Lights

• Outdoor holiday lights don't have to be strings of plain lights. Styles of holiday lights include standard lights, blinking lights, icicle-shaped lights and lights woven together into netting for placement over bushes and trees. Match the lights' colors to the holiday. For instance, use blue and white lights for Hanukkah, red and green for Christmas, orange for Halloween and red, white and blue for the Fourth of July. Look for energy-efficient LED lights, which will use less energy and produce less heat than incandescent lights. Home improvement stores and the Internet are prime places to find holiday lights.
  
  

Animated and Inflatable Decorations

• Animated decorations move as well as light up. One example of an animated decoration would be a life-size Santa statue that waves its arm or a large holiday train that moves on a track around a tree outside. Reindeer, Santas and cartoon characters are some of the most commonly available animated outdoor holiday decorations. Ideally, the decorations should be anchored securely on your lawn to keep them in place in the event of high winds or neighborhood vandals. One variation of animated decorations are inflatable lawn decorations. An example of this is a clear, plastic inflatable snowglobe with fake snow blown around on its inside and characters that wave at passersby. A built-in fan keeps the inflatable decoration at the proper size. These inflatable lawn decorations fold flat for storage when deflated. Keep this fan protected from the elements to avoid blade-related clogs. Look for both inflatable and animated decorations at home improvement stores and on the Internet.
  
  

Cutouts

• The simplest and cheapest outdoor holiday decorations, cutout decorations are often made from cut and painted plywood. For example, at Christmas, you could display Santas, cartoon characters and nativity scenes; other holidays also have their own pertinent cutout decorations. Cutouts are usually not equipped with their own lights and thus need to be paired with spotlights. Use spotlights approved for outdoor use, whether you are putting the cutouts on your lawn or on the roof.
  
  

Door Decorations

• Adorn your door with greenery all year long. Wreathes are the most common form of outdoor holiday door decoration. Craft stores stock the supplies you need to make your own if you cannot find a real or synthetic wreath to match your personal tastes. Hang garland around the door frame for an added festive touch if desired. Use a garland color to match your wreath. For instance, hang a red and white wreath on the door for Valentine's Day and use red garland to outline the door frame.