With the holiday season upon us, everything has been decorated – street lights have wreaths on them, trees get covered in lights, and everything is coated in glitter. The colors and lights make everything feel cheery and bright, even when the doom and gloom of winter makes us put on layers of sweaters. So why can’t dorm rooms get the same festive treatment? Here are a few ideas to spice up your room and create a cheery setting to relax in during finals week.
Photo Credit: Madison Chickos
1. Put up a Christmas tree with lights on it! You can get really small trees with lights already on them, and they fit nicely in a corner of your desk. Flip off the fluorescent overhead lights and curl up with a cup of hot chocolate and a holiday movie with only the light from the tree as a great way to relax and have fun with friends before every leaves for break.
Photo Credit: Allison Gall
2. Be sure to decorate the door of your room too – bring the holiday cheer to the rest of the hall and maybe you will inspire someone else to decorate too! Easy ways to decorate your door include a cute stocking, some glitter snowflakes, or some cheap garland from stores like Target! If you go with a more neutral color for the garland, like gold or silver, you can remove the stocking right before break and leave up the snowflakes and garland all through winter to keep some color around.
Photo Credit: Allison Gall
3. Another idea is to put up window clings. They’re easy to find and not too expensive, either. There are all sorts of designs, and you can get Christmas themed or winter themed as well. Check out these snowflakes! They’re cute, easy to apply, and they don’t leave any residue when you remove them at the end of the season. Bonus: if you’re careful with them and you replace them on the sheets they came on at the end of the season, you can use them again next year!
Photo Credit: Target.com
4. As a fun way to bond with your roommates, try getting “Elf on the Shelf”. You can take turns hiding it to find. There are plenty of places to hide it, and it’s a great way to get some laughs during finals. Plus, doing something childish will help to bring back the fun, carefree, spirit of the holidays that gets lost somewhere between packing your winter clothes to bring home for break and writing that 15 page term paper that’s due tomorrow at midnight.
Photo Credit: Amazon.com
5. Of course, there’s one more thing to really complete the Christmas scene: a small nativity scene. They aren’t hard to find, and your family may already have one that you can use. There are some that are so small that they’re only one piece, and they’re no bigger than a novel. It never hurts to remind yourself about the true meaning of Christmas, especially around finals when it can feel like you’re surviving on a hope and a prayer.
So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, have fun decorating, and good luck on finals!