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Christmas Light Contest Survey Now
Hosting a Christmas light contest is a festive way to bring joy and creativity to your community. From homes to apartments, participants can showcase dazzling displays that spread holiday cheer. This guide walks you through organizing a fair competition, setting clear categories, and promoting the event to boost participation. With SurveyLegend, you can easily collect votes using picture-based surveys, upload contestants’ display photos, and watch real-time results roll in. Whether judged by neighbors, local celebrities, or the public, a well-planned contest fosters connection and excitement throughout the season—making your community sparkle with holiday spirit.
The holiday commercials have begun, Mariah Carey is belting out her famous Christmas tune on radio stations, and stores are stocking up on gifts. This time of year, holding a Christmas light contest is also very popular. These friendly competitions are held between neighbors, entire neighborhoods, businesses, and more. Christmas light contests can include participants from houses, apartments, and other types of residences, making it easy for everyone to join in the fun.
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Christmas Light Contest Survey Now
If you’re holding a Christmas light contest, there’s no better way to determine a winner than with SurveyLegend. With our free online survey tool, you can add images to surveys and allow people to vote on their favorite holiday display! Encourage everyone to celebrate the joy of the holiday season by bringing their most creative and festive displays to the contest.
Christmas Light History
In the not-so-distant past, people would express their Christmas spirit by lighting candles on trees. “Generally, the tree was set up in the parlor, and when all the family would come down to see the tree, dad or grandpa would light up all the candles,” says John Hanssen, a member of the Golden Glow of Christmas Past, an international organization for Christmas history. “You’d look at it for a few seconds and blow them out.” This tradition typically took place in December, marking the start of the holiday season.
Of course, not all of them would be properly extinguished, resulting in numerous fires. This led to the introduction of Christmas lights. The first set of Christmas lights was displayed in 1882 by Edward Johnson, a friend and partner of light-bulb inventor Thomas Edison.
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Christmas Light Contest Survey Now
Christmas Light History
In the not-so-distant past, people would express their Christmas spirit by lighting candles on trees. “Generally, the tree was set up in the parlor, and when all the family would come down to see the tree, dad or grandpa would light up all the candles,” says John Hanssen, a member of the Golden Glow of Christmas Past, an international organization for Christmas history. “You’d look at it for a few seconds and blow them out.” This tradition typically took place in December, marking the start of the holiday season.
Of course, not all of them would be properly extinguished, resulting in numerous fires. This led to the introduction of Christmas lights. The first set of Christmas lights was displayed in 1882 by Edward Johnson, a friend and partner of light-bulb inventor Thomas Edison.
Create your FREE
Christmas Light Contest Survey Now
Creating Your Christmas Light Contest (Rules, Categories, etc.)
Many Christmas light contests are just for fun or bragging rights, while others can have significant prizes that are officially awarded to the winners. To truly understand how competitive people can become over their holiday displays, one need not look any further than the television reality series The Great Christmas Light Fight. It’s been on the air since 2013!
Voting on holiday decorating can get heated! To make sure the Christmas light competition is fair, you’ll want to be sure the judging criteria are clear to participants. For example, if the contest is large, you might want to consider different categories, such as:
- Most creative and imaginative
- Most traditional
- Best use of lights
- Best use of music and technology
- Best use of toys and/or inflatables
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Christmas Light Contest Survey Now
You might also create categories for each type of dwelling, such as home, apartment, duplex, and so on. Each category allows for fair judging, and contestants are eligible based on their residence type. Choose a date by which houses must be decorated, and specify the day and time for judging and the announcement of the winners. Winners will be announced and awarded their prize at a designated event, which may take place on a Wednesday in December, and the announcement may be featured on social media or with a special yard sign.
Finally, identify how judging will be done. Sometimes, it’s elected officials or local celebrities serving as judges; other times, it’s everyone in the neighborhood. The judging process is approved by the organizing committee or board to ensure fairness and legitimacy. Remember to specify if there will be prizes. Prizes can include trophies, gift cards, or keepsake signs, and winners may be featured on social media or with a yard sign displayed in their yard. If prizes are substantial, you’re likely to get a lot more entrants. So, you might want to consider an entry fee for participating.
Neighbors from every block are encouraged to compete, and contestants are encouraged to use creative decorations to bring their displays to life, especially at night when the lights matter most. The contest is held to celebrate the holidays and foster a sense of community among neighbors. The use of a sign in the yard can help guide guests and voters.
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Christmas Light Contest Survey Now
Are you a Christmas light contest participant looking for a little bit of inspiration so you can win your next holiday decorating contest? Check out the 23 Best Christmas Light Displays in the United States. Looking for a Christmas contest that’s not so “electric”? Host an Ugly Holiday Sweater Contest.
Participant Engagement and Promotion
A successful Christmas light contest is about more than just dazzling displays—it’s about bringing the community together and spreading the Christmas spirit throughout the holiday season. To make your contest truly shine, it’s essential to actively promote the event and encourage participants and spectators to get involved.
