With the holidays just around the corner, it is finally time to start to decorate. Creating a magical, winter wonderland in a small space can be difficult, especially when on a college student budget.

Many may be thinking why should you decorate when you will be going home soon, but there are many reasons.

One, it gives you a reason to take a break from studying, and two, it gives you the hopefulness of the holidays to look forward to as you are drowning in finals.

Through Pinterest there are many cost-efficient ways of decorating dorms and apartments. Here are just a few ways to give your apartment a holiday flair on a budget that will keep you excited to go home to more decorations.

1. Small Christmas tree

This is a given. Christmas is known for decorating a tree with ornaments and lights. Small faux Christmas trees are the perfect way to add some holiday spirit into your small apartment or dorm. It’ll give you the holiday feelings to fight back the dead week blues.

2. Lights

There are many ways to decorate with lights and if you do not celebrate Christmas, it is also a good way to make a winter wonderland.

If you are in a dorm: you can drape these around your loft, around the room, outline the doors, drape them on your bookshelf or around your wardrobe.

3. Cardboard fireplace

This is the ultimate college way of making a winter dorm. It is the cheapest way of giving you a holiday feel of fake warmth.

All you need is construction paper, cardboard and some markers. The construction paper will make the fire denser and more life-like.

4. Fake snow

There are three different kinds of fake snow: one, the spray snow for windows and mirrors, two, the fluffy cotton snow and three, the sprinkles of sparkly snow.

The best for a dorm is the spray snow because it gives the feeling of frost on the windows, good for this year because it’s not happening as often as normal.

The second best is the cotton snow; this is good to put on your desk or bookshelf to give more of a winter feel throughout the room.

The worst is the sprinkles of snow. These are like confetti and will be found for the rest of the school year. They never go away, and, although pretty, I would not recommend them because the mess is not worth it when you have other options.

5. Light up candles

Since regular candles are not allowed in the dorms and most apartments, light up candles are the way to go. Mix these with an air freshener that smells like apple pie, cinnamon, pine, cookies or something else that smells like the holidays. One you mix the lighting of the fake candle and the smell, it feels like the real thing.

6. Ornaments

These are not just for a Christmas tree — they are great decorations for around the room or entire dorm/apartment.

One of the best places for ornaments in a dorm is to hang them underneath your loft. Another way to spice up the room is to drape lights around the room and hang the ornaments on the light strands.

If you do not want lights, this can also be used with fishing line, to create floating ornaments around the apartment/dorm.