Clips: The essential accessory for lighting up your home for the holidays (or any other occasion you please). Most of us are familiar with the experience of clips that break year after year, shattering in the cold or disintegrating due to sun exposure, not to mention they never manage to hold your strand in a straight line! Whether you’re looking to attach your Christmas lights to your gutters, shingles, or a particularly tricky surface like brick, chances are we’ve got the solution for you. Read through for a detailed description of each of our clip products and what they’re best used for.
The Multi-Clip
Our most popular clip, and for good reason. They’re a proprietary clip designed by Big Star Lights, and we’re pretty proud of them. They’re UV protected, constructed to withstand cold winters, and have (you guessed it) multiple applications. Though the standard is of course to affix these to your gutter line, they also work great for shingles, glass awnings, and corrugated steel. What we love the most about these clips is that, when installed next to each bulb, they hold the line straight, giving you a tidy and professional look with no drooping bulbs. Further to that, they hold the light string close to the roofline, making them extremely discreet in the daytime.
We learned from our professional installers that if you clip off the end, they can easily be installed onto gutters with gutter guards, so in 2022 we introduced a divet that can more easily be cut to allow for this common adjustment. Available in black and clear so that you can match them to your gutters!
The Cradle Clip
The tried and true, the classic. These are good for gutters, and that’s about it. They clasp over your gutter line, and hold each socket of your light string, elevating the bulb above your roofline for a classic installation. Available in clear only, so you're drawn to focus on the bulb - not the clip!
The TuffClip™
It’s not often we bring on other brands' products, but when they’re this good it’s hard not to. The TuffClip™ is a beefed-up cradle clip, made with strong UV-resistant plastic. What makes it special is that rather than holding the socket like a traditional cradle clip, you actually put the clip between the bulb and socket. What may take a few more minutes in preparation will save you loads of time in the future, since the clip will stay on the light string, season after season, meaning you’ll never have to fumble with clips again!
The Magnetic Clip
These clips are good for one thing and one thing only… sticking to ferrous surfaces! These are popular with commercial business owners with modern buildings that have metal flashing. Be sure before you purchase these that the material you’ll be installing them on is indeed ferrous (I’m talking about you, aluminum, you sneaky non-ferrous devil). These magnetic clips twist onto flat SPT-2 wire, behind both E17 or E12 sockets, making them virtually undetectable in installations. They’re available in both black and clear.
Pro Tip: We recommend accompanying your magnetic clips with a Multi-Clip (or another sturdy clip) every few sockets. This will help reduce the risk of the unwelcome cascade of lights!
The Adhesive Clip
These little clips are perfect for those unusual surfaces you might want to attach your lights to. They’ve got the same construction as our Magnetic Clips, meaning they snap onto the back of the socket and hold onto the wire, and are compatible with both E17 and E12 socket wire. Made with 3M VHB tape, they’re available in both regular and extra hold - the extra hold clips have a greater adhesive surface area for when you need a little extra oomph. You’ll find the most success using them for painted metals, wood, and glass surfaces. Be aware that if you’re using these for a temporary installation, you’ll have some extra work during removal since you’ll have to wash or scrape off the adhesive’s residue.
Pro Tip: If you’re installing them in a cold climate, we recommend warming them up before application with a heat gun or hair dryer.
The Screw Clip
Another variation of this discreet clip design is the screw clip. With a small hole in the base of the clip and a ¼ inch screw (included), these are the perfect solution for permanent installations on wood surfaces. You’ll have to install your screw clips in place before putting them on your light strings, so it can take some more time and careful precision, but it creates a professional, permanent solution for hanging your lights, whether for Christmas, another holiday, or if you like to leave your lights up year round.
Staples
Staples can be the perfect, discreet solution for installing on wood. They’re best for permanent installations, so that you’re not constantly stapling your application surface season after season. Our staplers and insulated staples are the perfect fit for stapling over SPT-2 socket wire. To achieve a professional, straight installation, you’ll want to staple as close as possible to the socket without the kickback of the stapler knocking the socket off the wire!
Hot Glue? Hot Glue!
While it’s not a product we offer on our website, it’s worth mentioning! Lots of pros resort to hot glue when there’s no other option. It’s an especially popular choice for installing on brick, around windows and doorways when there’s nothing else to attach the lights to. It holds the sockets firmly in place, and as an added bonus, is super easy to peel off at the end of the season. Depending on the look you’d like to go for, you can glue the base of the socket so the bulbs protrude, or you can glue the side of the socket and turn the bulb inward toward the window. The latter design is particularly nice because you get more light to enjoy from indoors as well.