It’s that time of year again: deadlines galore and money being swallowed in every direction from transport home to dad’s new socks.

The last thing you want to be spending your student funds on is decorating your pad for the whole two weeks everyone will actually be there. This doesn’t, however, mean you can’t bring a bit of Christmas cheer to the place. The Tab have brought you Christmas decoration ideas on a budget.

Christmas Candles

All you need is…

• An old jar
• PVA glue (£1.95 Craftys Bold Street)
• Tea lights, scented ones are best (Poundworld, Church Street)
• Glitter set (£1.69 home bargains)

Smother the jar in PVA glue and get glitter happy, it doesn’t really matter what way you decide to decorate it just make it fun and Christmassy. You can use the letters in the set to decorate the jar with a Christmas greeting. Then just pop the tea light inside.

 

 

Christmas Banner

What you need…

• Coloured card (30p each Craftys)
• Pegs (5p each Craftys)
• Natural string (60p B&M Bargains)
• Acrylic Paint (£1 per bottle B&M Bargains)

Simply cut out the pieces of card into separate squares and use the acrylic paint to paint on the letters of your Christmas greeting. Choose a suitable spot for your banner (preferably somewhere your housemates won’t stumble into it in a drunken fumble in the early hours of Tuesday morning after Raz) and use tape to hang each side.

Festive Candle Holder

What you need…

• Long candles (£1 Poundworld, Church Street)
• Empty wine bottle (If you don’t have one of these lying around please stop calling yourself a student, because you’re clearly not)
• Snow spray (£1 Poundworld, Church Street) this is a great investment! Spray it over anything to instantly transform your house into a winter wonderland

This doesn’t really need much explaining but the snow spray makes a massive difference. If you’re feeling extra creative maybe throw in a few extra details with some glitter glue.

Holly

This has got to be the cheapest yet most effective, traditional Christmas decoration. It can be found anywhere if you look hard enough, many people have it growing in their garden I’m sure would be happy enough to let you take a bit, if you ask nicely! A few berries also make a big difference. Again, snow spray!! It’s not essential but it makes it look a lot more seasonal.

Christmas Tree Decorations

What you need…

• Wire, it can be found in most craft stories and is usually used for making jewellery
• Old beads, you can cut up old bracelets to use the beads or Primark have a beautiful selection of tacky bracelets that would perfect

Bend the wire into the shape that you want and pop the beads on, leave a loop at the top to hang on the tree.

Snowman Christmas Tree Decoration

What you need…

• Beer bottle tops
• Ribbon
• PVA glue
• Whte acrylic paint (Home Bargains)
• Black paint (liquid eyeliner works just as well)
• Glitter glue

Use white acrylic paint to paint the inside of the bottle tops. Once it has dried then use the black paint to paint on the eyes and the mouth. Once this has dried then use the rad glitter glue to fill in the nose. Once everything has dried use PVA glue to attach the bottle tops together and a ribbon on the back to hang on the tree. It’s also advised to use some tape to make sure everything stays in place.

When it comes to a student Christmas tree anything goes. It’s impressive that you’ve even managed to put up a tree at all! And if you have it will no doubt become a permanent fixture until next June. Anything can be turned into a Christmas decoration all you need is a piece of string…

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