These Topeka-area businesses bring holiday spirit without the hassle of untangling lights

Pumpkin spice is nearly behind us and candy canes are ahead.

Many home and business owners are now thinking about holiday decorating.

Exterior lights usher in the season and illuminate long winter nights, but untangling, repairing, hanging and removing them is time consuming and labor intensive. That's where these Topeka businesses come in.

These three local businesses hang exterior lights and store them throughout the year, so their customers can have a merrier holiday season.

Topeka Holiday Lights

Owners: Erik and Sarah Oldberg.

Contact: 785-379-1235.

Erik Oldberg, who works in the landscape industry, expanded into holiday lighting design six years ago. Topeka Holiday Lights offers custom-designed light displays for residential and commercial properties in Topeka, Kansas City, Lansing and Leavenworth.

“We use commercial LED lights cut just for their home or business, and we customize the timers for our clients,” said Oldberg. “We’re really about long-term relationships with people. They want to know it’s going to get done right.”

Oldberg said his company does about 25 residential and 10 to 12 commercial properties each year. They begin hanging lights in early November and leave them off until after Thanksgiving.

“At the end of the season, we take the lights down and put them in bins and store them until next year,” said Oldberg.

Topeka Holiday Lights maintains its lights during the holidays and between seasons, changing out the bulbs every two years. Oldberg said all of the equipment required for a lighting display is included in the price of the service, including lights, clips and cords.

Pricing is based on linear feet, gutters and gable lines. He estimates the cost for most residential properties to be between $500 and $900 per season.

“A lot of times people will do the front only or three sides of the house and run lights along the peaks and in the trees," he said. "It depends on the client and what the holidays mean to their family.”

Oldberg said some clients choose to package Christmas light design with their landscaping services and said now is the time for interested homeowners to call for lights.

“We hang lights for our current clients the first two to three weeks in November,” said Oldberg.

One question he gets a lot is whether Topeka Holiday Lights will hang a homeowner’s store-bought lights, and the answer is no.

“We look at this as a lease to own,” said Oldberg. “If you decide after three years that you want to do it yourself in the future, we will hand you the lights. Untangling lights, changing bulbs and making (store-bought lights) fit the specifications of the house is too complicated.”

Topeka Holiday Lights sponsors Cancer Lights, which provides free holiday lighting services to one family each year that has been affected by cancer.

“We’re going to do one free house for someone in the community who was affected by cancer this year," Oldberg said, "so they can have Christmas lights for the season.”

Squeegee Squad

Owners: Mike and Melissa Coburn.

Contact: 785-215-5159.

Squeegee Squad primarily provides window cleaning, power washing, gutter cleaning and interior high dusting services. The company ventured into the residential holiday lighting business in 2020 and began hanging commercial lights three years ago.

“We offer a hands-off experience,” said president and CEO Melissa Coburn. “We lease you the lights, cut them to your home, and install and set the timers. You can do any combination of lights.”

Serving the center band of Kansas from Manhattan to Lawrence, Squeegee Squad is certified by the Christmas Light Installation Pros Association, holds a high-rise safety record and carries insurance.

“We had to go to certified Christmas light training and are CLIPA certified for safety,” said Coburn.

She estimates that Squeegee Squad decorates 100 residential houses per season and handles two to three major commercial displays each year.

The company is currently in partnership with the Topeka Zoo, hanging all lights higher than six feet from the ground for Zoo Lights. It also has a hand in decorating Evergy Plaza in downtown Topeka, Winter Wonderland in Wichita and Winter Walk sponsored by the Washburn Alumni Association.

When the season is over, Squeegee Squad stores the lights in its warehouse and gives clients a 10% discount the following year to rehang them. It also offers post-holiday cleaning services.

“Right after Christmas when you go to take down your Christmas decorations is a good time to clean interior windows,” said Coburn. “If people bundle services, they get a 5% discount.”

Coburn said Squeegee Squad offers a standard price based on the level of job difficulty, including number of stories and peaks involved. She said price isn't necessarily determined by linear feet alone and that quotes are based on linear feet and level of difficulty.

“We currently have 40 slots available,” said Coburn. “Now is the time to call. Our phone is ringing off the wall right now. Call the office or visit our website to request an estimate.”

Topeka Christmas Lights

Owner: Adrian Revels.

Contact: 785-506-7357.

Topeka Christmas Lights serves Shawnee County and the western edge of Lawrence. Owner Adrian Revels said his company offers full custom install of LED Christmas lights and permanent landscape lighting, including lighting for outdoor weddings.

The lights are custom fit to each client’s house and maintained throughout the season. If a bulb goes out or there are other issues with your lights, Topeka Christmas Lights will respond within 24 to 48 hours, weather permitting, to fix the problem.

“We try to make sure we’re providing a premium, quality service,” said Revels.

At the end of the season, Topeka Christmas Lights removes your holiday display and stores it for the year. It also conducts annual inspections of each of clients’ lights to assess any repair needs ahead of the next holiday lighting season.

“The Kansas weather is harsh,” said Revels. “Every year, we go through and check everything, and every three to four years, we change out all of the bulbs in your lights. Old bulbs take away from how brightly your lights shine, and you can’t change out just one bulb because some will be brighter than others.”

Revels said the services are ideal for anyone who is afraid of heights, doesn’t like getting up on ladders or dreads getting their Christmas lights out each year. Pricing begins at $495 for a custom light display from Topeka Christmas Lights.

“We try to make it affordable for people,” said Revels. “We want to help people have a merrier Christmas, and lights bring about the Christmas spirit.”

He said now is the time to call to be put on the list for custom-installed holiday lighting this year. Topeka Christmas Lights will also offer a new service during the 2024 holiday season.

“Next year, we’re going to be offering Christmas tree decorating services," Revels said. "We’ll decorate your tree or bring a custom-designed tree. It will be a turnkey service, so you can go to work and come home to your tree up, or go to work and come home to find your tree down.”

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka-area businesses bring holiday spirit without the hassle