
How To Deck out your Dorm for Halloween
A quick guide to bring a bit of ghoulish charm to your home away from home during the Halloween season.
“Why should I decorate?”
Moving away from home into an unfamiliar place can be far scarier than any ghost or ghoul on Halloween. Furthermore, the space you find yourself occupying doesn’t feel like your own. However you can make the space your own through…(drum roll)…DECORATING!
When you’re already staying up late studying for exams or stressing over an encroaching deadline, putting up Halloween decorations can sound like a waste of time. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. By simply decorating a bit you can make you dorm into a place you feel can comfortable in. And for anyone who has already made the space their own, it can be fun every now and then to dress up your dorm a little and most decorations are fairly cheap anyway. Because of this you can put together (or dress up) your new home on a budget.

Tapestries
When you move into your dorm you usually only bring the essentials and wall decorations probably aren’t on that list. Tapestries are an easy way to bring a bit of Halloween spirit to your dorm and fill any empty space on your walls. And if you pick out a cool one, you can leave it up all semester long.
One of the biggest benefit of tapestries are that they are significantly easier to pack and move than other wall decorations. With posters you can roll them up but you can’t bend or fold them, framed photos are completely rigid and fragile, and canvas paintings are delicate and prone to be punctured. Tapestries avoid all of this by just being a piece of easily folded cloth. And if you have any fragile items like a framed photo or mug, you can even use it to protect them.

Halloween Window Clings
Window clings can be a really fun addition to any room. Many of us probably have memories of these from our childhoods. And while these may feel childish to some, it can be a great place to find some much needed nostalgia.
Another reason to put up a few is because it can a way to make some of your hard work decorating seen from the outside. This can be especially true for dorms with outward facing windows. Because when you and a bunch of other students put up spooky decals, it brings a little holiday fear to the entire campus!

Mini Projector
Horror movies are a Halloween staple. The only problem that actually watching one in theaters can be inconvenient. Having to book in advance to get good seats, finding parking once you get there, movies only staying in theaters for a few weeks, and a mound of other problems make what used to be a fun weekend activity with friends into a stressful ordeal.
So why not just have your own little movie theater in your dorm with a mini projector. You get to be comfy in your own bed, pick out all your favorite snacks, and the cherry on top is that once you buy it, that’s it! No expensive tickets or booking seats. It’s all the benefits of a real theater without any of the hassle and it’ll fit right in with your other Halloween decorations.

Fake Spiderwebs
Whats more classic than fake spiderwebs in October. The silky homes of our 8-legged friends can be made at home for a bucks using some cotton balls. By unrolling, pinching, and gently pulling a cotton ball into a flat sheet, you can make some convincing cobwebs that might catch a few stares.
If you want to maximize the skin-crawling fear without any worry of getting bit, you can buy some fake spiders to add to your faux webbing. Just make sure your roommate isn’t an arachnophobe before you put any creepy crawlies up.

Automatic Air freshener
While most don’t think smell is a part of decorating, an air freshener can bring it all together. Whether you go with pumpkin, allspice, or something not in the Halloween season, adding a distinct smell to your living space can make all the stress melt away the moment you open the front door. And if you pick something that reminds you of home, it can help you with any homesickness you might feel. A bonus is that you can buy inexpensive refills for most air fresheners to keep your room smelling good without emptying your wallet.
Though before you get one, you may want to look at your dorms policies on air fresheners because some don’t allow plugins. The reason for this is that some plugins have been known to be fire hazards. And that’s not the kind of fear we’re going for on Halloween!
Final Thoughts
Decorating may be one of the single best ways to make college a bit less stressful long term. It lets you personalize a space with all the the things that help you chill out after a long day of study and work. Making sure you have a comfortable place to return to after class is really important for your mental health. And giving it some Halloween flair can make you feel right at home during the spookiest season of the year. So get out there and make your own little house of horrors!
And when Christmas time rolls around, you can find a list of festive dorm room essentials here to put the wonder in winter wonderland.