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Five Holiday Themed Decorative Ideas For Your Living Space

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As the winter holiday season is approaching quickly, it is the perfect time to add cute and easy decor to make your living space warm and inviting.

DIY Paper Snowflakes

Paper Snowflakes are a fun yet easy way to decorate your living space for the cold holiday season, which adds a lot of nostalgia. Paper snowflakes are very customizable, you can use various patterns, paper colour/ size, anything else to fit your living space. This is also a fun wind-down activity to do in between exam studying breaks.

What you will need:

  • Construction paper (any colour you like, such as white or different shades of blue)
  • Scissors
  • String or tape used to hang your paper snowflakes

Holiday scented candles

Holiday-scented candles are a great way to create a cozy space for the holiday season. Some scented candles I have been loving are the Bath & Body Works winter-themed candles, specifically the “Vanilla Bean” scent.

Candles might not be for everyone, an alternative is the trendy “simmer pot recipe” you can add cranberries, herbs such as pine, rosemary, spices like cinnamon etc. I love to add a candle on my desk when studying during exam seasons, just before the holiday break, to create a relaxing ambience.

Holiday Themed Throw on Blanket and Pillows

As the weather gets cold, having multiple layers of blankets and pillows creates a warm and cozy environment, perfect for enjoying the holiday season. Some stores sell festive decorative pillowcases that have patterns like snowflakes, reindeer, flannel, candy canes, gingerbread and anything else holiday-related! There are so many types of blankets, such as patterned ones, knit and chunky ones. I personally have a crocheted blanket I made a few years ago and drape it over my couch. You can use a mixture of patterns and textured pillows and blankets to really make your living space come to life.

Fairy lights

Fairy lights are an eye-catching yet simple way to add some light during cold winter nights. This is a perfect way to transform your living space to make it more inviting and festive. You could drape your fairy lights above your window, like I have, wrap them around a banister, put them on furniture, like a bed frame, or hang them along your ceiling. I tend to use a warm yellow light to create a warm environment. If you’re feeling more festive, you could get colourful or blue coloured fairy lights to go with the holiday theme.

Holiday Themed Window Stickers

Holiday-themed window stickers are my favourite to put on my windows during the holiday season, as they are nostalgic and inexpensive. To decorate, I love putting window sticks throughout my large window and also some little snowflakes on my standing mirror. As for my window, I like creating a scene consisting of igloos, snowflakes, trees with snow on them, etc. The best part about this decor idea is that there are so many stickers to choose from. When putting on window stickers, remember to clean your surface for an easy application and removal process. The more you take care of your stickers, the easier it is to take off and reuse them for the next holiday season.

As the holidays are approaching quickly after a stressful exam season, it is a great way to wind down and transform your living space into a warm and cozy environment. Remember to get creative with your decor and personalize it to your own liking!

Harkiren Sandhu

Carleton '25

Harkiren is a psychology major. She is passionate about understanding how individuals influence ourselves and others, as well exploring cognitive mental processes such as memory, perception and problem solving. Harkiren is also the 2024-2025 Vice President for Her Campus Carleton and is thrilled to read everyones articles. Harkiren is passionate about activism, as a woman of colour, specifically a south asian woman, she loves sharing her culture and advocating for diversity and inclusion. As well, she is passionate about advocating the importance of mental health and self-care. In Harkiren's free time, she enjoys watching tv shows such as Gilmore Girls. She also loves listening to music and going to concerts. Harkiren enjoys reading new studies in psychology.