Around the holiday season, families decorate their house to celebrate the festivities of the event. However, being away from home for school does not mean the traditions cannot be carried on.

There are many ways to bring your dorm, student housing or apartment into the holiday season before going home to celebrate with your family. However, this is a time where you can let your creativity shine and make your living space authentic with the help of some homemade projects.

Before decorating your entire place, one quick project you can do to let your peers know how much holiday spirit you have is the Festive Door project.

On Pinterest, the author Smart College Visit pinned a fun and simple design called College Door Decor that students can do or take inspiration from.

For this project, you will need:

• Holiday-themed wrapping paper

• Construction paper (specifically red, white, black, orange, yellow and brown)

• A wreath (Walmart or grocery stores)

• Scissors

• Tape or removable adhesive (i.e. sticky tack)

1. Take the holiday wrapping paper and hold it up to a door.

2. Cut the wrapping paper in accordance with the dimensions of the door.

3. Make sure you are only using enough for half of the door and use your adhesive to place it on the top half of the door.

4. Take your scissors and cut a thick rectangle of brown construction paper and overlap some of the wrapping paper.

5. Cut white construction paper to fill the bottom half of the door.

6. Cut red construction paper in the shape of bricks and place them on top of the white construction paper. Keep the bricks close so that the white construction paper looks like filling for the bricks.

7. Cut black construction paper into a square and round the top edges. This will be the mouth of the fireplace.

8. Cut brown construction paper in to thin rectangles and round the edges to make the shape look like logs.

9. Cut the orange construction paper into a flame shape that fits the dimensions of the black construction paper. Repeat this step with yellow construction paper while making the flames fit within the orange construction paper.

Once you have done this, add the wreath to the door and you will have a fireplace with holiday wallpaper above it to welcome guests to your home. As an addition, you can use pulled cotton balls to create snow. If you have a favourite holiday story, you can adapt this project to display it to all of your peers.

If you are lacking inspiration for decorating your space for the holidays, AllWomensTalk.com has compiled some simple tips and tricks to help in its article 7 Ways To Decorate Your Dorm For Christmas.

1. Get/make a tree

“Whether it’s a real or fake, a Christmas tree is one of the most perfect ways to decorate your dorm room for Christmas. You can even get creative and make your own tree out of cardboard, books, beer cans, or anything you want.”

2. Light it up

“String some lights around your tree to decorate or string them around your entire dorm room. You can even spell out festive words in lights for some extra flair.”

3. Colour scheme

“No matter what you decorate your dorm room with for Christmas, make sure you have a colour scheme. Most people would go with the traditional red and green, but don’t be afraid to mix it up a bit. Neon shades like pink and green are really popular right now. Just do you.”

4. Mistletoe

If you choose to put up mistletoe, think about whom you will be having over. “[Mistletoe is] a fun and flirty way to welcome your friends when they come in.”

5. Wrap it up

“Frame different Christmas themed wrapping paper for a wall decoration or put small boxes wrapped in paper around your bed.”

6. Smell it in the air

“Candles are the perfect decoration because not only do they look amazing, they smell amazing too. Pick several Christmas scented candles, like peppermint, sugar cookies or pine needles. Then scatter them across your dorm room.”

7. Play some holiday music

“Mix it up by including old favourites as well as new renditions. Ask your friends and roommates what they would like to hear too.”

Sites such as Pinterest and DIY blogs for a specific occasion are good resources for finding new projects and for gaining inspiration to create your own original holiday staple to bring your peers into the holiday season.

This is an opportunity to experiment with different looks and techniques that you can bring home and share with your family. By adding new projects and atmospheres, you can innovate your annual traditions and bring in some new ones for everyone to enjoy.