North Pole Lighting wraps the bushes along the front of the house by hand, in Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, and Southwick.
A lighting contractor based in Southwick, working across Hampden County, with one phone number that gets answered.
The cheap way is to throw a net of lights over the top. It sags and it leaves gaps. Bush Christmas lights look full only when somebody follows the plant, branch by branch. That takes longer, and it shows from the walk. We do it that way in Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, and Southwick.
The bushes are the part of a display people stand next to. They get read from the front walk and the driveway, not from the road. That closeness is why the shortcuts show.
Some light strings are made for indoors only, and the label on the box tells you which one you have. A green label means indoor only. A red label means it can go outside. That is the outdoor lighting safety standard, and you can check your own boxes in about thirty seconds.
A net of lights is fast. On a boxwood trimmed into a cube it can sit fine. On a rounded bush that has grown into its own shape, the net stays square while the plant is not. That is our opinion after wrapping a lot of them, and you can judge it from your own front walk.
The small bulbs live here. They are made for wrapping bushes, small trees, garland and railings. They tuck into the plant instead of sitting on top of it. The big roof bulb would swallow a low bush.
The light gets built up all the way around the bush, so no dark face points at the walk. A row of matching bushes gets matching coverage. One bush lit heavier than the next is the thing people notice without knowing why.
These strands sit low, which means snow, plow spray and foot traffic. Ours are built to sit outside all winter, and the cords get routed so nothing crosses a walkway.
The beds have to read as part of one display. That is why they are matched to the rest of the display.
The bushes and the roofline above them go up on the same visit.
Count the plants.
We walk the beds and work out which bushes carry the display and which do not.
Size the strands.
Each bush gets its own length, so nothing is stretched thin or doubled up.
Wrap by hand.
Our crew works plant by plant and keeps the light even across a row.
Set the power.
Cords get routed to an outlet the house already has and kept clear of the walk.
Small ones. They are made for wrapping, so they tuck into the plant instead of sitting on top of it.
No. A net is faster, and up close it shows. It sags and leaves gaps, because it holds a square shape while the bush holds a different one.
It depends on the size and shape of the plant, so it gets measured on the walk-around rather than guessed.
Warm white. That is what we hang, and it is what most people picture when they picture a lit house. Other colors and options can be bought and quoted if you ask.
Whichever way makes that plant look even from the walk. Every bush gets wrapped so the light is spread the same on all sides.
Yes. Plenty of houses do the beds and the front entry only. It still changes the whole front of the house.
The strands come off in January, so nothing stays wrapped through the growing season.
October and November, on the same visit as the rest of the display. The first freeze here lands around the middle of October.
The beds get done on the same visit as everything else, in every town on the route. That covers Hampden County and the Pioneer Valley.
Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Hampden, Wilbraham, Agawam, Feeding Hills, Southwick, Westfield, and Hampden County, Massachusetts. Suffield, West Suffield, and Granby, Connecticut, in Hartford County.
The bushes get done on the same visit as the rest of the display. They book on the same calendar. That calendar is about sixty days long.
Don't Be a Grinch
Get a free quote for bush Christmas lights in Longmeadow while there are still dates open.
