Paper Clip Ornament Hangers

The Nutcracker is one of our Christmas traditions as in hanging ornaments with paper clips. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Paper Clip Ornament Hangers

Are you getting excited about decorating for the season? We all have holiday traditions and this hack now is one of mine. This is such a handy little trick for hanging ornaments, it surprised me over the years how many people had not thought of doing this.

I was among that group when one holiday past I was in an office after hours decorating for Christmas. I was the visitor so I took up the mundane tasks - removing ornaments from the box, separating the broken ones for repair and/or disposal and lining up the rest for tree hanging.

These are traditional ornament hooks for holiday decorating. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

In the middle of this little enterprise we ran out of ornament hangers, those little slight pieces of pre-formed wires that hold an ornament on one end and hang it from a tree on the other. One of my associates volunteered to head off to get some when the senior administrative assistant said no need and headed off to the supply closet.

A few minutes later she handed me a box of office paper clips and started to unbend one end. She attached the short end to an ornament, opened up the larger end and said “back to the eggnog.”

Unbent paper clips can easily be used to hang ornaments. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Over the years, I have worked in many offices over the holidays to give full-time workers time off with their families. That has given me the opportunity to share this little hack many times.

It also works to attach decorations to wreaths and, if the Christmas stockings are not too heavy, hang stockings from the top of an office cubicle.

Unbent paper clip used as an ornament hanger. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

And yes, she really did say “back to the eggnog.”

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Do you have a favorite Christmas decorating hack to share?

Charlotte