I love Halloween. It is my absolute favorite holiday. It’s kind of sad though, to be living in the dorms at this time of year, because there is not too much to put you in the Halloween spirit. So, in order to get into the Halloween spirit, I decided I needed to decorate my dorm (with a lot of help from my wonderful roommate, Sarah). Before you fret that you’re a broke college student, and can’t afford to buy a bunch of stuff to put in your room for just a short period of time, this won’t cost you much. First and foremost, the dollar section at Target is amazing and has a lot of fun, cheap decorations. On our door we have a fun little spider to start off the Halloween mood.

Find little cheap pumpkins to place here and there.

If your room isn’t heated yet like mine (Come on UMass, its freezing!), you can even get a real pumpkin to last awhile. I also found this cute little owl and put him up next to my door, and I can keep him there year round too!

Christmas lights are a known go-to decoration for college students, so why not mix it up with fun colored lights? You can go for the light up pumpkins, orange colored lights, or choose something that can last you for the year- since they’re a bit more than what you’ll find in the dollar section. My roommates and I decided to go the long term approach, and got blue lights.

You can also make your own decorations! It’s an excuse to pretend you’re in kindergarten again, which is always fun and it’s homier to have something you made yourself. I made these paper chain ghosts, which were super easy to make.

Not creative? No problem (note my random mini ghosts in the chain). A ridiculous creation just makes it funny and more personal.

Lastly, put out a candy bowl. Your room will definitely be one of the popular ones and everyone will be visiting you. It’s also the one time of year that you get to eat as much candy as you want, and you have a solid excuse, so why not? I keep mine year round because it’s fun, brings people to the room, and keeps me going when I’m up late studying. So get in the Halloween spirit, decorate your room!

Kate Casler can be reached for comment at [email protected].