National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a classic of the genre, and the stand-out scene has to be the one with the Christmas lights covering the front of the house. What could make Clark Griswold’s Christmas even better? Smart Christmas lights.
Reviewing smart Christmas lights has its downsides. There’s nothing quite so depressing as having to set up a Christmas Tree in the middle of October for a review. But, the smart lights are worth it.
Dynamic lighting
Christmas lights normally fall into two categories: the horrendous flashing mess or the painfully dull. With smart lights, you can have both and everything in between. I love my Balsam Hill tree with Twinkly lights. For starters, the lights are pre-wrapped around the branches, and work as soon as the three sections of the tree are connected.
But, it’s the range of effects that has me. There are bright flashes of colour, waves of patterns, or simple glowing effects. And, the brightness can be adjusted, so the tree’s never annoying even when watching TV.
And, I can link these smart lights to my Twinkly Reindeer, so that they both show the same colour pattern.
The Reindeer is one of my favourite things at Christmas. He sits outside the front of the house, and I often hear kids stopping outside amazed at his colour show.
He can be a bit crazy if you go mad with the patterns. “Looks like Rudolph’s on LSD,” said one man getting into his car. A quick tap of the app had the reindeer back to normal, and he brightens up the front garden during Christmas.
There’s a massive range of smart lights for different purposes, too. I use the Nanoleaf Matter Smart Holiday String Lights in the bay window, and they stay up until at least February, their colourful and gentle patterns helping to brighten up a dull time of year.
And, I love the Govee Curtain Lights Pro. Who doesn’t want a dancing Santa to brighten up their garden?
Lights do Matter
Best of all, most of these smart lights are Matter or Apple Home compatible, so I can add them all the Home app. While the Home app doesn’t give full scene control, I can add all of the lights to one control, and either schedule them or turn everything off with the tap of a button without having to go around and turn plugs off.
It’s handy when I’m out, too. There’s nothing like walking towards a dark home on a cold evening, only to tap the button and have the house light up, and have a neighbour come up and say, “It’s a beaut, Dave, it’s a beaut!”
