From the funniest, most simple setup to the latest technology such as controlling someone’s Christmas display from the web, these are some of the best (and worst) Christmas light displays on the Internet. 

Planet Christmas  is by far one of the greatest places to visit for all your display needs. Aside from offering stunning displays from 1998 to present, Planet Christmas offers how-to guides on setting up your own display including guides on computerized Christmas displays such as: what you need, and where to get it.

Twasthenightbefore.com, owned and operated by the Parcell family of Geneva, IL.,  has an amazing display of over 50,000 lights are completely computerized and synched with music. Visitors to this site can watch their display in real time via 2 webcams located in the front, and side of their house.

Komar.org is an extremely unique site set up by Alek Komarnitsky from Boulder, CO. that allows you to actually control his display from your computer.  Alek’s site is set up with 7 different controls, performing functions such as turning on/off zones of lights or inflating/deflating various blow up decorations on his lawn. There are 3 different webcams, 2 of which show exterior views of the home, and the third is a view of Alek’s desk; you may even catch him on his computer if you visit at the right times.

Colorado Christmas, displaying Kevin Pickett and Family’s computer controlled Christmas lights, started in 2000 with just 12,000 lights, and has doubled every year since. Their home proudly displays more than 50,000 lights with 96 computer controlled channels, and, new to 2006, a large projection screen showing short Christmas clips and animations.

You can’t have the best without the worst, and Ugly Christmas Lights highlights just that! You can see, by most of the images, that people try real hard and put many hours into their Christmas displays, and that, in itself, is commendable; although, Ugly Christmas Lights always seems to find those displays that are out of the ordinary and out of place.  Each image displayed here comes with a witty caption defining exactly what is uncommon about their decorations.

If your thinking about creating a spectacular display, but don’t know if or how it will look, Holidaysoft has the answer. Holidaysoft has developed software, Holiday Light Designer,  enabling you to import an image of your home, and decorate it with as many lights as you desire. With seven different light styles, including icicle lights, you can string lights across your home using your mouse (and maybe a little creativity). The only drawback is that software is not free, and comes only with a 5 day trial.

Related:

Entry was posted on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 at 5:04 pm under Web2.0.

Read more entries by George Gardner.
Stumble It!