Simple, snowflake decorations made with your housemates are cheap and effective.

1. Decorate your property!

This year its accepted that you can already have those Christmas decorations up! With everything that is going on this year with Covid, let's cheer everything up and get decorating.

Ask family and friends if they have any decorations they're not using this year, or go to the shops and buy cheap tinsel to scatter around your student property.

Alternatively, grab your housemates and get creative. The simplest cut out paper snowflakes around a window can look great. Stick on the Christmas music to get those creative juices flowing!

We recommend the Christmas Hits playlist on Spotify 😍

2. Go on a light tour!

Throughout Bournemouth and Poole, there will be many houses who go all out on Christmas decorations. 

Make up some hot chocolate flasks with your Uni housemates and go hunting for the craziest decorations.

Find the best street for Christmas decorations.

Christmas baking with your University housemates.

3. Do some Christmas baking!

Spend an evening with your University housemates baking and decorating festive treats!

Follow us on Facebook or Instagram for some recipe inspiration. We will be dropping a new festive recipe every Friday throughout December!

4. Watch a Christmas movie!

They're great to watch every year, although you have watched them so many times before. The classics are great and every year they always release a few new ones to watch to get you in the festive spirit.

Heat up the popcorn, make some hot chocolate and curl up on the sofa with your housemates.

Keep an eye on our Facebook page as we will be having a debate to decide the best Christmas film of ALL TIME! 

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5. Arrange a Secret Santa!

Don't forget this is a secret! You are not meant to know who is buying your present!

There are tools out there which you can use to assign everyone's secret santa.

With money always being tight for some people, decide on a budget on how much to spend on your present together.

Finally, decide a date of when you will be exchanging gifts and set reminders, no one wants to be left presentless as someone forgot to buy their present.

6. And most importantly, arrange a Christmas Dinner!

To make it feel like you are having a proper Christmas, arrange a date before everyone heads home for Christmas to cook a festive dinner together!

This doesn't have to break the bank to be festive. Bournemouth Student Lettings recommend making it a team effort and every one of your housemates be involved in making the meal.

A few tips to save money is...
- Instead of getting a turkey (and some of it probably going to waste), buy individual chicken breasts for everyone.
- Frozen veg always tends to work out cheaper.
- Assign each of your housemates something to provide, stopping duplicates.
- Buying separate sausages and bacon, wrapping them yourselves, can often work out cheaper.

Organising a Christmas dinner is also the perfect opportunity to exchange those Secret Santa gifts!

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