Start by creating excitement around your contest using social media platforms like Facebook, your neighborhood website, and local community newsletters. Share eye-catching photos of previous years’ light displays, announce the contest rules, entry deadline, and voting process, and invite everyone to participate. A dedicated Facebook page or website can serve as the central hub for updates, contestant entries, and voting links, making it easy for neighbors to stay informed and engaged.
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Encourage participants to showcase their creativity by sharing photos and videos of their decorating process and finished displays. This not only enhances the sense of friendly competition but also inspires others with new ideas for their own Christmas light displays. Using a branded hashtag on social media can help build a sense of community and make it easy for everyone to follow along with the contest’s progress.
To boost engagement, offer enticing prizes or coveted bragging rights for winners in various categories, such as “Best Overall Display,” “Most Creative Use of Lights,” or “Best Holiday Theme.” Recognizing participants’ efforts with awards or public shout-outs encourages more people to join in the fun and helps create a festive atmosphere throughout the neighborhood.
Make sure the public vote is simple and accessible, whether it’s through an online survey, text message, or in-person ballot at a community event. This allows everyone to have a say in selecting the winners and adds an extra layer of excitement to the competition.
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Christmas Light Contest Survey Now
Partnering with local businesses or sponsors can further enhance your contest by providing additional prizes, resources, or promotional support. Consider hosting a kickoff event to announce the contest, offer decorating tips, and even feature live music from local bands or schools to set the mood for the season.
Designing Your Christmas Light Contest Survey with Images
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Christmas Light Contest Survey Now
Like the look of the holiday decorating survey above? It was created with SurveyLegend’s online survey tool. Images of lit-up houses were uploaded, and a festive background and holiday font were added in the DESIGN stage. In this example, the “classic” mood was chosen, creating a box around the images so homes could clearly be seen despite the festive background.
To create your own survey with photos, simply ask participants to take pictures of their holiday light display and email them to you. Then, upload all of the participants’ images into your survey and share your survey link with others to collect votes. SurveyLegend will automatically tally up the votes in real time, which you can display live on your event page if you like to make the contest more fun and engaging. Top entries or winners can also be featured on your event page or social media to highlight their creativity. It won’t be long before you’ll have a holiday light winner to announce!
To make your holiday light display survey to determine the best Christmas display, follow this step-by-step guide.
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Christmas Light Contest Survey Now
How to Create Your Holiday Decorating Contest Survey with SurveyLegend
- Log in to your account.
- Add a new survey, and navigate to the CREATE step.
- Use our picture-based question type (“Picture Selection”) by clicking on it.
- Click on the picture selection question that was just added, and then click on the “upload” button.
- Select all of your pictures at once from your computer, and then hit upload. Wait until the upload process is complete for all images.
- If you like, change the layout and size of holiday display photos using the settings on the left-hand side. You can also choose whichever voting type you prefer. People usually use the “Ranking” voting type and let people vote for their top 3 favorites.
- Go to the DESIGN step to change the look and feel of your survey (for example, you can choose a dark theme or upload your own background).
- Go to the CONFIGURE step and give your holiday light contest a good name so that you remember it. Also, make sure you have this setting ON: “Limit number of participations,” which will make sure people cannot vote multiple times to influence results.
- Finally, continue to the SHARE step, copy your competition link, and send it to your audience using SMS, Email, Facebook, Slack, or whatever platform you like.
- When the distribution of your best holiday light display is done, go to Live Analytics and watch as the results come in.
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Christmas Light Contest Survey Now
If you’re holding a holiday party, you can also use video projection to broadcast the live analytics page to all attendees. They can watch, in real-time, as the votes roll in. This makes your holiday light competition a lot more fun!
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Ready to create your holiday light contest voting form? Our surveys render beautifully on any screen, are customizable to your design preferences, and can limit voters to one answer so overly competitive decorators don’t continue to vote for themselves. They can also be made anonymous, so there won’t be any feuding between neighbors! Start now with SurveyLegend and hold the best holiday decorating contest in town!
Does your neighborhood have a Christmas lighting contest? How are winners selected? Will you be using SurveyLegend this year? Let us know in the comments!
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Christmas Light Contest Survey Now
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
When were Christmas lights invented?
The first set of Christmas lights was introduced to the world in 1882 by Edward Johnson. Johnson was a friend of light-bulb inventor Thomas Edison!
Should a Christmas light contest have prizes?
Sometimes, it’s just a friendly competition between neighbors or businesses. However, large contests are held all over the world, some offering significant cash prizes.
How should I host a Christmas light contest?
Organize the contest within the community toward the end of November, when Christmas light displays often first go up. Set rules, categories, judging criteria, and prizes (if there will be prizes). Then, use SurveyLegend’s online survey tool to highlight all the participants’ displays and allow people to vote for their favorite(s).
