Idaho Homeowners Face HUGE $11,000 Fine For Setting Up Christmas Lights Incorrectly

If there’s one thing we know about Idaho, it’s that we LOVE our Christmas lights.

Just one look at the famous Boise Christmas Lights map and you can tell there are quite a few homeowners with aspirations of becoming the next Clark Griswold. We’re all for that, but if you take it too far? Your bank account may take a serious hit.

READ MORE: Idahoans Warned to Never Burn These 9 Items in Fireplace

Infomercials are notorious for making everyday tasks like rolling up your hose, answering the phone while wrapped up in a blanket and cracking eggs seem like monumental problems. As ridiculous as it was, there was one that hit the airwaves in 2015 that really resonated with homeowners that have wasted hours of their lives searching for broken bulbs, untangling lights and climbing ladders to bring their Christmas light displays to life. 

The three-minute infomercial introduced America to a new product called the “Star Shower Laser Light.” With just a touch of a button, you could make your house look impressively festive without having to step on a ladder. The first Christmas season that they were on the market, they were harder to find than a Turbo Man Doll in Jingle All the Way. Homeowners LOVED them. The Federal Aviation Administration? Not so much. 

The FAA says that each year, they get reports from pilots saying they were temporarily blinded or distracted by residential Christmas light displays that use laser products like the Star Shower. Not only does that pose a danger to the pilot, but also puts the safety of the 300ish passengers they’re responsible for at risk. 

How Has Idaho Contributed to the Laser Problem?

The FAA’s actually been tracking the number of “laser events” for years and that database is easily accessible to the public online. In 2014, only seven laser events were reported in Idaho. Only one of those was reported during the holidays. 

In 2015, the year the Star Shower was introduced, that number rose to 28 with 13 of the events reported during the holidays. Five years later, the number of incidents in Idaho rose to 49 with 22 of those incidents happening during the holiday season. In 2021, Idaho had 64 laser incidents with 13 of them recorded in November or December. 

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Idaho did a little bitter last year. There were 59 laser incidents reported in the Gem State in 2023, with nine of them occurring in November or December. 

Laser Events Carry Extremely Harsh Penalties

We highly doubt that homeowners who use products like the Star Shower are purposely trying to put pilots in danger. We’d be willing to bet that any of the laser shows that were set up in a position where the lasers were aimed toward the sky instead of a house or tree, were set up that way by accident. 

That’s why the FAA will go easy on you the first time they reach out about your display. According to a notice on their website, they’ll ask you to reposition it or turn it off. Ignoring that request is a bad, bad idea. The agency reveals:

We may impose civil penalties of up to $11,000 per violation. Civil penalties of up to $30,800 have been imposed by the FAA against individuals for multiple laser incidents. 

If you’re thinking “yeah, but do they actually enforce this?” They do. The FAA issued $120,000 in laser-related fines in 2021. They haven’t provided an updated number since then.