Decorating the Dorm Room at College This Halloween

Dorm room living can get pretty drab. If you are living 9 months of the year in an ode to the mighty cinder block then Halloween can be the perfect holiday to bust out of a rut and get over the halfway point of the semester. If you room alone, then you are all set and free to decorate for Halloween at will. If you have a roomie, it would be best to ask if they have any opinions about decorations before you get started. The ideas in this article are broken into a couple of themes.

The Macabre Halloween Theme

To some people Halloween is all skeletons, Frankenstein, and white sheets. To others it is an all out gore fest best left alone by the faint of heart. The "Macabre Set" should get creative with their decorations and give ordinary items a touch of the bizarre.

The best place to start is a good thrift store in the print department. Flip through their pictures and pull out some old posters or prints and take them back to your dorm room with some creamy red paint. If you managed to land some prints of bikini clad girls on a beach so much the better!

The girls are always the first to go in a good horror movie, and they will look great in various shades of terror on the wall. Take your red paint and apply it in a strategic way so as to suggest trauma. A daub at the temples or a puddle at the feet will be a great opener. Let the paint dry completely, then take your print and crumble it up slightly before pressing it back out smooth. This helps disguise the texture of the paint and add a distorted look to the picture.

Do this to several different prints if at all possible, and mix up your selections. Even a peaceful seen of little lambs can be given a scary twist for Halloween. The best thing to do to really add a touch of the dark side to your artwork is to plug in a soft nightlight beneath the pictures to cast a glow on them after dark without having to illuminate your whole room. Pull the covers tight!

The Future Homemaker Halloween Theme

This theme is built around both young men and women who appreciate the simpler aspects of Halloween, like ghosts, candy, and make-up kits. Macabre will not mix well in your lives, so opt for a few items you can use to acknowledge Halloween in your dorm room without fully embracing the horror of it all.

A ghoulish nightlight can be had for $13.95 at eCrater.com. This nightlight can be plugged in above your desk or bed to provide a nice little glow after a scary movie fest!

If you want to decorate the border of your dorm room door with a little Halloween fun try out the scary version of Christmas Lights. On Amazon.com, you can purchase a set of lights that features alternating Jack-O-Lanterns and ghosts. Two packages should wrap comfortably around any door.

A scary scarecrow would be an ideal corner enhancer, but if you are not ready to go that far into "the dark side" then consider a nice festive fall scarecrow to hang out in your room. Buycostumes.com carries a 5 foot tall jointed scarecrow for only $5.99 plus postage. The great thing about this particular product is that after Halloween is over you can slap on beard and a red hat and call him country Santa - putting you one step ahead for decorating your dorm room in anticipation of Christmas!

Whether you want to take it slow and appreciate Halloween with a few simple decorations this year or go all out and delve into the macabre side of the holiday, your dorm room provides a perfect place to test out your style. Have fun and be creative, both in your Halloween decoration choices and with your studies.