For many Long Islanders, the holiday season begins the moment the lights go up — rooftops twinkling, wreaths glowing and trees shimmering in gold. But fewer homeowners are climbing ladders or untangling cords these days. Instead, they’re turning to professionals like Mr. Holiday’s Lights, a Long Island company that’s made seasonal decorating a stress-free tradition.
“The process is very easy,” said owner Brendan McCaffrey, who started the business more than 15 years ago. “People call in, we usually get a photo of their house, confirm the current condition, ask a little bit about what they want and then through a link on our website with the catalog, we’re able to walk through the display. The catalog has a bunch of pictures of previous work and items being used on properties. They get their quote and choose whether to purchase or rent their lights.”
Most clients, McCaffrey said, choose rentals — a model his company helped pioneer.
“We were one of the first companies offering a broad scope of this work,” he said. “It has gotten really big because of all the conventions and home service businesses.”
The rise of professional light installation, McCaffrey added, isn’t just about convenience or spectacle — it’s also about safety.
“The houses are so big on Long Island now that to go on roofs and everything, it’s pretty dangerous,” he said. “People see their neighbors with professional displays and it’s not anything too crazy in price. Most people don’t mind spending the money to have a company come set everything up, make everything look perfect, take it down and store it. They literally don’t have to put a single finger on any lights or ladders.”
That combination of safety and style has helped make holiday decorating one of the fastest-growing seasonal home services. McCaffrey said Mr. Holiday’s Lights installs displays for “a few hundred” homes each winter across Nassau, Suffolk and Queens.
“For a basic package, it’s usually done within an hour or two,” he said. “We have multiple crews doing multiple houses a day. It all depends on the project — some can take several days, like when we worked on the movie ‘Christmas vs. the Walters,’ which was filmed in Huntington. But for most homeowners, we’re in and out the same day.”
Customers also receive full maintenance throughout the season.
“When the lights and decorations are part of the rental, that’s on us,” McCaffrey said. “Anything that’s not looking right or if a bulb burns out, we come right out and fix it. It’s all included in one price.”
The storage factor, he added, is another reason people love the service.
“The best thing about the rental is you don’t have to store anything,” McCaffrey said. “You could also change up your display every single season. We have a 40-page catalog and if you’re with us for five years, you could spend that time rotating and trying different designs and colors. When you purchase lights, you’re kind of locked into that same setup every year.”
While Christmas remains the busiest time of year, Mr. Holiday’s Lights now operates year-round, decorating for weddings, Diwali, restaurants and even permanent installations.
“We do low-voltage landscape lighting, permanent lighting — Govee lights you’re seeing everywhere now — weddings, Diwali, restaurants and country clubs,” McCaffrey said. “We do about 10 to 15 Govee installs every single day right now.”
McCaffrey’s team has tackled everything from modest rooflines to massive displays stretching for miles. “We did a five-mile-long light project in the city that Target sponsored,” he said. “There was a YouTube video made about it — it was called ‘The Switch.’ As far as residential projects go, we’ve done some monster homes in Old Brookville and the North Shore; those are beautiful.”
For homeowners considering professional installation, prices start around $1,000. “That’s going to get you a very minimal package,” McCaffrey said. “But that price includes setup, takedown and service visits — because it’s not just the time we spend installing, it’s the whole package combined.”
Whether a customer wants subtle white icicles or a full-on “Griswold” display, McCaffrey said his team customizes each job.
“We always cater to whatever the customer wants,” he said. “If they want to go really big or just something simple, we make it happen. It’s usually figured out when we ask about their budget and preferences.”
The company’s beginnings, however, are rooted in something far more personal than profit. McCaffrey first hung holiday lights for a friend’s family coping with loss in 2004.
“My best friend’s father passed away of cancer and his mother was sick, too,” he recalled. “She said my friend didn’t want to put up decorations that year, so I went to Home Depot, spent like $600 or $700 on lights and did it for them. When the neighbors saw it, they came out and said, ‘Hey, that came out great — do you have a business or something?’ That’s when it clicked that this was something people would pay for, like a landscaper.”
Today, McCaffrey says decorating homes still holds the same sense of warmth and connection that inspired him two decades ago.
“Christmas is a time when the family all comes together,” he said. “It’s cozy, it’s the music, it’s the city — everything about it. I have two daughters now, so we have a tradition where we go see the tree and go out for dinner. That’s what it’s all about.”
From rooftop stars to glowing evergreens, McCaffrey and his crew bring holiday spirit to hundreds of homes each year — no ladders required.
“It really is a service that no one ever wants to deal with,” McCaffrey said, laughing. “The tangled wires, not knowing which bulb works — we take all that away. People just get to enjoy the magic.”
