Nobody could accuse the Hurn family of hiding their light under a bushel.

They are one of dozens of households that have turned The Lakes suburb into a Christmas wonderland this year.

And the trend appears to be escalating.

Luke Hurn has been staying with his parents Mick and Shirley Hurn recently, and has helped take their light display to a new level.

In fact, they are the winners of The Weekend Sun's Christmas Lights Drive which features 75 properties festooned with Christmas lights.

Since last Friday, public interest has gone through the roof with hundreds of people pouring through the suburb to check out the neighbourhood lights.

Luke says the interest from families is what makes it all worthwhile but there is no denying the competitive edge amongst the leading lights in the neighbourhood.

In fact, since The Weekend Sun picked its winner, the neighbours have upped their game and the Hurns were sitting third in a separate – suburb-specific contest.

'We are going to have to go bigger next year because our neighbours were putting up more (lights) yesterday,” Luke says, with a hint of exhaustion in his voice.

The display needs to be seen to be believed and comes complete with live Christmas trees and a larger than life, illuminated Santa in the front yard.

Luke was all set to bring a 5-metre-tall Santa down from Auckland but they thought it might be a bit over the top.

So what is the secret to success?

Well, the shine has gone off solar-powered Christmas lights, with the advent of low wattage LED's which shine brighter and last longer.

The Hurns have the whole thing set to a timer that comes on at 8pm and goes off at midnight.

But the lights haven't been spared the impact of COVID as they seem to have sold out in most stores much earlier than usual.