How To Decorate Your Yard For The Holidays Without Damaging Your Lawn

The holiday season is quickly approaching, and some homeowners already have their decorations on standby. Decorating your home is a fun way to get in the holiday spirit, no matter how much décor you add to your home. Maybe you place a few festive items here and there, or maybe you go all out with a huge light display in your yard. If you love decorating the outside of your home, adding certain holiday décor to your lawn can damage the grass if you aren't careful. 

According to Cutting Edge, large, heavy objects can potentially create sunken spots in your yard, making it uneven. If you've ever placed large inflatable decorations on your lawn before, you may be familiar with the flattened, soggy grass they leave behind. So, what can you do about it? Should you stop decorating your yard for the holidays? The good news is you can still decorate your yard without damaging your lawn by following these tips and tricks.

The best way to solve a problem is to prevent it from happening, so before you even get your holiday decorations out, you need to prepare your lawn for the cold winter months. This will ultimately help keep your lawn safe from holiday decorations. Executive Lawn Care recommends first winterizing your lawn by cleaning up your yard. This means removing leaves and other lawn debris, disposing of dead plants, and killing off any weeds that may be growing. Cleaning up your yard will prevent you from finding dead bugs and old, wet leaves under your decorations when it comes time to remove them.

As a major safety precaution, always check your Christmas lights before hanging them outside or using them as a lawn display. Ensuring your lights are free from frayed wires prevents electrical shorts, which are a potential fire hazard, Apollo Home explains. You should also use outdoor-specific electrical outlets to prevent water from getting inside the outlets and creating sparks, which could ultimately burn your lawn.

As mentioned earlier, heavy holiday decorations contribute to sunken spots and dead grass. Yes, it's possible to fix your damaged lawn with soil, sand, and compost, but you'll have to wait for new grass to grow, which takes a good amount of time, The Day reports. In this case, your best option is to choose lighter holiday decorations for your lawn. If your decorations are lit, this may be more challenging since they're connected to an electrical cord, but using a long extension cord will easily fix this problem. 

Though it's an extremely light material, steer clear of plastic lawn décor, as it can come off as a bit tacky. Instead, think about objects made of lightweight wire, like the ever-popular LED reindeer. LED candy canes are another festive option that won't sink into your lawn. No matter what décor you choose, remember to move them around from time to time to keep your lawn clean and healthy.