When winter comes around, ‘tis the season for wood stacking, snow shoveling, cocoa sipping and making merry. And there’s no better way to do that than a holiday light show. Seasonal lighting can spark up the night and long, dark gray days of winter, giving your Hamptons home a little extra fa-la-la illumination for you (and your neighbors) to enjoy.
In fact, more and more Americans are choosing to light up their lives during the winter holiday season says a market research report on the lighting industry. Rebounding from a post-pandemic drop in demand for decorative lighting, the niche sector experienced an uptick of 17% in 2024, according to the most recent report from the Freedonia Group, which has covered the segment since 2013. And the bulbs don’t appear to be burning out anytime soon: demand is projected to continue to increase nearly 10% each year through 2028 as “consumers desire the festive atmosphere created by decorative lighting sets, both during holidays and year-round in outdoor living spaces.”
Other industry sources also point to the increasing trend of “permanent outdoor holiday lighting,” driven by people using their outdoor space more, commercial properties using lighting to create a welcoming atmosphere and the evolution of smart technology that transforms exterior spaces with a tap on a device (no more flick of the switch needed).
Go for the glow
Ease of technology is indeed a trend lighting specialists on the East End say is popular with their clients.
Barbara Watral of Dragonfly Landscape Design (159 Old Country Road, Speonk, 631-288-8158) says she and her designers are always thinking of designs that do double duty, during the holidays and beyond. Tree wrapping, for example, works during the holidays with other ornaments, but then, Watral says, “people put away the ornaments, leave the trees lit and extend the holiday feel through the winter.”
This year clients are keen on LED spritzers, spheres with thin illuminated tendrils of varying lengths—think mid-century atomic-style designs—that can either nest in or suspend from trees, creating a fairyland look.
“If the client has winter greens, we can [use them] in the pots at the main entrance or on porches. It adds a nice flare,” says Joe Graviano, one of Dragonfly’s lighting designers. Co-designer Jessica Jayne adds “They’re very fun and they work in so many different ways. They have a little twinkle to them so it breaks up the solid color a little bit.”
Watral says such products create “more of a winter wonderland … and it’s neutral in terms of your beliefs and your faith.”
Jim Frankenbach started Southampton Christmas Lights (542 County Road 39, Southampton, 631-283-2431) in 2000 as a seasonal adjunct to his garden center, but now he also meets the demand for creative lighting that works all year-round, working with deciduous trees, wrapping each branch individually with white lights. “It’s a specialty for us and it’s really beautiful,” he says.
Tradition is still traditional
People getting their homes into the holiday spirit isn’t new, says Frankenbach, “but having the time to do it themselves is what’s changed.”
In the past, he recalls, jobs were more traditional — strings of lights on evergreens or an ornamental accent on a house. Now, he says, jobs are more intricate and expansive, including deciduous trees, other elements of the landscape, and the house.
It’s a trend keeping with other local aesthetics — a look that is sophisticated but still festive. But, Frankenbach says, traditional evergreens are still very much in play.
“The holidays are all about tradition and if that’s what people had when they were kids, that’s what they want now,” he says. “There are still people who want that big, old fashioned looking light on an evergreen.”
Watral agrees, saying that though technology has changed—particularly the ease and diversity of LED lighting—people’s sense of nostalgia has not.
“We have clients that have done LED, where you can change them, but most of our clients are really quite traditional,” she says. “It’s a lot of white lights with big red bows, green wreaths, some candy canes.
We do a lot of figurines.” Soldiers, Santas, snowmen and nutcrackers are popular with commercial and municipal clients she says. Just don’t ask her, though, to do inflatable decorations.
“We don’t do the blow-up figurines: that’s in the same bucket as multicolored lights,” she says. “There are lots of folks who enjoy them, and that’s great, but we don’t see a lot of demand for that type of lighting.”
Joy Keyser of Lighting the Christmas Joy in East Hampton (631-488-7343) agrees, citing the Hamptons preference for warm white lights. But, for her commercial clients that request the colored lights, “They leave them up all year round, because it’s just part of their decor.”
Working throughout the Hamptons, Keyser takes more of an interior design approach in her work. She started by helping people decorate for parties, then volunteered on select commercial projects such as the Montauk Chamber of Commerce’s annual holiday festival.
“The first two years, I just donated my time, products and my guys, because I figured it was good for the kids, it was good for the towns … it was just a good, positive thing,” she says. “I always did interior designing on the side, but it was just always for friends, family, associates. And finally, someone said to me, why don’t you do this for a living?” she recalls. About four years ago she decided to make holiday décor a part of her offerings and created her company.
She now has a busy holiday schedule by word of mouth, and starts the client relationship with a visit to their site.
“I can get a feel for the person or what they’re looking for based on how their home is decorated. That tells you a lot about what they’re interested in … if they’re more modern, contemporary or traditional,” she says. “Every customer is different, their budget’s different, their concept, what they want, what they don’t want.”
“The holidays are all about traditions,” says Jim Frankenbach of Southampton Christmas Lights. “There are still people who want that big, old-fashioned looking lights on an evergreen.” (Left photo by istock, right photo by Eleanor P. Labrozzi)
She says Hamptons clients tend to trend toward “clean and classy” designs, but she says, “I’ll be honest with you, I do have some customers that have stuff from 50 years ago.”
She can work with it all, finding a place for treasures that honor family memories and in some cases, help people experiencing difficult transitions during the holidays—perhaps in a new home or after a recent loss of a family member.
“The holidays are just such an emotional time for people, and everybody brings something different to it,” she says. “You kind of have to be like a psychologist, and feel for people and what they’re going through.”
Bright lights, big (or small) bucks
When it comes to costs, the sky can be the limit or you can start with a modest budget and build your inventory over the years.
Frankenbach says his clients typically get a price for the first year that includes the material, and costs for setting up and taking down. He stores clients’ inventory. “The following year, they own the lights, so the only thing they need to pay is the labor.” Keyser offers similar storage services.
Watral says their clients who want a “wow factor” are probably spending more in the range of $3,000 to $10,000, but an average spend for more modest setups is around $1,500.
“We always suggest starting with the lights, because that’s like the foundation,” she says. “When we do landscaping, we start with foundation plants and then we can add, as we call it, ‘the fluff.’ We can add annually and build an inventory for your home. It’s like building a garden—you don’t have to put it all in at once.”
And, just as you shouldn’t wait until winter to have your chimney cleaned, you shouldn’t wait until December to book your lighting plan, whether it’s a new design or a reinstallation. Frankenbach says by November, his phone is ringing off the hook.
“It’s time to book,” he says. “Everyone wants lights up by Thanksgiving, and they claim they’re not flipping the switch ‘til Thanksgiving, but they always do it early.”
