Living the Gray Life

A Fitness & Lifestyle Blog

| Posted in: DIY, Dorm Room, Holiday

Christmas Dorm Decor

It’s December 1st! Well, when I’m writing this it’s December 1st… That means it’s time for holiday everything. Music, decorations, and sweaters. I wanted to add some festivity to my dorm room, but because I’m limited on space, a Christmas tree just isn’t feasible. All of these decorations are made strictly with construction paper or plain printer paper. Why spend a ton on decorations when you’re just going to have to store them in your already small dorm room? Not only do the decorations take up little to no space, they’re also recyclable. When the holiday season is over, you can just throw these little guys in the recycle bin! (Not the trash. We’re trying to be environmentally friendly here.)

holiday dorm decor

Before I begin, I want to apologize for how not in focus some of the images are. I tried my best to get sharp images, but my camera just did not want to cooperate with me.

Santa Hat

Santa hats are my favorite thing to make. These are so versatile, and you can put them basically anywhere. I actually have a skeleton from Halloween still hanging outside of my door, and I made a Santa hat for him. Now he’s no longer a Halloween decoration. He’s all Christmas!

holiday dorm decor DIY santa hat
Step 1: Cut out a triangle from red construction paper and your white, fluffy pieces from white printer paper. It works best if your red triangle has a slight curve on one side as you can see above.
holiday dorm decor DIY santa hat
Step 2: Attach the longer. white piece to the bottom of the hat. Then fold over the top of your triangle to form a hat. Secure this with tape.
holiday dorm decor DIY santa hat
Step 3: Attach the final white, fluffy piece of paper with tape. You’re all done!

Wreath

I love wreaths and this one is super easy to make and a lot of fun. You can make this in a bunch of different sizes, but I opted for a smaller one.

holiday dorm decor paper wreath
Step 1: Cut out a circle from a piece of construction paper. The circle does not have to be perfect. Clearly mine isn’t.
holiday dorm decor paper wreath
Step 2: Using the leftover construction paper, cut out triangles of different sizes. This will help add variety to your wreath.
holiday dorm decor paper wreath
Step 3: Attach the triangles to the wreath. It looks best if you overlap the triangles. You can use double-sided tape, glue, or just regular tape.
holiday dorm decor paper wreath
Step 4: Your wreath is finished. You can either leave it like this, or you can add other decorations. I decided to add some red “ribbon”.
holiday dorm decor paper wreath
Step 5: If you choose to decorate your wreath, you can make decorations out of paper or use whatever you have lying around. I decided to cut out some red “ribbon” from construction paper that I had left over from my Santa hat.

I decided to attach both my wreath and my Santa hat to my monogrammed door sign that I made a the beginning of the school year. If you want to see how I made that, click HERE.

holiday dorm decor paper wreath in action

I love how festive this makes the door. The slightest bit of decoration can really go a long way.

Christmas Tree

Instead of having a miniature Christmas tree, I decided to make one out of paper. This saves a whole lot of space both during the holiday season and after when you have to store the tree. I have a miniature tree for my room at home, and I can’t wait to put it up when I go back home for Christmas!

holiday dorm decor christmas tree

I didn’t do a tutorial on this one because it would have taken forever, and I think you can make a Christmas tree any way you really want. For this one, I just cut out a triangle of green paper, taped a rectangle of brown paper at the bottom for the trunk, and then cut out wavy pieces of red paper for the garland. I actually really like how this one turned out. The presents aren’t the best, but hey, it’s made out of construction paper.

Paper Snowflakes

Whenever I think of paper snowflakes, I imagine that scene in Elf where Buddy completely covers the entire NYC apartment in paper snowflakes. Not only are paper snowflakes festive, they’re also not strictly Christmas related so that means you can keep them up longer! Everyone loves that!

holiday dorm decor paper snowflakes

ChiWei over at One Dog Woof made these adorable paper snowflakes! These would be a great option for a dorm room because 1. they’re not permanent and 2. they don’t take up a lot of space.

Christmas Cards

I LOVE CHRISTMAS CARDS. The ones at Target this year are stunningly beautiful and I just can’t get enough of them. Now I know I said this post only contained things you could make with construction paper or printer paper, but I just couldn’t pass up on decorating with Christmas cards.

holiday dorm decor cards from Target dolla spot holiday dorm decor cards holiday dorm decor cards

I found these in the Target Dollar Spot for $3. I love the modern feel to them. These would be perfect to hang up on the wall in a frame or just display around your room. You can also hang up Christmas cards that your friends and family send you! It’s a perfect way to add festivity to a small space.

Do you have any suggestions when it comes to decorating your dorm room for the holidays? Happy Holidays!!

-Abigail T.