halls

Come the holiday season, Americans love to deck the halls to embrace the spirit. In fact, according to a Lawnstarter survey, 1 in 5 say it’s never too early to start! 

Of over 1,000 respondents, 68% said they start decorating before December. And while 20.88% said there’s no such thing as too early, the majority (31.42%) draw the line before Thanksgiving. Still, 26.35% said they only sometimes decorate for the holidays, and 6.17% said they never do (the top reasons being not having holiday spirit, not wanting to spend the money and not hosting for the holidays). 

For those who do dress up their homes this time of year, they most commonly decorate their living room (88%), the outside of their home (59.29%), their front yard (53.24%) and their dining room (50.42%).  

As far as decorating budgets go, the majority who decorate (24.22%) planned to spend $51 to $100 this year, followed by up to $50 (20.56) and $101 to $200 (16.39%). Only 2.92% expected to spend over $500 on décor.  

The top decorations respondents planned on purchasing were: 

1. Lights (61.59%) 
2. Christmas tree (52.09%) 
3. Wreaths (37.7%) 
4. Ornaments for themselves (36.12%) 
5. Candles (35.59%) 

But, whether to save money, personalize or embrace creativity, some planned to DIY their decorations too. The top homemade items planned this year were: 

1. Ornaments (34.03%)
2. Gingerbread houses (32.57%) 
3. Wreaths (27.66%) 
4. Snowmen (24.53%) 
5. Stockings (23.59%)

Of those planning on putting up a Christmas tree, 58.67% said they preferred artificial, and 41.33% said they preferred real. 

However, as exciting (or dreadful) as holiday decorating may be, there eventually comes a time when they must come down … or does there? While most (51.25%) said they take down their decorations in January, 1.15% reported never taking them down. Now those are some decked halls!