Millennials and Gen Z have rightly earned a reputation for doing things differently. They’ve redefined remote work, rebuilt hiring culture, leaned into purpose-driven business models, and questioned processes that older generations accepted without thinking. That instinct to challenge defaults has produced some genuinely better outcomes.
But not everything old deserves to be replaced. Some traditions have survived for a reason because they work, because they connect people, and because the world is a better place with them in it. Holiday decorating is one of them. And if you run a business with a physical presence, skipping it because it feels like an unnecessary operational expense or an outdated retail gimmick is a mistake that will quietly cost you.
Here’s what the data actually says and what it means for how you navigate the critical Q4 holiday season.
Your Generation Isn’t Actually Anti-Tradition. The Numbers Say So.
There’s a persistent narrative that younger generations are abandoning holiday traditions. The reality is more interesting. According to Simon-Kucher’s Holiday Shopping Report, three out of four Gen Z and Millennial consumers either uphold their childhood traditions or actively work to build new ones. Research from Pion identifies nostalgia as the single biggest driver of the festive season for Gen Z shoppers specifically.
A Harris Poll found that 68% of Gen Z and Millennials consider holiday mall shopping a cherished tradition, with 84% of Millennials reporting they embrace the festive atmosphere and nostalgic charm of physical retail spaces. These are not the behaviors of generations rejecting tradition — these are generations that grew up shaped by it and are bringing it with them as they build their own lives and businesses.
The Business Case Is Stronger Than You Might Think
The holiday season is not an even playing field. Businesses that make an effort with their exterior presentation during November and December attract more foot traffic, hold customer attention longer, and generate stronger first impressions than those that don’t.
Millennial and Gen Z consumers are planning to spend more during the holidays, not less. Simon-Kucher’s data showed Gen Z planned to spend 21% more year-over-year during the 2024 holiday season, with Millennials planning a 15% increase. These are the consumers walking past your storefront in December. A well-lit, thoughtfully decorated exterior is one of the fastest ways to give them a reason to walk in.
A decorated exterior also translates directly to social media activity, a channel younger entrepreneurs understand.
A single well-lit storefront can generate organic content that no paid ad budget directly replicates.
Where Most Young Business Owners Drop the Ball
The failure mode for younger business owners isn’t usually a conscious decision against decorating. It’s that December arrives faster than expected, the business is busy, and exterior decoration gets pushed down the list until there’s no time left.
The businesses that execute well start earlier than feels necessary. Ordering, planning the layout, sourcing any installation help — all of that needs to happen before the season is in full swing. By the time November arrives, your plan should already be set.
If your business is open long hours, your exterior lights will run for six to eight weeks across varying weather conditions. Consumer string lights aren’t built for that. Outdoor Christmas lights designed for commercial use are built with heavier wire, weatherproofed fittings, and materials rated for extended outdoor exposure. Buying commercial-grade once and storing it properly is considerably more cost-effective than replacing cheaper lights each season — and the output looks considerably more intentional.
Commit to a plan before you order anything. Decide on your color palette, identify which architectural features you’re highlighting, confirm your power access, and know approximately how many linear feet you need to cover.
What Decoration Actually Communicates to Your Customers
Young entrepreneurs tend to be highly attuned to brand signals. You already know that the way your brand looks, sounds, and feels shapes how people relate to it. Your exterior during the holiday season is a brand signal too — one that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for two months of the year.
A dark or undecorated storefront during the holiday season doesn’t read as minimal or intentional. It reads as absent. It communicates that the business either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t think about it. Neither of those is the impression you want to make during the highest foot-traffic period of the year.
A lit, decorated exterior communicates something different: that the people running this place are present, that they care about the experience of arriving, and that something worthwhile is happening inside. That impression is formed before a single customer opens your door — and it directly affects whether they bother to.
Research in consumer psychology shows that festive lighting triggers positive emotional responses tied to nostalgia and social connection — responses that make people more likely to engage with a business, stay longer, and return. You don’t need to fully understand the neuroscience to take advantage of it. You just need to put up the lights.
A Few Principles Worth Actually Following
If you’re doing this for the first time at a business location, a few practical principles will save you time and money.
Pick one color direction and commit. Warm white is versatile and photographs well — it suits almost any business type. Multicolor works for businesses with a more energetic or playful identity. Mixing the two on the same facade undermines both.
Follow the architecture. The best exterior displays follow the natural lines of the building such as rooflines, window edges, awnings, doorways, and columns. Lighting that follows structure looks considered. Lighting that ignores structure looks thrown on.
Go LED, always. LED holiday lights use at least 75% less energy than incandescent and last dramatically longer. For a business running lights across a full holiday season, that’s a real cost difference. LEDs also stay cool, which removes safety concerns near window displays or greenery.
Plan for storage. If you buy quality commercial lights and store them properly on reels, they’ll last for years. Assign someone to take them down carefully and label what goes where. The businesses that treat their holiday equipment as a recurring asset — not a disposable seasonal purchase — get more out of every dollar they spend on it.
Some Things Earn Their Place in the Tradition Column
Younger business owners are right to question inherited assumptions. The 9-to-5 structure, the office-for-office’s-sake mentality, the hierarchical management styles that stifle creativity — all worth scrutinising.
But exterior Christmas lights on a business building aren’t a relic worth discarding. They’re a tool that works, rooted in an emotional truth that surveys across multiple generations keep confirming: people respond to warmth, to light, to the signal that someone took care with something.
Millennial and Gen Z entrepreneurs are building businesses from scratch, often in competitive markets, with limited margins for wasted opportunity. The holiday season is one of the highest-leverage periods of the business calendar. Showing up for it — visibly, warmly, with a decorated exterior that tells people you’re here and you care — is one of the lower-cost, higher-impact things you can do.
