If you grew up in a home that celebrated Christmas, you likely have memories of waking up on Christmas morning and finding your neatly wrapped presents awaiting you under your Christmas tree. As an adult living in your first apartment, fitting a proper Christmas tree in your home is much more challenging. If you’re living alone, you might be considering forgoing the tree altogether and deciding not to decorate for Christmas – what’s the point of trying to squeeze it in if your family won’t be there to exchange gifts?
Apartment life doesn’t have to mean not decorating for Christmas, even if your place is super small. There are plenty of ways to bring Christmas cheer into your apartment for the holiday, and you don’t have to ditch the tree to do it. Below, learn how to decorate your first apartment for Christmas.
Make a tree that’s not a tree
Even people who don’t celebrate Christmas know what a Christmas tree looks like, so you don’t need to get a real tree to spread the holiday spirit throughout your apartment. Instead, use tissue paper and other basic art supplies to build your own Christmas tree that you can stick to your wall without taking up any much-needed space in your apartment. Plus, this two-dimensional tree can be way easier and less expensive to decorate than that super tall real tree from your childhood.
Let it snow, but not actually
Dreaming of a white Christmas? Bring the illusion of a snowy holiday into your home with paper snowflakes. All you need is plain old printer paper and a pair of scissors, and the instructions are as simple as the materials. You can even color your snowflakes green and red for added Christmas imagery! Hang your snowflakes near a window to complete the illusion, and if you can get away with it based on what’s in your lease, consider frosting your windows to turn this idea up to 11.
Go wild with wreaths
If you can’t fit a Christmas tree in your apartment, then wreaths can be the next best thing. You can attach them to the outside of your front door so that passerby and visitors feel the holiday spirit every time they see your apartment, and you can hang them on walls throughout your apartment to keep the holiday cheer thriving in your home. Bonus points for any wreaths made of real pine needles – that classic Christmas scent will make your decorations all the more believable.
Get an appropriately small tree
A small apartment doesn’t mean you have to ditch the Christmas tree entirely! In recent years, a growing number of smaller Christmas trees have become available. These trees sometimes occupy such small volumes that they can easily fit in buckets, baskets, vases, and other objects that take up way less of your precious apartment space. Some of these tiny trees are actually entirely different plants from traditional Christmas trees, so your apartment’s holiday decor might just stand out way more than everyone else’s.
How do you decorate your apartment for Christmas? Sound off in the comments!
