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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Exeter chapter.

Christmas is one of the best holidays of the year, right? But, with that comes the looming worry of all the money you’re going to spend, not just on presents, but on Christmas decorations too! Fear not, here are some DIY Christmas decorations you can make that won’t blow the bank and don’t give that ‘cheap but cheerful’, slightly tacky vibe. These are great ideas for your student house, not only because they are kind to your pocket, but also because you can all have a laugh with some mulled wine in hand making some of them!

 

1) Pine Cones

No purchase needs to be made whatsoever for this- it’s free of charge! Either when you’re walking back from uni or you go on a walk on a Sunday afternoon, pop into the park and while you’re there pick up some pine cones. Most homes seem to have glue of some kind going spare, even if it’s eyelash glue; all you do next is smother some of it on the pine cone. Now, and this is the best bit, sprinkle it in any glitter of your choice. This is an absolute winner for us students, as there’s always a pot of the stuff ready for a pre! Pop on a bit of string and either hang it on the tree or dangle from the ceiling using blue tac.

2) Glass jars

There are two ideas for this. For both, simply keep that left-over honey jar you’ve been doing to make your overnight oats, give it a wash and a dry and then you’re ready to go. Also, don’t forget to keep the lid. Give it a light coat of glue on the inside and then pour glitter in it. Give it a shake so it’s completely covered inside. For the first idea, you can then glue one of those plastic tea lights that are battery operated to the lid. Then screw the lid back into the jar, keeping it upside down. This is so cute and will make it all lit up and sparkly, perfect for cosy evenings in the living room. For the second idea, instead of covering the inside with glitter, simply keep some ball balls left over from the tree decoration and pop those in the jar. You can then put a line of these down the table ready for Christmas dinner!

3) Scrabble pieces

This is probably my favourite idea because it’s so unique and inventive. If you’ve got Scrabble lying around as it isn’t the go-to game in your house anymore, get hold of those letter pieces. With your glue you can stick the letters together to spell out cute little phrases like “let it snow” or “seasons greetings”. You can then stick on any other bits and pieces to give it a finishing touch, like a sprinkle of glitter or some cotton wall on top to make it look like snow. Then, add some string and pop it on the tree or hang it up on any hooks you’ve got lying around the house- even kitchen cupboard handles!

4) Twig Trees

Grab yourself three twigs and glue them together in the shape of a triangle, as you would if you were drawing a Christmas Tree. Don’t forget to also place a small twig at the bottom for the stump. All you do next is wrap wool any way you like around the shape of twigs you’ve got. You could either wrap it just around the outside shape or you could wrap the wool across to fill up that triangle shape you’ve got. Pop a star on top and maybe some pom poms and there we have it, another bunch of decorations to place around the house

So there are four rather cute and simple DIY decorations that you can get making for Christmas, hopefully using the odd bits and pieces you’ve got lying around the house!