Help - Decorating Advice Needed!

basketcase

OK. The situation is this. My DD18 :A is at University :beer: :rotfl: and has asked for advice on decorating their kitchen for Christmas. (As in ornaments, not paint! )

Not only does she want to do this cos it's Festive, she'd also like to make sure that the place is nice and cheery for the Overseas students who can't go home for the holidays. Sooooo the stuff has got to be:
Festive
Cheap if not FREE (students, remember!)
and, preferably, really REALLY good because there's a prize of £50 for the best decorated kitchen on campus. (Competitive? Elle?!)

I have a couple of ideas, but not many so all help will be gratefully received!

embb

How about buying a cheap bag of baubles (poundshop?) and a couple of strands of tinsel, hang the baubles off it and swag them? Don't know I'm not very creative

Trying_really_hard

Wow. SHe's lucky. Our Uni told us to take down out decorations as they were a "health and safety risk". Spoil sports. :rolleyes:

Places like Wilkos's have some small (I mean small enough to put on a table top or in the corner) christmas trees for a couple of pounds. In our student house we bought one of these, pre-decorated, for a couple of quid and then scrounged from our parents other things such as tinsel and baubles as above poster mentioned.

Its really nice that they are thinking of the international students who don't go home. Although, I'm sure that £50 is very tempting as well.

bobbadog

Little christmas trees, stuck upside down to ceilings look amazing... our local pub does that. Woo! x

helenstuff

In my first year at university, a friend and I decorated our whole corridor and kitchen one night with giant paper chains made from newspaper (stapled!). They were so big, the effect was spectacular - and it cost us, well, a few staples....

hopingforahouse

We made millions of snowflake shapes out of white paper and hung them on thin white thread from the celing - maybe two or three on each thread, and it looked like it was snowing.

basketcase

What BRILLIANT ideas! :j (Not sure what you mean by the upside down Christmas trees though - I can't picture the effect.)

I'll pass these all on to DD and will see if they can't take some pictures of the finished effect.

BTW, somebody on another site suggested greenery (cones, holly etc) from the local park (she was American, I think). Is it actually legal to take the stuff home? I have a sneaking feeling it's not... :eek:

Again, thanxabunch :T

full-time-mum

Please ask her to think of the safety issue with the kitchen/candles and copious amounts of alcohol likely to be involved.

Don't forget the window - window transfers look good although I don't know of any cheap sources.

Don't forget poundshops.

Glass vases/jugs filled with a mixture of pine cones/baubles/tinsel/coloured bead chains look good. Might work with a collection of tall drinking glasses too.

Thistle heads sprayed gold look good in vases too.

Anastacia

and dont forget to ask on freecycle. loads of people buy new decorations whilst the old ones are still going strong so there must be plenty out there to go to a good home.

freebie_junkie

you can make a 'santa missed teh chimney and fell through the celining thingie' by stuffing an old (charity shop etc.) pair of red trousers and black boots with newspaper, trimming teh ends with cotton wool and fastening it to the ceiling.

Sallys_Savings

freebie_junkie wrote:

you can make a 'santa missed teh chimney and fell through the celining thingie' by stuffing an old (charity shop etc.) pair of red trousers and black boots with newspaper, trimming teh ends with cotton wool and fastening it to the ceiling.

I think the students would love that freebie junkie lol