Most people get into the festive spirit by putting a Christmas tree up every year. Some of us might stick a few ornaments in the window.
But there are two Christmas-mad neighbours in Leigh who go all out each year – covering every inch of their homes in thousands of LED lights and inflatable decorations.
Nikki Finch, 28, and a neighbour spend weeks decorating their houses on Hill Crest Avenue every Christmas. The pair team up in early November and work on the displays for around a month.
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The friends have been decorating their homes for the last few years, becoming local legends among the parents and children who take trips to see the lights every December.
Nikki admitted the display gets bigger every year, usually picking up extra items in the January sales. Their decorations include thousands of LED lights, giant inflatable Santas, a reindeer hut, a huge mug of hot cocoa and Santa in a hot air balloon.
And while mum-of-three Nikki says the lights add an extra £50 onto her electricity bill every month, it’s worth it to see how much joy the display brings to visitors. “We’ve been doing it for a few years,” she told the Manchester Evening News.
“Obviously we have more lights this year than we did last year and next year we will probably have more. `I have about seven inflatables and my neighbour has around nine. She goes up the ladder and does all the lights – I won’t go up there!”
Nikki estimates the pair have spent well over £1,000 on their decorations combined. “Most of the lights are from B&M and The Range,” she added. “We pick the lights up in the January sales. There are a good few thousand of them.
“We start early November due to having that many lights we need to put up. The electricity bill isn’t much different in price due to the lights being LED.
“My bill was between £80 and £90 before, my last bill was £139. We only put them on at 4.30pm and turn them off at 9pm, so they’re not on for that long.”
Nikki says several visitors have asked her if the lights are to help raise money for charity. While that’s not the case at the moment, the neighbours are looking into raising money for a children’s charity next Christmas.
“We get a lot of people coming up and down with little kids,” Nikki added. “Quite a few people, as if we’re doing it for charity and stuff. We don’t do it for charity but it’s something we’re looking at doing.
“If we did it for charity, it would be a kid’s charity. We won’t end up doing it this year because Christmas is around the corner, but we’re looking at doing it next year.”
When asked what started the extravagant display, she said: “I’m not going to lie, it was a competition with other people on our street.
“But we were putting up that many lights and with the amount of people coming, it was just nice. My own children don’t get as excited as the other children do and it does my head in!”
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