The Observer, November 30, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 12
Spruce up your boring dorm room with cheap and easy holiday decor
The after-Thanksgiving season for Case students means the end of the semester and all the miserable glory it brings: a last ditch attempt to salvage first semester GPAs, the onslaught of last-week assignments, and the most dreaded December visitors, final exams! However, outside of the campus bubble, department stores and communities are hanging up the tinsel, stringing up the lights, and spreading holiday cheer. Why is it that college students are stuck in dreary finals-land while the world around us is full of goodwill and happiness? It turns out that bringing holiday cheer to your very own dorm room is easier than it looks. Even on a poor college student budget, decorating for the holidays is hardly difficult and can help eliminate those end-of-semester blues.
To get into the winter spirit, paper snowflakes are the easiest way to deck up even the dullest of spaces. All that is required is a pair of scissors and any kind of paper, preferably square-shaped. Fold the paper multiple times, and start cutting! Taping paper snowflakes to walls and windows automatically turns a dull dorm into a winter wonderland! While the scissors are still handy, why not go further and make construction paper chains, reminiscent of kindergarten? Cut strips of colored paper, staple each strip into interlocking loops, and hang the paper chain anywhere that needs a little color.
For the less artistically-minded, a little wrapping paper can go a long way. Wrapping your door with wrapping paper and ribbon can make the entire floor instantly festive! Cover up the nasty white wall space by covering the walls with vibrant strips of wrapping paper, or simply make large bows out of ribbon around every available surface – bedposts, chair backs, doorknobs, etc. For those who cannot celebrate the season without a Christmas tree or Kwanzaa bush, get a group of friends or floormates to chip in a few dollars and get a communal tree for everyone to decorate and enjoy. For ornaments, tree trimmings, Santa hats, and other wintery decorative items, Target or the dollar store at Tower City are treasure troves of shiny, decorative things available for fairly low prices.
What holiday decorating is complete without lights? Only $3 for a string of 100 lights at Wal-Mart, lights are an inexpensive way to brighten up any space. Available in a myriad of colors and varieties, lights are foolproof bringers of cheer. Icicle lights over the huge dorm windows provide a neat, elegant touch while multicolored lights add spirit and color to the most insipid of spaces. Best of all, Christmas lights are the simplest, most versatile way to decorate.
No matter how you choose to spruce up your dorm, holiday decorating is easy and painless. At the very least, changing your computer's desktop background to something a little more wintery or festive can do wonders for morale. Just because finals are stressful and consuming does not mean that there is not enough time to decorate. In the midst of our all-encompassing academic trauma, it is important to take a little time to spread the joy of the season.
