Holiday Decorating Services in Chicago
HandyBandi is the holiday decorating service Chicago homeowners call once the boxes come down from the attic and someone has to hang everything. We work with your own lights, garlands. And yard pieces, run the roofline, wrap the shrubs. And take it all down in January. One visit, no year-long contract, no rented gear sitting in a warehouse the other eleven months. That covers a quick hang my holiday decorations request or full holiday decorating help Chicago homeowners book every fall.
We Hang What You Already Own
Every holiday decorating company in Chicago wants to sell you a package. Their lights, their garlands, their storage bin with your name on it, locked into a three-year contract before the first bulb goes up. HandyBandi does the opposite. Bring your own decorations. And we hang them.
Ladder work, clip placement, wire runs along the roofline, wrapping shrubs and porch railings, that’s the job. Your ornaments, your color scheme, your grandmother’s plastic reindeer if that’s what’s going up this year. We just handle the part that involves standing on a ladder in November.
One visit gets you decorated. No storage fee over the summer, no seasonal contract renewing itself in your inbox, no rental gear that has to go back out in January. If you already own it, we’ll put it up. And when the season’s over, we’ll take it back down.
That’s the whole model behind our holiday decorators Chicago crews. Customer-supplied decorations, professional installation, nothing else attached. Browse our recent projects in Chicago to see real rooflines before you book.
Why Choose Us?
HandyBandi runs the seasonal decorating service Chicago homeowners actually want on the roof, not a subcontractor from a lighting franchise three counties away. We’re part of the same handyman services in Chicago you’d call for a leaky faucet or a loose railing, just working a seasonal schedule every fall. No sales pitch for a package you didn’t ask for, just a crew that shows up, hangs what you own. And leaves the yard looking finished.
Why Choose Us:
Service Details:
What We Decorate
Holiday decor installation Chicago covers more roofline than most homeowners expect once the ladder actually goes up. Gutter line lights are the obvious start, but the same crew also wraps shrubs and trees, dresses porch columns and railings. And clips lights along eaves, peaks. And dormers most guys skip because they’re awkward to reach.
We use gutter clips, shingle tab clips. And all-purpose clips depending on what your roofline actually gives us to work with, not one clip style forced onto every house. Two-flats, bungalows. And greystones all need slightly different approaches. And we’ve hung enough of them to know which clip holds through a January thaw and which one doesn’t.
Porch columns get wrapped the same careful way, spiral runs that don’t leave gaps or bunch up at the base. A condo balcony comes with its own limits on what the building allows. And we work within those before a single clip goes up. That’s the outdoor decorating service Chicago condo and single-family owners both rely on.
Halloween and Christmas both fall under the same holiday decorating service Chicago umbrella, but they’re different jobs with different timelines and different props. Below are both, with what each one actually covers.
What's Included with a Service?
Christmas Light Installation
Roofline, shrub wrap, tree wrap. And porch railings, all with your own lights if you have them, plugged into an outdoor timer if you want them on and off on a schedule. We handle the ladder work along eaves, peaks. And dormers, then come back for takedown in January. See the full breakdown on our christmas light installation Chicago page for pricing and booking windows specific to that service.
Halloween Decorating Service
Outdoor decor, lighting. And the bigger props, inflatables, animatronics, yard scenes, installed and anchored so an October wind off the lake doesn’t take them down overnight. Setup runs on its own September booking window, separate from the Christmas rush. And breakdown is included right after the holiday. Full details, including anchoring methods and pricing, live on our halloween decorating service Chicago page.
What Holiday Decorating Costs in Chicago
The holiday decorating cost Chicago homeowners pay varies mostly by scope. Hanging your own decorations typically runs $200 to $400 per job, depending on how much roofline and how many shrubs are involved. The average installation check across the city lands around $600, with most jobs falling somewhere between $264 and $937.
Per linear foot, expect $2.50 to $7.00, split roughly between $0.50 to $2.00 in materials and $2.00 to $5.00 in labor. Two-story rooflines run toward the higher end since ladder access takes longer and needs more hands.
Compare that to a full seasonal package from a company that supplies its own garlands. Those start around $2,000 a year on a three-year contract, with mid-tier options closer to $2,495 and premium packages reaching $3,495. A complete package with design, materials, maintenance. And takedown can run $2,800 to $7,500 or more.
