For students away from home during the lead-up to Christmas, it can be hard to get into the holiday spirit. One way to change this is to decorate, but most college kids are living on a budget already. So, how can you make your dorm room as festive as possible without emptying your bank account? We’ve come up with a few ideas for you.

DIY

The first tip is to get your hands dirty! Glitter, glue, paint – these things are all minimal costs, but can be reused again and again to create spectacular holiday effect in your home away from home. There are a number of amazing decorations available to those who are willing to look in the right places. Often, the components are things found around the house. For instance, you can make unarguably adorable penguins in scarves and hats using old soda bottles or make your very own Frosty from old cans. Even a toilet paper roll can be transformed into a cute little reindeer with the right tools and a can-do attitude.

Christmas isn’t complete without a tree and there are a ton of alternatives to the fresh (pine-needle dropping) kind. You can make a tree from books, toilet paper rolls, or painted pine cones. There is also washi tape which is a great, cheap decorating tool limited only by your imagination; it doesn’t leave any marks on walls and it comes in a ton of different colors and designs.

Bargain Buys

If you have a few extra dollars to spend, try going to dollar stores or hunt for sales online. Dollar stores often have big packs of decorations that you can mix and match in various places around your room or in your hall. You may have to hunt a bit to find what you want, but there are some good options and having ornaments, tinsel  and pretty fairy lights around can add a traditional element to some of your more eccentric DIY projects.

The web is also a great place to look for cheap decorations. Take advantage of sale days like Black Friday or Cyber Monday for finding great deals and use your student discount on sites to avoid shipping and handling charges.

Make it Personal

Whether you share a dorm or have a room to yourself, Christmas will be more fun if it feels like you. This means personalizing decorations where possible. On the DIY stuff, you can easily paint your name or that of your roommate onto the decorations. Printing out pictures and arranging them in the shape of a tree, surrounding them with tinsel can be a great way to make it feel like you are surrounded by family and friends. 

As Christmas draws closer, why not put together a great Christmas playlist and get your roommates involved in the decorating – soon you’ll be in the holiday spirit and your room will be the envy of everyone in the dorm!

Images by amy gizienski and Karen Lee used under the Creative Commons license.