Ten Halloween Decorating Tips for College Dorms

Halloween is a fun time of year on campus. Here are some ideas to help enjoy the fun and fellowship while staying safe and relatively sane at the same time. Get as many rooms in the dorm, or at least on your floor involved in the decorating. The more students and rooms involved in decorating the better. Nothing ruins holiday decorations like one undecorated room in the middle of the entire floor to kill the atmosphere. Ask the floor counselor for any information on do's and don'ts. It's always a good idea to start things off on the right foot. The floor counselor may even have some information on what ideas over the last few years were the absolute best.

Make sure that anything used in decorating is either made from materials purchased by the students, supplied by the school or donated from some civil group. Do NOT get involved in pinching, read that stealing, decorating materials from off campus.

So not use any decorations that involve open flame in the dorm building. Motion activated solar powered accent lights are better at highlighting specific points in the dorm decorations anyway.

Ask the campus housekeeping or janitorial staff if they have any old clothes or things that can be used to make faux people and figures for decoration points. Assign different groups in the dorm responsibilities so you do not end up doing most of the work yourself.

If Homecoming weekend is close to Halloween try to find a way to tie the events together to make decorating easier and more fun. Remember you want as much involvement as possible.

Get local businesses to sponsor the decorations on your floor or in your dorm. Make sure that students thank the sponsors by using the sponsors business as needed in return for their sponsorship.

Use black lighting as much as possible because it cuts down on the amount of decorative work needed and uses the dark as part of the decoration. Halloween is a lot about dark so that is a plus for your decorations.

Have limited beverages and snacks in the middle of each floor to encourage students to come out and discuss the decorations. Make sure the beverages are non alcoholic.