This is a dining room in a house on Meadowbrook Drive owned by Sue Brennan, one of seven that are on the Christmas House Tour in Cranberry Township Sunday. The tour put on by the Cranberry Women's Club raises money for charities the club selects. Brennan has been a club member since 2013 but said this is her first year participating in the house tours.

CRANBERRY TWP — It's not uncommon to drive around neighborhoods looking for Christmas lights during the holiday season — but how often do people open their entire homes for tours of their Yuletide decorations?

The Cranberry Women's Club has been hosting Christmas House Tours of five to eight houses for 15 years. This year's tour will feature seven houses — six homes and one model — open from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

This year's tour chairman, Kathleen Perry, said money raised from the first series of house tours was donated to Pittsburgh's Children's Hospital.

“At Christmastime, there's a lot of fundraising there,” she said. “We were able to get enough houses.”

Perry said the club no longer gives to one specific cause with the money from the fundraiser, but instead pools the money from all fundraisers throughout the year and picks several causes.

All of the money is given back to “causes within the area,” Perry said.

She said the money often goes to such recipients as the township's parks and library, Habitat for Humanity, Gleaners Food Bank and local nursing homes, among other charities.

Tickets for this year's tours are $20 and must be purchased in advance.

Perry said the club will “max out” at 200 people, so there are never more than 20 people in a house at a time.

“We don't want a ton of people going through the home at one time,” she said.

To avoid this, Perry said the group also gives maps or lists to participants, so not everyone is starting or ending at the same houses.

While not all houses need to be in Cranberry Township to participate in the tour, Perry said, this year all of the sites are located in the township.

The minimal requirements for offering a house for tours are parking availability and decorations.

“Some people open the whole house and have decorated every room,” Perry said. “It's their choice in terms of the house.”

Sue Brennan of Meadowbrook Drive is opening up her entire first floor for tours.

Brennan said she joined the women's club in 2013 and moved to her current house in 2014. She said she was planning to participate in the tours in 2015, but personal matters prevented her from doing so.

She said she's happy to have the chance to do it this year.

“I think it gets people in the holiday spirit since we have it so early in December,” Brennan said. “A lot of the benefit is just getting together with your friends and just going out for a couple of hours.”

Brennan said she had fun “pulling everything out and putting it together.” She added that her children helped her decorate and come up with “more modern ideas” over Thanksgiving dinner.

She said she thinks the event has a positive impact on the community.

“It doesn't cost you much, (and) it's a donation to a good cause,” Brennan said. “All the money goes back to the community. It's just something to do.”

Perry said she's hoping to have 100 tickets sold by Saturday.

“It's been a pretty good response,” Perry said. “This year's a little slow. I don't know why that is, but I'm getting calls each day for tickets.”

For more information, contact Perry at 724-538-3622.