Stop the lights - will NI switch on this Christmas?

With Christmas edging closer by the day, it is not just families rethinking this year's celebrations.

The putting-up of lights and switching-on events, normally mainstays of the festive calendar, are getting a re-think.

Across Northern Ireland, councils have adapted some events and moved others online.

BBC News NI has taken a look at what is planned, and what you can expect in your area this year.

Like so much else in 2020, switching-on ceremonies for Christmas trees across Northern Ireland are set to go virtual.

This is the case in the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area, where lights will be turned on from 21 November to 5 December.

The switch-on ceremonies will be happening on the following days, all at 19:00 GMT.

It will be possible to view the events through the council's social media accounts.

As part of the celebrations, the council will be running a picture competition to get more children involved.

Children under the age of 11 will be able to submit entries, with a prize for the overall winner, and a number of regional winners being paid a visit by Santa.

The 2020 budget for festive lighting and tree decorations is approximately £120,000.

Christmas trees with lights will be going up in three towns and fourteen villages across Ards and North Down Borough Council.

A council spokesperson told BBC News NI it believed it was "important to animate the town and village centres" to encourage people to shop locally this Christmas.

It said that plans for a virtual Christmas programme were ongoing and would be announced in due course.

The total budget for Christmas lighting and decorations is £60,000, a sum which includes associated costs like repairs, decoration of trees and disposal.

In mid-October, Ards and North Down Borough Council made the decision to scale back the planned Christmas celebrations - with some funds directed to people feeling the worst effects of the pandemic.

So money amounting to £23,000 would instead go to the council's Covid-19 community recovery group.

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council is another council which will be going virtual this year.

The event will be held on 28 November, with Christmas trees and decorations going up in towns across the borough.

In an ordinary year Belfast would be a hub of activity, with its Christmas continental market in the grounds of City Hall drawing in visitors from across Northern Ireland.

While the market has already been cancelled, some events around City Hall will go ahead - although in a much reduced capacity.

Plans are in place for street theatre and a special Christmas installation in the grounds of City Hall.

The Christmas light switch-on event - which would normally expect to draw a crowd of thousands to the front of City Hall and Donegall Place - is cancelled.

A switching-on event is instead expected to take place online, with proposals set to be ratified at a meeting of the council on 2 November - and any events being subject to review depending on changeable public health advice.

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council will be putting up Christmas trees and lights as normal this year, with switch-on events happening virtually.

Although it still needs council approval, a 10-day programme of events, including online storytelling sessions and a Christmas food trail, is planned to take place.

A festive fund, which is aimed at helping community groups mark Christmas locally, is open to applications for funding until 9 November.

The cost of Christmas trees and decorations in the borough is similar to previous years, coming in at about £200,000.

A spokesperson for Derry City and Strabane District Council told BBC News NI that Christmas lights would start to go up across the district after the city's famous (although this year much reduced) Halloween celebrations.

There are plans to put up 60 Christmas trees across the borough, which would be in keeping with what it would do in an ordinary year, at a cost of about £300,000.

Switch on events are set to take place in mid-November, ahead of a programme of events that will run from 21 November to 16 December - full details of which will be made public after Halloween.

The council has said these will be "a bespoke programme of initiatives to promote the region and provide support to businesses whilst adhering to public health guidance".

A council committee in September, agreed the provisional date for the virtual Christmas switch-on as November 21 in Strabane, and November 22 in Londonderry.

The provisional calendar of events includes street performances and a virtual tea dance.

The Walled City Market, which sees artisan food and craft traders gather in Guildhall Square, is also still scheduled as part of this year's festivities - but the council has emphasised events may change depending on restrictions.

A spokesman said the council is currently in the process of finalising its figures for its Christmas celebrations and will issue a statement as soon as they are confirmed.

In the Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council area, Christmas trees and lights will be going up as normal - with a little bit more controversy than in some other areas.

The budget for the Lisburn Light Festival was rubber stamped at a full council meeting on 28 October - but had already passed in a closed door debate the week before.

The £535,000 festive spend puts it on the same scale as 2019, although with additional Covid safety measures.

The winter light festival in the borough will include an animated Christmas tree, 100-metre (328ft) light tunnel, and a six-metre (20ft) reindeer on Comber Road.

The festival runs from November, through until January, and is this year being expanded out to include additional light installations in Dundonald Village.

About half of the money, £240,000, is part of a three-year contract associated with the annual running of the festival.

The councils full Christmas programme will be considered at committee on 3 November, and published to the public after being ratified at a full council meeting.

A council spokeswoman said switch-on details "will form part of the overall Christmas programme to be agreed and will be planned in line with the relevant Covid-19 guidance".

In a report presented to a council meeting at the start of October, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council outlined its plans to move its switch-on events online.

It stated that there would be no "pre-announced countdown and switch on of the lights" due to its potential for drawing a crowd.

Instead, the lights would be operated using automatic timers on the following days.

The total cost of Christmas lighting in these three main towns is £55,000.

The council is this year encouraging residents to "shop safe and local".

While the council has said plans for its Christmas markets are still on course, these could be revised in accordance with Public Health Authority guidance.

Its Christmas artisan and crafts market are set to run from 18 to 20 December in Ballymena, Larne, and Carrickfergus.

Mid-Ulster District Council has told BBC News NI it will be putting up Christmas trees and lights in its five main towns, and said there will be "enhanced building lighting this year to contribute to the festive atmosphere in our town centres".

The council said it will be moving the switching on of its Christmas lights to its social media channels this year.

The council has said it will be using existing light stocks, and that there would be "no new investment in lights or decorations this year other than normal replacement of consumables, items or sections of defective lighting".

It said the cost of this would be determined "after the lights are installed and taken down".

A spokesman for Newry, Mourne and Down District Council told BBC News NI that "the Covid-19 impact on Christmas 2020 events is currently being considered" and that it would be making an announcement in due course.

The council said its budget allocated for Christmas decorations this year, including lights, baubles, and Christmas trees, came to £248,185.