Halloween is on its way! Decorating your student accommodation with scary decorations and adding a spooky atmosphere and design to your room is something to look forward to, especially with the current climate. Here are some ways to help you decorate your room using cheap Halloween decoration ideas.

6 Cheap Halloween Decorations Ideas

1. Pumpkin Balloons

Using black and orange balloons, you can make pumpkin balloons to decorate your student accommodation. Pin the tied part of the inflated balloons to your black notice board shaped like a pumpkin. To make it more interesting, you can put candy inside some of the balloons and get your flatmate to throw darts with you. The winner is the one who pops the balloon with the candy inside!

2. Paper-chain Ghost 

A paper chain is an easy, simple and cheap festive decoration. Ghosts are key elements in any Halloween party. So let’s see how to create a spooky ghost using some white paper. 

1. Gather white cardboard and cut out even rectangular strips.

2. Make the first link “paper ring” by matching the two sides of the strip.

3. Thread the second strip onto the first ring and keep adding rings.

4. Create a lot of different-length chains and pass a rope through the final rings. 

5. To make the eyes and the mouth, cut two black oval shapes and one circle and stick them on the ghost body.

6. Finally, hang the ghost to the ceiling. 

You can hang a big one at the entrance and other small ones all over your accommodation! But take care when you enter the room at night because it will be really scary!

3. Galaxy Pumpkin Lantern

If you are bored with the orange and black colours, this is the DIY Halloween decoration for you. Get a foam pumpkin and paint it with a sponge using blue, purple, pink, and black. To create stars, use a stiff toothbrush to flick white paint on your pumpkin. Afterwards, make a big hole at the bottom of the pumpkin and put Christmas lights inside. Next, make small holes all over the pumpkin to make Jack-o'-lantern. To add some excitement, you may pierce the holes in a way forming the letters of your name!

4. Mummy Pen Stand 

Decorate your desk using a spooky-mummy pen stand. This is such an easy Halloween decoration. Bring a plastic cup, a jar or half a plastic bottle and wrap a masking tape or strips of toilet paper around it. Then, cut black and white cardboard into circles to make the eyes and use hot glue to stick them on securely. Next, put your pens and pencils inside. Now, your desk is spooky! 

5. Pumpkin Witch

This DIY Halloween decoration requires no carving. Just make the top of your pumpkin the nose of the witch. Then, to make the eyes, draw two oval shapes using a black marker and a circle inside each one of them using a white correction pen. If markers are not available on hand, you can use duct tape to make the eyes by cutting two black ovals, two white circles and two smaller black circles, same with the mouth. Finally, you can use wool and duct tape to make the hair. 

6. DIY Halloween Outdoor Decorations

Your entrance is just as important as your room. If your accommodation allows it, decorate the outdoor terrace or entrance of the building with your flatmates. Use Black paper to draw skulls on and hang some near the front door to surprise guests. On the other hand, if you are not the creative type, you can buy a pumpkin lamp to hang near the door. They are beautiful Halloween decorations and mostly affordable. Another idea you can try is drawing a skull with pins. Simply buy a chalkboard and some pins and stick them to the board to form a  skull. Afterwards, you can ask guests to take a pin from somewhere on the skull and rearrange the shape to something fun. That is one way to turn a decoration into a game as well. 

Now that you have your own scary cheap Halloween decorations ready, don’t forget to buy a custom to match the atmosphere.  The UK has many cheap places you can buy good costumes from, and online websites are plenty for students studying elsewhere. 

Updated September 2021