Downtown Evanston has been outfitted in glistening lights and wreaths, and your room, in comparison, is looking a little drab. So, turn your social media time into something constructive by checking out these holiday-themed Pinterest ideas to quickly and cheaply create some holiday cheer.

Snowflakes 

The first time it snows, it’s absolutely magical. The second time: awe-inspiring. The third: gorgeous. The 47th time in three months: dreadful.

Once March rolls around, snow is not exactly a welcome sight, but during the holiday season, the puffy white stuff is like a dream straight out of a fairytale. Unfortunately, the weather isn’t always (read: is never) dependable. So, to guarantee myself a pseudo-white Christmas, I headed to Pinterest.

As a child, I was the Salvador Dalí of paper snowflakes. I started with grand ambitions of beauty and ended with accidental confetti and something abstract. With the Pinterest craft instructions by my side, however, my flakes turned out far better.

These designs look complicated, but they’re totally doable. When completing these patterns, I sketched the design on my paper prior to cutting. If you’re a wizard with scissors, you can probably skip this, but if you’re closer the Neville side than the Hermione side of competence, I would recommend lightly drawing your pattern before cutting.

After sketching the designs, I cut them out and unfolded the flakes. I was surprised to see how closely they resembled the example.

For someone who is not artistic, these flakes were a quick, easy decoration that required me to buy absolutely nothing. This year, I’ll enjoy my white Christmas inside with my snowflakes, without the bone-chilling cold that nature brings.

Frosty Door 

Step aside, “Jingle Bells,” because “Frosty the Snowman” is the greatest holiday song ever.

As a Jewish girl, when “Frosty” comes on the radio I feel far less like a poser singing it than I do when belting out “Ode to Joy.” As a result, the little guy with a stovepipe hat has always held a special place in my heart.

To honor my favorite Christmas song character (#sorrynotsorry Rudolph), with a little help from Pinterest, I decorated my dorm door to resemble Frosty the Snowman.

It was pretty simple after I amassed the correct paper colors and removed the decoration that has identified my door as mine since Wildcat Welcome. Hopefully everyone still remembers my name.

This craft allows for some creative interpretation and personal touches. Don’t want Frosty to have his traditionally red scarf? Go rogue, and put polka dots on it. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but you only live once, so you should make your Frosty a rebel, if you’re so inclined.

After carefully cutting out all of Frosty’s extremities, I taped him to the door and took a step back. He’s so welcoming, and now that I have a paper friend guarding my room, the unfortunate reality of finals is a little less daunting.

Candy Cane Marshmallows 

When I arrived at Northwestern, I had grand ambitions of baking. I pictured bonding over late-night cookie dough and cupcake frosting while simultaneously joining every club and getting straight A’s.

Needless to say, my dream-like vision has not been realized because, despite popular belief, I am not Hermione Granger and therefore do not possess a Time-Turner. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in my day, and with three (read: six) of these precious hours spent tweeting at celebrities and Facebook stalking hot messes from high school, I haven’t exactly had much time for baking.

That’s why this peppermint marshmallow recipe is so perfect. It looks difficult, but in reality, you did everything in less than 15 minutes.

The only ingredients needed for this recipe are candy canes, marshmallows and chocolate. I began by melting down my chocolate and skewering my marshmallows with one candy cane each.

For those like me who struggle to make fondue-esque desserts, the hooked end of a candy cane is an excellent grip that prevents marshmallow slipping. And, after finishing the dipping process and coating the marshmallows in crushed candy canes, my treat looked holiday-ready. Not only was this dessert easy, but it was also fun to make.  

Dreidel 

I am not ashamed to admit I brought a pair of 2006 bar mitzvah pants to college. They are exceedingly comfortable, and the fact is, just like the pants say, Michael’s bar mitzvah was nothing but net.

The first time I brought these pants out, my roommate was perplexed. She didn’t laugh at the fact that I still had pants I received in the seventh grade. She didn’t chuckle that I received them as a free giveaway. She didn’t understand any of it because she had never been to a bar or bat mitzvah.

After retroactively inviting her to my own bat mitzvah (it was a 2007 sea-themed extravaganza, if you were wondering), I set out to educate her.

Naturally, this education involved learning how to play the Hanukkah game, dreidel. I sought to enlighten my Northwestern friends on the finer points of spinning the toy and the wondrous gelt that could be won if victorious.

Unfortunately, a dreidel was not on my college packing list. Luckily, Pinterest was there, as always, to lend a helping hand. I found a very simple dreidel template that had my friends and me playing in a matter of minutes.

After cutting out and constructing the dreidel template, I used a pencil to serve as the spinning axis. It was not as resilient as the plastic toys I was accustomed to, but it turned out to be somewhat usable. So, if you’re itching to learn four new Hebrew letters and want to win some chocolate coins, Pinterest has your answer.

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