The City of Long Beach opened registration on Nov. 10 for Light It Up Long Beach, its holiday house decorating map. Residents who put up lights, wreaths, inflatables, menorahs, nativities or kinaras can add their home to a city map that neighbors and visitors use to plan a night of driving or walking past the displays. Entry is free.

How the map works

Participation is open to City of Long Beach residents, and businesses can be listed too. Each entrant fills out a short online sign-up form on the city's holiday lights page. The city then places the address on its Holiday House Digital Map, which goes live for touring starting Friday, Dec. 11.

There are two versions of the map. A printable map includes every home registered by 5 p.m. on Dec. 10. After that date, the city keeps adding houses to the online map right up to Christmas, so a late decorator still gets on the digital version.

There are no judges and no prizes. The city describes the event as a community project for fun and entertainment, and it does not announce winners. The point is the tour itself: the city suggests pairing a drive past the displays with dinner at a local restaurant or a stop at the storefronts decorated for the season.

What participants agree to

By registering, a household agrees to have its address posted on the city's digital map and its decorated home photographed for the city's website and social media pages. The city also asks participants to keep their displays up and lit through Jan. 1 so the map stays accurate for the whole season. In past years the city asked that houses be lit from 6 to 9 p.m. each evening during the tour window.

The tree lighting comes first

The map is one part of the city's holiday calendar. The annual Kennedy Plaza Christmas Tree Lighting, hosted by the Long Beach City Council in front of City Hall, is set for Friday, Dec. 4, with festivities starting at 5 p.m.

The people who flip the switch are chosen through the city's Nominate Someone Great program, and the city announces the honorees at the ceremony. Santa arrives with help from the Long Beach Fire Department. After the lighting there is hot chocolate, cookies, donuts and candy canes. Children can write their names on ornaments for the tree and drop off letters to Santa, and commemorative tree lighting ornaments are handed out while supplies last.

The evening doubles as a collection point for the city's annual Toys for Tots drive, so bring a new, unwrapped toy for the bin. Sponsors listed by the city are Mount Sinai South Nassau, Stop and Shop, West End Dunkin and Sweet Street.

The city also lists a Grand Menorah Lighting in Kennedy Plaza on Dec. 7.

How to take part

To list your house: register free at longbeachny.gov/holidaylights. Submit by 5 p.m. on Dec. 10 to appear on the printable map; later entries go on the online map only.

To tour the displays: the digital map is available from Dec. 11, with homes asked to stay decorated through Jan. 1.

Tree lighting: Friday, Dec. 4, from 5 p.m., Kennedy Plaza, 1 West Chester Street. Free. Bring a new, unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots.

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