HandyBandi prices every job by scope, not by a bundled seasonal package tied to a multi-year commitment. The table below covers our standard rates alongside a couple of market reference points for comparison.
| Service | Chicago Price |
|---|---|
| Hanging decorations you already own | By request |
| Roofline lights, single-story | By request |
| Roofline lights, two-story | By request |
| Shrubs, trees and porch railings | By request |
| Halloween display setup | By request |
| January takedown | By request |
| Adding an exterior outlet | By request |
| Market reference: full seasonal package | By request |
| Market reference: permanent lighting | By request |
| Emergency service | +$250 fee |
When to Book in Chicago
Booking for Christmas starts filling up in September and October. By the end of October, most Chicago decorating companies, HandyBandi included, are closing out new requests for roofline lighting before Thanksgiving. If you’re calling in the first week of December hoping for a slot before the holidays, the honest answer is that the calendar is already tight.
Halloween runs on a shorter timeline of its own. Those bookings come in through September, with setup happening in the weeks before the holiday itself, well ahead of the roofline rush that follows it.
Takedown is its own separate booking. We schedule January removals in the second and third week of the month, weather depending. And that part of the calendar doesn’t face the same crunch October does.
If your fascia or siding needs attention, exterior painting Chicago work is easiest to schedule before October, once ladders come out for lights that’s no longer the priority. The practical takeaway either way: call in September if you want your pick of dates for a seasonal display setup Chicago crews can actually keep.
Why Chicago Houses Make This Harder
A lot of Chicago bungalows and two-flats built before the war simply don’t have an exterior outlet. That’s the first thing we check on a walkthrough, because no outlet means no power for anything we hang. And adding a GFCI outlet is its own line item, not an afterthought.
Gangways and alleys between houses run 1.2 to 1.5 meters wide in a lot of neighborhoods. And sometimes there’s nowhere to actually set a ladder for a side roofline. Wind off the lake doesn’t help either, it catches poorly secured lines and takes them down overnight.
Staples and nails through gutters and shingles cause their own damage. And a punctured gutter freezes solid come winter. If a previous install already did that kind of damage, our carpentry services Chicago team can repair the gutter or fascia before decorations go back up. Vinyl clips also get brittle in the cold, which is exactly why we push installs into October and early November instead of waiting until the last week before Christmas.
Extension cords and exterior outlets both need to meet basic safety standards, something both the Electrical Safety Foundation International and the U.S. Fire Administration holiday fire safety guidance cover in more detail.
If You Want Permanent Lighting Instead
Permanent architectural lighting runs about $25 to $35 per foot plus roughly $650 for the controller, with a typical Chicago install landing near $4,600 once everything’s wired in. That’s a different trade, installed by authorized dealers of the lighting manufacturer. And it’s not something HandyBandi installs. If that’s the direction you’re headed, at least you know the ballpark before you start calling around.
FAQ:
Chicago homeowners searching for someone to put up my decorations Chicago or holiday decorator near me tend to ask the same seven questions before booking, whether it's their first year hiring it out or their tenth. Cost, timing, contracts. And what happens to an older house without an exterior outlet come up more than anything else, so here are straight answers to each one before you pick up the phone.
+− Can you hang decorations I already own?
Yes, that’s the whole model. Bring your own lights, garlands. And yard pieces. And we handle the installation.
+− How much does holiday decorating cost in Chicago?
Most jobs run $200 to $400, with per-foot pricing between $2.50 and $7.00 depending on scope and access.
+− When should I book for the holidays in Chicago?
Book in September or October. Slots fill fast. And by late October most crews are already booked solid.
+− Do I have to sign a seasonal contract?
No. One visit, no contract, no storage fee. Call again next year if you want us back.
+− What if my house has no outdoor outlet?
We can add one during the same visit. It’s a common issue in older Chicago bungalows and two-flats.
+− Do you take the decorations down in January?
Yes, takedown happens the second or third week of January, weather permitting, everything labeled and boxed.
+− Do you store decorations over the summer?
No, we don’t offer storage. You keep your own decorations at home between seasons, no fee attached.