If you want to decorate your balcony for a specific festivity, event, or celebration, or you simply want to decorate it so that it looks pretty, then why not try fairy lights?
Fairy lights are perfect for the Christmas season, as that is when they are most commonly placed within the home and outdoor spaces, as a way to brighten up the darkness of winter and celebrate the festive season.
However, fairy lights are also perfect all year round! After all, you don’t need a specific event or excuse in order to decorate your balcony with light.
Why not turn your balcony into a permanent place of wonder?
The challenge, of course, is to figure out how to attach fairy lights to a balcony. As a balcony is outdoors, it is important that the fairy lights are secured and firmly attached, or else they might fall off or be blown away by the wind.
And you don’t want that to happen!
There are many different ways in which you can securely attach fairy lights to a balcony, most of them incredibly easy and fast, with very little expense. The method you pick will mostly depend on the kind of balcony you have, as well as the tools available to you, and your preferences.
To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most common and effective methods for attaching fairy lights to a balcony, with the addition of some handy items where necessary! If that sounds good, then let’s get right into it!
Different Methods Of Attaching Fairy Lights To A Balcony
Wrapping The Fairy Lights Around The Balcony
One of the simplest and most basic ways of attaching fairy lights to a balcony is by wrapping the fairy lights around the balcony itself.
This only really works with balconies that have a handrail at the top or alongside them, or for balconies that have posts within the structure. It also only really works with fairy lights that come as a long string, rather than individual lights!
The process is easy, you simply take the string of fairy lights, and you weave it through the posts of the balcony or around the handrail so that the fairy lights are wrapped around the structure of the balcony, meaning they are attached.
The problem is that this method isn’t super secure, as they can easily become unwrapped or slide off. A solution to this is to knot them at the end, or attach them in some other way on one end so that they are somewhat secured!
Using Self-Adhesive Clips
Self-adhesive clips are one of the most popular methods of attaching fairy lights to a balcony and for very good reason. Self-adhesive clips are very easy to find and very cheap.
Plus, they are very easy to use, as you simply peel off the protective layer, and they adhere onto the surface of your choosing, within the balcony area.
They also usually don’t leave any damage behind once you decide to remove them, so it will be as if they were never there!
These self-adhesive clips come with a clip, through which you can place the string or cable of fairy lights so that they are attached and secure.
It is also great for ensuring that the fairy lights run close to the surface of your choosing, rather than dangling down, getting in the way, or becoming tangled!
Here are some of our favorite options for self-adhesive clips:
Command Outdoor Light Clips
This product comes as a pack of 20 clear clips, able to secure a string of fairy lights in place. The product also includes 24 strips of self-adhesive tape, so that you can attach the clips onto the surface of your choosing, without causing any damage.
Command Small Damage-Free Light Clips
This product comes as a pack of 20 small white clips, which can be used to secure a string or cable of fairy lights in place. It also includes 24 strips of self-adhesive tape, in order to attach them to the surface of your choosing. They don’t leave any damage behind and are incredibly easy to use.
Outdoor Self-Adhesive Cable Clips
This product comes as a pack of 60 clear clips, suitable for the outdoors and able to hold a cable in place, such as fairy lights. Instead of coming with self-adhesive strips, the bottom surface of the clip itself is self-adhesive, making them slightly more reliable.
You simply peel back the protective layer and attach the clips to the surface of your choosing, where the fairy lights will be located.
Using Screw-in Hooks
Screw-in hooks are an excellent option for those that want to secure the fairy lights in place for a very long time. So they are better suited to installing permanent fairy lights, rather than temporary ones.
The method essentially makes use of a screw that can be drilled into the wall in the balcony area, and attached to the screw there is a hook through which you run the string of fairy lights so that they are secured and held in place.
The issue, of course, is that by drilling in a screw-in hook you are leaving a permanent hole in the surface, so it’s not a “damage-free” method.
However, as we said, if you’re going to leave the fairy lights up for a long time, it is well worth creating a few small holes, as the fairy lights will be incredibly secure no matter how windy or rainy it gets outside!
Here are some of our favorite options for screw-in hooks:
Seleware Hanger Hooks with Phillips Screw
This product comes as a pack of 20 Q-hooks with a Phillips screw. They have an easy release wire so that it is very simple to secure cables and fairy lights. They are also ideal for the outdoors, as they are incredibly secure, durable, and resistant.
Q-Hanger Hooks for Outdoor String Lights
This product comes as a pack of 20 Q-hanger hooks, perfect for securing fairy lights and other cables in place, close to the surface of your choosing.
They are very easy to install and perfect for outdoor use thanks to their durability, weather resistance, and reliability. Plus, the safety buckle design makes it very easy to install and remove fairy lights, or to switch between them.
Getting Fairy Lights With Incorporated Clips
Another method, which is so simple it’s almost too obvious, is to simply get fairy lights with incorporated clips.
These are fairy lights that have clips already attached to their cable or line, so you can then simply clip them onto the surface of your choosing, in order to hang them up on the balcony.
Most of the time, these kinds of fairy lights are advertised as having clips for hanging pictures underneath them. But trust us, you can simply use those clips to hang the lights up!
The problem is that these incorporated clips aren’t always very reliable, and they’re usually not very durable or tough, meaning they can easily break or become ineffective.
So if your balcony gets particularly harsh weather or high winds, then we do not recommend you go for this method. Instead, try some of the others mentioned above.
In Conclusion
There are many other methods that can be used in order to attach fairy lights to a balcony. You could use zip ties to secure the fairy lights around the handrail of the balcony or tie them in place with ribbons or similar.
You could superglue them onto the surface, or have them wrap around a myriad of different items so that you’re sure they won’t fall down.
However, the methods we talked about: wrapping them around, using self-adhesive clips, using screw-in hooks, or buying fairy lights with incorporated clips, are by far the most popular and commonly used methods, as they are proven to work effectively.
Plus, these methods are the easiest to use, and the most reliable, and they should look neat and tidy so that the fairy lights remain in place and all the attention is placed on the shine of their light.
In order to choose the right method for your specific balcony, you have to consider the type of fairy lights that you and their design, as well as the structure of your balcony or surrounding area.
You also need to consider the weather conditions your balcony is exposed to, and consider the different aesthetic choices you are able to make.