Holiday Decorating

By Teri L. Lanza

Festivepanache goes a long way in creating holiday cheer for employees and customers ...andcreates great marketing opportunities, too.

A special thanks goes out to the Bialek family of Manitoba, Canada, for allowing usto draw on its "Merry Christmas Page," www.mts.net/~tyndall/cmas/xmas.htm.The family claims to be setting a record this year for the largest rural Christmas displayin "The Heart of Eastern Manitoba," with upward of 15,000 lights.

December is a time of celebration for most of your customers and employees, regardlessof their individual holiday traditions. Creating a festive environment during this seasonwill not only brighten people's spirits, but will generate warm sentiments about yourbusiness within the local community. Aside from the added visibility they create for yourfacility, decorations may even create unique marketing opportunities, particularly ifpaired with an event, such as a toy drive, or other publicity stunt, such as dressing yourmanager as Santa for a day.

Running abusiness is never easy, and finding time for those special touches can be daunting duringan already harried holiday season. After all, you have families to shop for, gifts to wrapand food to prepare, just like your customers do. But taking some time to dress up yourfacility's office and exterior with some coloful lights, ornaments, wreaths, a menorah,ribbons and bows is plain good business. It generates publicity, and communicates to thepeople who work with you--employees and tenants alike--that you are about more thanstorage.

Things You'll Need

Before you begin, make sure you have everything you'll need to hang, fasten and secureyour decorations. Some smart items to have include:

Don't Get Tangled...

Holidaylights, as dazzling as they can be once hung properly, can be a real nightmare. The cordsget tangled, the bulbs will or won't blink on command, one string works, one won't--theycan try your patience. But a facility outlined with these colorful beauties drawsattention, and what business doesn't want that? Following are some decorating ideas forthe exterior of your buildings.

Start with a plan. A diagram of your facility, including height and width dimensions,walkways and railings, will help you determine how many strings of lights you will need.Note also where your exterior electrical outlets are located. You can start with somethingsimple and elaborate a bit more each year.

When purchasing lights, consider miniature lights intended for exterior use. They areenergy-efficient and have cool-burning bulbs that pose less of a fire hazard. Read thepackaging to determine how many strings can be linked together without overloading yourcircuits. The package will also indicate how many feet of lighting you have to run alongroof edges, windows, etc. According to the Bialek family, hosts of the Merry ChristmasPage (www.mts.net/~tyndall/cmas/xmas.htm), full-size C-7and C-9 light sets have the longest life and most durable construction. They can bepurchased in strings of 25 and connected in up to six string lengths. If you choose to gowith miniatures, the maximum recommended amount of lights you can string together is 350to 400.

To determinehow many feet of lights you will need for a bush or tree, simply multiply its height byits average width in feet and then multiply by six. If you are using full-size rather thanminiature lights, divide the final number by two. Miniatures are the best choice fordeciduous trees. You can wrap each branch starting from the trunk and working to the endof the branches. For coniferous trees, use C-9 bulbs, beginning at the top and workingyour way down in a zig-zag pattern, or starting at the bottom and working up the tree incircles.

In general, strings of lights should be used to highlight architectural structures andshrubbery, while a floodlight can be placed to focus on a special feature, such as awreath, plastic snowman or decorated tree. Be sure to purchase flood- or spotlight basesrated for outdoor use with plastic, double-insulated bases, and invest in heavy-dutyoutdoor extension cords. Be sure to keep cords out of walkways or door openings.

Plastic hooks or clips, which can be purchased at any major home-retail or hardwarestore, should be used to secure lights to your building. The hooks secure to the structureand the lights simply slide into place. Never attempt to staple light strings toany surface, as you may penetrate the circuits. For gable roofs with metal facia, specialshingle tabs can be used that slide under shingles without causing any damage. Specialsticky tabs can also be affixed to smooth surfaces that allow you to insert a nylon cabletie to hold the lights in place.

Inevitably, there will be light strings that don't want to cooperate. If any part of astring will not light, first try firmly pushing each bulb into its base to secure it intothe socket. If that doesn't solve the problem, remove each bulb and base from its socket.Straighten the wires that extend from the base, bend them back around the base andre-insert the bulb into the socket. If the string has a fuse in the male end of theplug--and some do--then try replacing the fuse. Note: Burned-out bulbs should be replacedas soon as possible, so as not to cause the other bulbs to overheat.

Some final suggstions regarding lights: It's a good idea to store light stringsseparately so they don't tangle. There are special caddies made for this purpose, butlooping strings and securing them with tape is also effective. This will not only help youavoid frustration when unpacking them, but will make it easier to test the lights. Thereare testers available that make locating problem bulbs a snap.

Photographing Your Light Display

Holiday decorating is a great way to draw attention to--and even market--your facility.An impressive holiday display should be documented, not only because of all the time andeffort involved, but so its benefits can be reaped year-round. You may want to include aphoto of your decorated facility in a brochure or on your website. Sending a photo card ofyour decorated facility to your tenants--don't forget potential tenants--during theholiday season lends a nice touch.

If you are not a professional photographer, it will be a challenge to take clear,impressive photos of your display. You can capture the "magic" of your lights,however, by following some simple tips provided by the New York Institute of Photography(NIP), the world's largest photography school.

First, turn off your flash. That's right--even at night. Your flash will overwhelm theminiature tree lights, and their color will be imperceptible. What this means, though, isthat you won't have enough light for a normal, split-second exposure. If you have anautomatic camera, it will compensate by holding its shutter open for a longer period oftime (its meter will gauge how long). This creates a risk of blurring if either you oranything in the camera's view moves. NYI suggests the following: 1) Use a high-speed film,such as ISO 800, to cut down on the duration of the exposure; 2) use a tripod to steadythe camera, or use a solid surface such as a table top. For more information, visit www.nyip.com/tips/topic_holidaylights1298.html.

Other Decorating Ideas

Lights are a perfect holiday addition to the dècor of a facility's exterior, but youshould also consider decorating inside your rental office to further the festive spirit.The obvious embellishments include a Christmas tree or menorah, colorful pin-ups, glassbulbs or other decorations, tinsel, garland, wreaths, candy canes, etc. Here are some morespecialized concepts:

Spreading Cheer

Whatever you do to commemorate the season, consider spreading the cheer--to youremployees, your tenants and the local community. Team up with your local chamber ofcommerce, Boy or Girl Scouts, or other organization in a Toys for Tots drive. You probablyhave several tenants with old toys, clothing or other items they might like to donate tocharity this time of year. Ask them to go through their units and leave you with any suchitems.

Consider organizing a caroling outing or participating in a Sub-for-Santa program. Anddon't forget to contact the local media well in advance if you're going to feature anunusual or elaborate light display or participate in a holiday fund-raiser. Decoratingyour facility will put you in the spotlight--now is the time to do something worthnoticing.

Holiday Safety Tips

With the end-of-the-year holidays come lights, Christmas trees and other potential fireand electrical hazards. Following some simple guidelines will keep you, your family andtenants free from harm.

Tree Safety

Lighting Safety

Equipment

Inside Self-Storage wishes you a happy and safe holiday.

Holiday safety tips were provided by the Environmental Health and Safety Departmentof the University of Maryland (www.ehs.umaryland.edu);the Summit Area Jaycees of New Jersey (www.angelfire.com/nj/summitjc);Swift Office Solutions of Tempe, Ariz. (www.sosnet.com);KWTV of Oklahoma City, Okla. (www.kwtv.com); andChristmas2000.com.