Summary
- Use smart plugs to control holiday lights remotely, with your voice, or by automating the process entirely.
- Buy as many smart plugs as you need, and set different rules and routines for each connected decoration.
- Choose Matter smart plugs for the best smart home compatibility, or pick cheaper options to keep the price down.
Are your holiday lights connected to one of those old-fashioned timer switches or, worse still, manually operated? You can do better with one of the cheapest smart home upgrades available.
Your Festive Decorations Need a Smart Plug
Smart plugs add remote on-off functionality to any “dumb” device. This makes them especially useful for lighting, particularly the sort of holiday lights you see at Christmas or Halloween.
When you add a smart plug to your setup, you don’t lose any functionality. These plugs connect to the wall socket, and allow you to connect another device, acting like a passthrough. They even have a regular switch on them for toggling them on or off the old-fashioned way.
But the real start of the show is the fact that they connect to other devices like smartphones and smart home hubs. Pick a smart plug that works with your smart home ecosystem of choice and you’re good to go. You can even repurpose it for something else when the holidays are over.
While there are “smart” decorative lights now like the Govee Icicle Lights and Govee Christmas String Lights, your regular old decorations probably have plenty of life left in them yet. They might already be stapled to your roof, just waiting for you to flip the switch.
Control and Automate Your Lights with Ease
Most smart plugs will have a dedicated app you can use to control them, but a better option is to integrate them with your smart home ecosystem. This will let you control them using your smartphone or tablet of choice. For example, if you have an iPhone you’ll see your smart plug appear in the Home app.
On top of this, when setting up your smart plug you’ll be able to give it a name. If you have a smart speaker, you’ll be able to say something like “Alexa, turn on the Christmas tree,” and the assistant will take care of your request. This works with Google and Apple smart speakers too.
Better still, you can automate the entire procedure by setting up routines. Create a rule to turn on the smart plug (and anything that’s connected to it) at a set time of day and turn it off again later. You can get as complex as you like here, but for most of us turning the lights on when it gets dark and off again at night is good enough.
Buying the Right Smart Plug
Depending on your level of holiday cheer and dedication, you might want to buy a few different smart plugs for different devices. The good news is that these are often packs, which will save you some money. Multiple smart plugs let you set individual rules for different decorations too.
For the best all-round compatibility, Matter smart plugs work with all four major smart home platforms (Amazon, Google, Apple, and Samsung or SmartThings). Most smart speakers can act as a hub for this purpose (read more from Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung). TP-Link’s Kasa Smart Plugs and Tapo Mini Smart Plugs are good examples, each with app control as a backup.
Kasa Smart Plug
The Kasa smart plug works with Matt, Alexa, Google Assistant, and SmartThings. They’re simple and cost-effective!
Cheaper options exist too. If you’re all-in on Amazon and only need Alexa support, check out the Amazon Basics Smart Plug. Google Home users can grab a GHome Smart Mini Plug, while Apple HomeKit users can grab a two-pack of Meross Mini Smart Plugs. There are even outdoor versions from Amazon and Meross.
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Amazon Basics Outdoor Smart Plug
It doesn’t come with support for Google Home or Apple HomeKit, but the Amazon Basics Outdoor Smart Plug is a no-frills product that’s easy to use and packed full of features.
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Meross Outdoor Smart Plug
The ideal solution for your outdoor space, the meross Outdoor Smart Plug offers seamless voice control with HomeKit, Alexa, and SmartThings, with independent control of both outlets, and robust protection against the elements.
Another option is to pick up Home Depot’s Hubspace Smart Plug (which also supports Google Home and Amazon Alexa). Despite consistently offering low prices, Hubspace devices come with a few drawbacks.
Smart plugs are a great place to start if you haven’t started your smart home journey yet. The next step is planning your smart home room-by-room.
