Jenny and Geoff Stohlberg open Gympie home for charity Christmas light display

A Gympie couple are getting into the Christmas spirit with invite-only viewings of a festive display of lights. Click here to see the video and view full list of Christmas lights in the region:

Hidden away on a suburban Gympie street is a Christmas wonderland, where more than 100 guests are already booked in to be dazzled by a festive display of lights – and it’s all for a good cause.

Jenny and Geoff Stolberg have opened their beautifully decorated home to invited guests since 2018, but the event was sadly cancelled last year due to Covid.

The Gympie Times spoke to them ahead of the release of its Christmas Lights list.

Jenny Stolberg and Geoff Stolberg have reopened their home to cordially invited guests to view their spectacular Christmas light display, after Covid cancelled last year’s celebrations. This is just a taste of what guests will experience. Photo: Elizabeth Neil

This year, 114 people are booked to visit the brightly lit home; a record number, according to the couple.

Guests are greeted at the front gate by a corridor of hanging lights.

From there, they can explore decorated areas of the Stolberg’s home, some paying homage to countries they have visited, one themed to match a children’s book written by Mrs Stolberg and another dedicated to the colour pink.

The festive idea was first hatched during an overseas trip to Germany.

“People paid fifty dollars and they went to four or five houses during the day, and then went to a Christmas shop where they had nibbles and stuff,” Mrs Stolberg said.

LIST: Where to find spectacular Christmas lights in the Gympie region

The Magic Snowflake, a children’s book written by Jenny Stolberg, has its own display. Photo: Elizabeth Neil

“But we couldn’t do that during the day because it lights up at night; we have to have illumination, we have to have the darkness.”

The decorations took 10 weeks to set up and the money made from each guest is directly donated to a charity chosen by the couple.

Last time they opened their home they raised $2000, which was evenly split between the Gympie Bird Club and Little Haven Palliative Care, which Mrs Stolberg said was used to buy a new wheelchair.

Donations are placed into this letterbox, which Geoff and Jenny Stolberg will donate to Little Haven Palliative Care. Photo: Elizabeth Neil

The couple plans to donate to Little Haven again this year.

Seeing the reaction of guests makes the thousands spent worth it and provides incentive to keep the tradition going for many years to come.

“Some of my friends lost their husbands a few years ago, and they come here and it just lifts their spirits,” she said.

To see the Gympie Christmas Lights Facebook page click here

Originally published as Jenny and Geoff Stohlberg open Gympie home for charity Christmas light display