Lights, ornaments, action! Whether or not you’ve already started (or finished) decorating your Christmas tree for the holiday season, there’s one more holiday trick you can try to spruce it up just in time for the big day. It’s the viral ornament cluster hack, a trend that’s been taking over TikTok the past few weeks.

The decorating tip is as simple as it sounds. All you have to do is group a few ornaments together, forming a cluster, and then hang the connected ornaments on your tree. The end result is a fuller fir with less empty space.

“Time is one of our most valuable commodities, and this year, I wanted to create an elegant and elevated Christmas tree without spending too much time decorating,” says Amber Eberhardt of @ambieb__. “Now, I can never go back to hanging ornaments one by one! I love the look, and it was so much easier to decorate.”

You can use floral wire or pipe cleaners to loop the ornaments together into one cluster. After threading one ornament on, twist the wire or pipe cleaners to secure it in place before adding the next.

Create clusters with 3-5 ornaments of different sizes, colors and textures for a more lively look. Once the ornaments are clustered together, secure them onto the tree with the same wire or pipe cleaner, nestling them into the branches so they stay in place.

While home decor lovers appreciate this trend for the aesthetic, there’s more to it than that. “Not only does it make it easier to decorate and more appealing to the eye, but it makes it easier for take down after the holidays,” says Kristina Marie of @tinastastefulcorner.

When creating clusters, Kristina recommends keeping larger ornaments towards the bottom of the cluster and going smaller as you work your way up.

Tip: If the tops of your ornaments pop off, try hot gluing them before twisting the wire around each one.

If you’re already mostly done with your Christmas decorating for the season, don’t worry. You can still try out the hack to fill in any gaps you might have throughout your tree and save all the clusters for next year. We promise you won’t regret it when you have less than half as many decorations to hang on your tree come next December.

Laura Millar (she/her) is the assistant editor for Good Housekeeping, where she covers home design. Prior to joining Good Housekeeping in 2024, she wrote for NBC’s TODAY.com where she covered everything from entertainment news to product reviews to pop culture updates.