Want to spice up your dorm or apartment with some Halloween decorations but don’t have the budget? For us ~spooky season lovers~, decorating for fall and Halloween is a necessity. As college students, we all know about trying to save money, so why not get crafty and make some of your own, unique decorations?
- DIY Fall Wreaths
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You and your friends can design your own simple wreath by collecting leaves outside. Take a walk in your local area and look for colorful leaves. Make sure that the leaves are not damaged with any holes or cracks. Once you have a good collection of leaves, make sure to clean them. You can do this by washing them carefully with cold water or placing them in the oven or microwave for a little bit to get rid of the water. Next, take a piece of cardboard and cut out a circle, making sure to leave the middle open. Take your staple gun and start stapling the leaves onto the cardboard, making sure it covered enough so that you can’t see the cardboard. To hang the wreath, hot glue a piece of string or simply put a command strip to the back of the cardboard. It’s that easy!
Things you need: leaves, cardboard, scissors, stapler, hot glue, string or command strip
- DIY Fall Mason Jars
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The next decoration includes leaves as well. For this decoration, you can use mason jars or any type of clear bottle (pickle jars are great!). Make sure that the jars are clean and clear of any stickers. Take some colorful leaves from outside and glue them to the inside of the jar. Next, buy some fake candles (the ones that have an on/off button). These are super cheap and can be found at your nearest dollar store. Or, you can buy simple waxed candles, which may be a little more expensive. To add a little bit more to your jars, you can tie a string to the top of the jar. Just to make your jar look even artsier. Now you have a cute, fall DIY candle!
Things you need: Jar, leaves, glue, candle, string
- DIY Candy Corn
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First, take any old, empty bottle (I recommend wine bottles). Make sure that they are washed and that the outside is clear. Buy cheap paint, or spray paint, from your local grocery or dollar store. Make sure that you have orange, white and yellow colors. Paint the whole bottle white and wait until the paint is dry. Once it is dry, start with your base color, yellow, then add orange to the middle, and leave the top as white. To make this look even prettier, you can add fake flowers into the bottle.
Things you need: Glass bottle, paint, flowers
- DIY Cork Pumpkins
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For this project, you need corks from wine bottles. If you’re planning on making this DIY, I recommend making the one above as well! I suggest getting more than 10 corks. Paint or color each cork orange. You can simply do this by using an orange sharpie. Next, hot glue each of the corks to each other. Start by going smallest to largest and largest to smallest, forming a pumpkin shape. Glue one cork on the top to form the stem. Take some leaves and glue that onto the “stem.” This will give it more of a pumpkin look.
Things you need: Corks, orange paint or marker, hot glue, leaves
- DIY Yarn Pumpkins
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For this DIY you need yarn. I recommend orange, or really any fall colored yarn. Blow up a balloon to any size you’d like your pumpkin to be (the smaller the easier). Once your balloon is blown up, dip your yarn in white glue. I recommend pouring the white glue into a paper plate and dipping the yarn into it. After the yarn is covered in glue, wrap it around the balloon. Give this a few hours to dry. After about an hour, pop the balloon and remove it from the yarn. You now have a yarn pumpkin! Add some green and brown pipe cleaners to create a stem.
Things you need: yarn, balloons, white glue, pipe cleaners
Those are just some simple DIY decorations that you and your friends can make while procrastinating all of your homework and upcoming midterms. All of these projects are way cheaper than going out to a store and paying for expensive decorations. And, don’t forget, you can always change them up and create your own version of these designs!