Being at college and away from home can really take away from the holiday excitement. Not waking up to a Christmas tree in the living room or a menorah in the window can make December feel pretty bland. Decorating your dorm can be the perfect solution to encourage the holiday spirit while you’re still on campus. Follow some of these examples below to make your dorm the most decorative and unique!
Most college dorms don’t have enough space for an actual Christmas trees. Miniature trees are always a simple solution for this, but if you’d rather not spend the $20.00+, you can create a makeshift tree on your dorm wall!
What You’ll Need:
- String lights, 100 – 200 count
- Tape or clear mini command hooks
- An empty outlet
Creating a tree on your wall is a very quick and simple task. With one or two strands of lights, plug one end into the wall, and begin zigzagging the lights upward to create a tree shape, making the zigzag slowly get smaller towards the top. To make the tree even more festive, you can cut out a star to tape to the top, and even hang tiny ornaments on the string lights.
One of the most common ways of holiday decorating is the traditional door wrapping. This decoration is often very popular on campuses, mainly because it spreads the holiday cheer throughout the halls for all to see. Wrapping the door can be a very simple task with only wrapping paper, but some people like to go all out and create a scenery on their door. Whichever decorations you decide to use, it will still look festive regardless.
What You’ll Need:
- Wrapping paper or “door wrap” (Sold at most Dollar Tree stores)
- Scissors
- Tape
- Optional: Construction paper, ribbon, bows
Wrapping the door can be done in a variety of ways, but the simplest way is just covering the entire door with wrapping paper. Depending on the design of the paper, the door can usually be wrapped from top to bottom, allowing the roll of wrapping paper to just fall straight down. This may take one to two long pieces of paper. Be sure to mark where the doorknob is when laying out the paper and cut a hole before taping. To finish off the wrapping, you could add a bow in the corner, or even name tag stickers to use as door tags with your names written.
Although some of these ideas can require a lot of effort and time, there are even quicker ways to bring holiday spirit to your home away from home. Snowflakes are a classy way to bring winter indoors. They can be hung just about anywhere and can be made quickly to produce multiple at a time. If you have string or ribbon nearby, the snowflakes can be taped to the string or ribbon (A few on each string) and hung from the ceiling to create a cute snowflake mobile. This brings a very crafty touch to any room.
What You’ll Need:
- Paper (White, blue, etc)
- Scissors
- Tape
- String/ribbon
Bringing the holiday spirit into your dorm can make finals and the end of the semester much easier. It creates a happiness and positivity in the hall and also in your personal space. Try to encourage others in your hall or house to participate! This will encourage everyone to share their holiday celebrations and adorn the hall with their own décor as well! Happy holidays and happy decorating!