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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at George Mason University chapter.

The holidays are right around the corner! Exciting, I know. With a lot of students at home right now due to colleges switching to virtual learning or leaving campus earlier than usual, decorating your bedroom at home or wherever you stay can be a fun and calming task. You don’t have to break the bank to do it either, decorating doesn’t have to be an expensive task. Here are some steps you can use to decorate on a budget!

Clean the room

First things first: Clean your room if it’s dirty. This way you’ll have room for the decorations and a clear mind.

Look around on Pinterest, Instagram, and more!

Pinterest is a close friend of mine whenever I want to do something creative. It helps me get an idea about what I want to do and how I want it to look. Some other places you can look for festive decorating ideas are Instagram and Facebook. Snapchat may be useful depending on who you follow. 

When searching on Pinterest, use words like “Christmas Decorating,” “DIY Hanukkah Decorations,” “DIY decorations,” “Decorating on a Budget,” etc.

Stock up on new pieces

There are plenty of places where you can find holiday decorations. I recommend shopping at Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Walmart, Michaels, and Amazon. Michael’s tends to be pricey depending on when you’re shopping but if you can find coupons or shop in their clearance they have great deals. 

Decorate to your heart’s content

Now that you‘ve finished the first three steps, you can finally decorate! Here are some ideas for decorating with materials that you can get from Dollar Tree and Dollar General:

Snowman Candles (Craft)

This craft can be built for $4-6 dollars depending on how you build your snowman. You just need the candles, markers (for the face), ribbon, and pipe cleaners (if you want your snowman candle to have arms).

String Lights 

These can be purchased from Dollar General in different colors. You can hang them on one wall, the door hinge, or around the perimeter of your room for a cozy holiday vibe. 

Snow

Cotton balls can be used to mimic snow! You can glue the balls together and sprinkle silver glitter over them. They can be put on the floor by the boards of the walls or on a desk or nightstand. You can add nutcrackers, churches/synagogues, a dreidel, or menorah in the snow to create a scene. Most of these items can be found in the dollar tree except for the menorah.  

Wall/Door Decorations

You can get arts and craft materials from the Dollar Tree to decorate your walls or doors and look up ideas. Some easy things to do with craft paper are snowflakes, snowmen, dreidels, and words. You can get a white table cover, glue the snow you created onto it, and create a scene to stick to your wall/door. The Dollar Tree, also, has signs and garden stakes you can tape onto the wall/door if you don’t want to go to the arts and craft route. 

* For a lot of these decorations, you’ll need either a hot glue gun, tape, or command strips. *

Enjoy, collegiettes!

Zeairah Webb

George Mason University '22

Zeairah is a senior at George Mason University. She spends most of her time reading, doing homework, and watching Netflix. Her favorite color is yellow and her favorite animals are dogs. She is double majoring in marketing and management with a minor in journalism with hopes of one day studying intellectual property law. She aspires to be many things such as a legal consultant/attorney, a creative director for Disney, or a travel/lifestyle writer for a magazine.
George Mason Contributor (GMU)

George Mason University '50

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