As the holiday season is fast approaching, many of us are investing in outdoor decorations to give our homes a little extra festivity. Whether you favor Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or another holiday the most, odds are you’re looking to enjoy it with some outdoor decorations that can get quite expensive. Of course, the downside to placing the decorations outside your home is that they are left where anyone can come by and snag them from your yard. While stealing holiday decorations is the opposite of the holiday spirit, unfortunately it can still happen. Don’t worry—we won’t let this cramp your holiday style.
Thieves often steal outdoor decorations as a way to make a quick buck re-selling them. Their intention is to put as little effort as possible into the scheme. This means that the most effective methods to prevent theft make potential thieves’ targets inconvenient somehow. The methods we recommend can be boiled down to three basic concepts: make the decoration difficult to carry, difficult to remove from your yard, or too risky to take. There are multiple ways to achieve each of these goals, so read on to determine which is the best method for you.
Weight Your Outdoor Decorations
One of the best ways to make your decorations inconvenient to carry is to make sure they are too heavy to move. If a thief can’t easily carry something off, they’re more likely to be deterred from your outdoor decorations. You can always purchase a decoration that is already heavy, but if this is too difficult for you to manage, there’s always the option of weighing down your lightweight decor. You could use cinderblocks, sandbags, or other methods to add a bit more resistance, ensuring thieves can’t just run off with your things.
Tie Down Your Outdoor Decorations
If weighing down your decorations isn’t the best option for you, you can always tie them down to your property. Tying down your decor makes it difficult to remove from your yard by increasing the time thieves have to spend in the crime scene. Even if the ties might be removable with some effort, most thieves won’t have the patience to stick around and take out every single anchor or tie. Here are some effective methods of tying down your decorations:
Zip Ties
If you have holiday lights around your tree or post on your house, zip tying them down makes them more difficult to remove. Sure, a thief could cut every single zip tie, but who has time for that when they’re trying to make a quick getaway?
Lawn Anchors & Stakes
Lawn anchors and stakes allow you to attach your decorations to the ground. This, once again, makes a thief’s life just a little bit more difficult. If you have inflatable decorations, staking them to the ground will help protect against thieves and the elements. You may have to get creative with other decorations, but any method of securing them is better than none.
Padlocks
Chaining up your decorations requires thieves to have an extra tool on them to cut the lock. Of course, that’s always a possibility, but once again, adding the lock creates an extra step for thieves that may make your outdoor decorations just inconvenient enough to deter them.
Increase the Risk for Thieves
Probably the most effective method of securing your outdoor decorations is to make them too risky for a thief to go near. This could be as simple as keeping your decor close to your house or as complicated as a full blown home security system. Here are a few suggestions to up security around your home:
Motion-Detector Lights
Adding a light that turns on when it detects motion is a great deterrent for anyone who may be up to no good at your home. Removing the cover of darkness creates a great risk for thieves and can also make them think that you have spotted them and turned the light on yourself. These lights work even better in combination with security cameras as they increase the visibility for the camera.
Security Cameras
Security cameras, like the lights, protect more than just your outdoor decorations. If your entire house and yard is monitored by cameras, anyone up to no good is putting themselves at a great risk of getting caught by venturing onto your property. Some home security cameras are motion-responsive as well, meaning they will alert you when motion is detected and can help you catch someone in the act. Cameras can also help you identify and catch a thief in the rare event they are successful at stealing your decorations.
Outdoor decorations may seem like a silly thing to be so worried about, but they truly can become an expensive investment. Ultimately, anything that is important enough to you to put out in your yard every year is worth protecting. Plus, some of these security measures such as lights and cameras protect more than just outdoor decorations.
If you are looking for a way to protect your holiday spirit, Liquid Video Technologies can help you. We install both residential and commercial security systems, cameras, and lights that help make our clients feel more secure in the places they frequent. If you are interested in any of these security measures during the holiday season or otherwise, contact us today and we can help you create a safer life for yourself and anyone you share your home or business with.
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