Now that the holiday season is in full swing, many people are running around town looking for great deals on gifts, and gathering the ingredients they need to for various holiday recipes.

Households across the Country are busy decorating with the holiday cheer and planning dinner parties and holiday activities inviting friends and family. Sharing meals and memories with loved ones is a fun part of the holiday season.

If you are getting your home in the holiday spirit with decorations and party planning, make sure to follow these tips for keeping your activities energy-efficient:

• Plan ahead. If you are hosting a dinner party and have many dishes to cook, make a plan so that your oven is only on for as much time as necessary. Allowing the oven to preheat, cook, turn off, and then preheat again for another dish wastes up to 60% more energy than simply leaving the oven on. Cook as many dishes as you can within a specific window of time so that your oven is only on for those few hours.
• Turn it down. During the hours that you are running the oven, turn the thermostat down on your heating system. Having your oven on at 350 or more, will increase the temperature in your home (single-story) by a couple of degrees, making it unnecessary to have the thermostat turned up so high.
• Use LED lights. If you are decorating the inside or outside of your home with strands of lights, make sure that they are LED. If you are pulling lights out of storage from years prior and they are not LED lights, it is worth the money to replace them. LED lights use more than 60% less energy than traditional strands of lights and they last 10 times longer. Many Energy Star LED lights and holiday decorations come with a mail-in rebate or coupon that will give you some money back too.
• Avoid the inflatables. The new trend now is to have large inflatables in your yard for passersby to enjoy. However, inflatables use quite a bit of power. If you can help it, opt to purchase lawn decorations that are made from plastic or wood and don’t use any power.

Add some beautiful holiday cheer to your home without adding too much to your monthly bill by following these tips. You can have a beautifully decorated home AND save money by just doing a couple of things a little differently.