Deck the house: How local businesses are providing stress-free holiday light installations
Between tangled light strands and dangerous ladder climbing or roof scaling, it’s hard to deck your home’s exterior for the holidays. Local businesses aim to take on that challenge for clients, turning Capital Region houses into dazzling displays worthy of slow drive-bys.
Ryan Babin has spent almost two years making local homes shine through his holiday lighting service Little Light of Mine. Babin has always loved holiday decor, and after some encouragement from family and friends, he turned his seasonal passion into a side gig business.
“Christmas lights have always been a hobby of mine,” Babin says. “I don’t really hunt and fish. For the past five to 10 years I’ve always done a Christmas display at our house and a Halloween display that just grew and grew.”
Since launching Little Light of Mine in 2023, Babin has doubled his first-year client number to around 30 clients. He says that because he does this personally and on the side, he’s only allowed to take on so much and is almost at capacity with his current group of customers. Babin says he feels people look to professional installs because exterior displays have become more popular.
All Babin’s clients have to worry about is trimming their trees and decking the halls; he handles all outdoor lighting. From trimming roofs to wrapping trunks and branches, he is a one-man show offering his customers a hands-off approach. He supplies all of the lights along with other touches like illuminated wreathes. Some installs take just an hour, while others can be detailed enough to take up to eight hours to complete. Once December wraps, he comes back to take it all down.
“I’m going to personally be in contact with (my customers) the whole time,” he says. “There’s not a crew of people going out to their house. It’s just me personally. If there’s any maintenance calls or any issues they have, I’m coming back out there to handle any of those issues for them.”
A service like this takes a lot of planning, so Babin reaches out in early May or June to get the process going. He says his business and similar local ones book up in August or September, so he encourages anyone looking for a holiday lighting service to start thinking about it early on.
Babin sketches out three different options at three different price points to ensure that the client can get exactly what they’re looking for. This year’s installation started at the very beginning of November.
“It’s about making that vision come to fruition,” Babin says. “I feel like I do a pretty good job of delivering on what the vision was versus what the outcome is. … All 16 of my customers last year came back for year two.”
Though Babin focuses on Christmas lighting, he hopes to add Mardi Gras services soon. Earlier this year, he worked on a house that was situated on the Krewe of Southdowns parade route. In 2025, he plans to target people along that route and the newer Krewe of Shenandoah route since both are night parades.
Though Little Light of Mine has limited availability this year, check out its services here.
A few other businesses offering professional holiday light installation
• Preaux Wash & Landscape Lighting
This article originally appeared in 225 magazine’s 225 Daily newsletter.
