Christmas has got to be my favorite time of year! Seeing the holiday lights, putting up the tree, and drinking a warm sip of hot chocolate (with extra marshmallows, of course) all help to get me in the holiday spirit. While my family usually decorates our home back in New Jersey over Thanksgiving break, this year I decided to inject some holiday magic into my first apartment as well. This ended up being a great morale booster as I braved a tough finals week, and can be a fun way to mark the last few weeks of the semester for anyone no matter what holiday they celebrate. Being a college student, I also had to ensure that I was able to decorate on a budget (which is not always easy to be honest). However it can be done! Here are some tips for different elements of decking your halls on a budget:

The Tree Itself: This was probably the single most expensive item that I bought for decking my halls. I knew the second I moved into my apartment that I wanted to decorate for Christmas, so I bought my tree in mid-October. Yes, you read that right. The strategy here was to buy my tree early to get a good deal on the price, which paid off. I was able to get my 6.5 foot tree for about $50 at Home Depot, which was the height I wanted at a pretty reasonable price!

On the Tree: For the ornaments on the tree, I opted to go with a color set from Target. This was only about $20, and included about 50 glitter, shiny, and matte ornaments all with hooks. I also bought some cheap garland to wrap around my tree, and found a light up angel on sale!

Under the Tree: For under my tree, I bought a tree skirt and light up presents to help fill the space. I chose relatively economical options, and was able to use a gift card for these. I also found a super cute gold reindeer at Target to go under my tree, completing that space.

The rest of the Apartment: For the remainder of my apartment, I went to the dollar store, where they had a whole section of the store with super festive and economical decorations. Here, I was able to decorations such as a tabletop tree, a tablecloth, a “merry” outdoor sign, and more for a great deal!

Overall, when finding the items to decorate my apartment, I looked for items that were on sale, used gift cards that I already had, and shopped where I could find great deals! The beauty about decorating your space is that you can decide what to include or not. If you are working with a smaller budget, you could just choose to focus on the tree, for example. I ended up buying these decorations over the course of a month a little at a time, making it easy for me to budget a little each week for some decorations. I also knew that I would be able to use them next year in my apartment, and in the future as well.

This is why it helps to start early with budgeting and buying if you know decorating your dorm or apartment is something you want to do. It doesn’t have to be anything huge or grand, as long as you are happy with the way your space looks, you have successfully decked your halls!

Let me know down in the comments if you have any tips for decorating your dorm or apartment. Wishing everyone a very happy holidays!