Article by: Colleen Fitzgerald
Being away from home can sometimes make it hard to truly feel like you’re in the Christmas spirit because there’s no stockings or a big Christmas tree in your dorm room. If you love Christmas and want to bring that feeling into your dorm room, or dorm hall, there are simple and affordable ways to do so without dropping money on a fake mini Christmas tree.
#1 Lights
Many girls I know have white lights in their dorms, myself included, but adding some colored lights in your dorm décor can definitely change the vibe of your dorm room from light and airy to festive. You don’t have to litter every inch of your room with lights (but if you want to I support that) to be in the Christmas Spirit. You can run a string of lights around the edge of your window, wrap them around your bed posts, put them around your closet opening, or on the edge of your mirror.
#2 Listening to Christmas Music
A completely free option, which I know all of us college students are here for, is, of course, listening to Christmas music. While hanging up your Christmas lights, studying for finals, stress eating because of finals, absolutely drowning in school work, listening to Christmas music always tends to lighten the mood, especially a Mariah Carey classic.
#3 Christmas Air freshener
Personally, the smell of a space, whether it be a dorm or a house, definitely sets the mood and why not set the mood of your dorm or suite into a festive one. There’s plenty of holiday scents being sold in stores, from Holiday Berry to that classic Christmas Tree scent that’s a personal favorite of mine. Decorating your room with not only lights and having Christmas music playing but having your room smell of your favorite Christmas scent will have you feeling festive, or at least mildly excited for the holidays.
#4 Secret Santa
This is always so fun to do because you get to buy/receive gifts for a small price tag. Just get a bunch of your friends together, pick names, set a spending limit for gifts and most importantly keep who you have a secret! Then after a couple of weeks you can have a Christmas party and swap gifts!
#5 Christmas Movie watch party
This doesn’t have to cost you any money and you can still have a ton of fun hanging out with your friends while getting into the Christmas spirit. You and your friends can get on comfy Christmas PJs, make some hot cocoa and popcorn and choose one of your favorite Christmas movies. Netflix has a significant selection of Christmas movies, so you and your friends can watch all the Christmas movies you want without having to spend tons of money going out to buy one.
#6 Buy an Advent Calendar
How can we forget the delightful paper calendars that held plastic chocolate candy that we somehow couldn’t wait to eat when we were younger? If you’re not a fan of the traditional chocolate advent calendars, Target sells skin care, make up, and bath bomb advent calendars too! But I think we all have a soft spot for those classic ‘mysterious’ little chocolates.