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Hanging Christmas Lights Made Easy

Hanging Christmas Lights Made Easy
Being lazy, I wanted to find an easier way to hang our Christmas lights than last year. Our house has gutters all the way around, which is a great platform for hanging lights off of. But last year I used a ton of hooks that grabbed onto the inside of the gutter and then held the string of lights. Applying, and later removing, these hooks though is a pain (literally), so I wanted an easier way.

By using ubiquitous office badge clips with attached strips, I created an easy to apply hanging mechanism that goes on, and comes off, easy as pie.

This works great if you have gutters. You may find a way to get it to work without them, but I guess it would depend on your roof.
 
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Step 1Get some office badge clips

Get some office badge clips
I got this package at Staples. 10 clips for about $2.50. I also got a couple of packages of 12 clips each from Walmart for a little over $1.50 per package. You might be able to find more bulk packages for cheaper online somewhere.

I hung 5 strings of lights, with 25 lights each, with 30 badge clips. That's 6 clips per string of lights. These are the strings with the large bulbs. Strings with the small bulbs could probably use fewer clips. I also used a few extra badge clips here and there as I went around corners or encountered other obstacles, so get a few extra.
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19 comments
Dec 16, 2008. 2:23 PMWeissensteinburg says:
That's perfect! I wonder why commercial clips aren't more like that.
Dec 17, 2008. 2:25 AMdung0beetle says:
Its so you can buy more next year.
Dec 18, 2008. 7:10 AMwhowantsbush says:
I wouldn't be as concerned about the metal clips surviving the outdoors as I would the plastic. I bet they become very brittle and snap on you next year because of cold and UV rays. Good idea though, I hope they end up lasting.
Aug 11, 2011. 3:25 PMtlebaron says:
Try using EZCableClips. They are designed for Christmas Light hanging. They are pretty sweet. They make my light hanging time alot shorter. Look at www.ezcableclips.com
Oct 30, 2010. 11:31 AMdarinhamer says:
The problem is they don't look good. Why hang lights if you're not going to make them hang straight.
Dec 20, 2008. 8:11 PMThe_Beast says:
Or you could just leave them up all year :)
Dec 14, 2009. 7:01 AMYerboogieman says:
And have a car on cinder-blocks in the front year. ;-)
Dec 14, 2009. 6:49 AMYerboogieman says:
I love this idea. Thank you.
Dec 29, 2008. 2:59 PMblelmblad says:
This is an awesome idea. I rummaged thru the net and discovered that PLASTIC badge clips are available. Rust issue solved!
Dec 24, 2008. 7:22 AMwfb3712 says:
Check out this website I found. It's a new product that is supposed to be out next year. Looks like it will make hanging outdoor lights on the house really easy.

It's a strip of trim you affix to your house. Then you attach the lights on a slide piece with clips. Once your lights are on the slide, you just slide that piece into the trim piece already on the househttp://www.billboardtrim.net. It looks really cool. No more up and down on the ladder. Makes putting them up fast and easy, as well as taking them down. Check it out.
Dec 17, 2008. 3:53 PMDa_Fudge says:
Very Cool!
Dec 17, 2008. 2:25 PMfwjs28 says:
Brilliant...
Dec 17, 2008. 10:14 AMDustyBoots says:
Such a simple idea! I've used all the other methods, and none of them is great, or they're a PITA to undo. Those "universal" plastic clips, which mean they universally attach to nothing; or the trusty staple gun, with which you inevitably drive staples through the cord; or screw-in hooks which are a PITA to install. I'm going to go outside, I think these badge clips may just do the trick this year.
Dec 17, 2008. 9:54 AMerik.teichmann says:
Nice photo!
Dec 16, 2008. 6:10 PMBuckeye guy says:
Fantastic! Thanks.
Dec 16, 2008. 1:03 PMcodongolev says:
Genius!

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Author:lazyb