Australians spending thousands on Christmas lights amid COVID-19 pandemic
Shoppers are stocking up on Christmas light decorations and spending big with a Queensland family splashing $3000 on their display.
National
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It is a phenomenon that began during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US and Europe – people stuck in self-isolation and quarantine decorating their homes with Christmas lights.
And it seems Aussies have caught the bug.
Thousands of residents took to social media posting pictures of their homes adorned with festive lights in a symbol of unity in the fight against the coronavirus.
“My youngest son was bored today and said, ‘can we put Christmas lights on our tree outside to cheer us up?’ Great idea buddy. Lights are on tonight as a sign of hope and the sweet mind of my 10-year-old,” posted US resident Mike Griffin.
Closer to home, Bunnings’ general manager of merchandise Tracey Lefebure said Australians spending an increasing amount of time at home are splurging to decorate their properties.
“This year has been like no other and with customers spending more time at home than ever before we have seen them using this time to create a living space that they can enjoy spending lots of time in,” Ms Lefebure told News Corp Australia.
“Our festive lighting range has been extremely popular already this year with solar lighting, festoon lighting and light statues being among the most popular choices.”
Ms Lefebure said their Christmas lights sales were already up year on year and customers were happy to splash out to “lift their spirits and share a little Christmas magic with their neighbours”.
Father-of-two Andy Parsons, 27, from Collingwood Park in Ipswich, Queensland, said his family has already spent about $3000 on lights which will take him and fiancee Katelyn, 27, almost three months to set up.
“I’ve got a 1.8 metre blow up Santa on my roof, we’ve decorated my trailer and put in a 4 metre tall reindeer,” Mr Parsons said.
“We have a Santa house, lanterns and we’ve got more than 50,000 LED lights.”
Mr Parsons said they are not even halfway through setting up all their festive lights display which had to be completed by December 1.
He said he’s really on solar energy to keep his power bills down.
Woolworths merchandise manager Richard Jones said they are preparing for a surge in spending on Christmas lights when products hit the shelves in the coming weeks.
“We know our customers enjoy decorating their home during the festive season and with more families across Australia planning to spend Christmas at home this year, we’re expecting an increase in demand for our Christmas merchandise, including Christmas lights,” he said.
“Customers can choose from a variety of lights this year, and three of our most popular are battery operated capped lights ($5), mains powered fairy lights ($10), and solar powered ornamental capped lights ($10).”
Catch.com.au’s senior category manager Carlos Yeung said they had seen a “large increase in demand for Christmas lights this year, particularly across the month of October”.
Originally published as Australians spending thousands on Christmas lights amid COVID-19 pandemic