The festive season is upon us, making this my first experience of Lancaster at Christmas time! I’m going to be documenting how I’m spending the Christmas period with my flatmates and hopefully giving you some insight into the activities and events you can take part in at uni throughout December.

Decorating

Having an advent calendar to kick off the festivities has been a long-standing tradition for me, so I decided to get one for my room to help me feel as festive at uni as I do each year at home.

My flat loves to celebrate every occasion with decorations, and as we’d enjoyed decking out the kitchen for Halloween we were excited to go bigger and better for Christmas. We set out to town to grab tinsel, fairy lights, bunting and even a miniature pine tree to sit on the kitchen table (which we have named Terry and want to keep for the rest of the year if we manage to look after him properly). Along with this, we also bought perhaps a few too many festive treats which were much appreciated during cosy movie nights in watching the classics, such as Nativity, The Holiday and The Grinch.

Lancaster looked lovely all lit up on our shopping trip for decorations.

Secret Santa

My flat and a few of our friends decided that Secret Santa would be a great way to get us into the festive spirit and would be a lovely way of showing our appreciation for one another without breaking the bank. We set a budget of £5 each and a date to swap presents and each set out to find the perfect gift.

Searching town for the best I could get to make my Secret Santa smile on a budget was really fun. I loved weighing up all the options and felt quite happy with myself when my total came to £5.30, as it was quite difficult to stick so closely to budget!

Christmas Lunch

We also decided as a group that we couldn’t celebrate Christmas without a traditional roast, so I booked a table for us at a pub in town and we had a lovely afternoon chatting over some delicious festive dishes.

Final thoughts

As you can see, there is plenty to get up to in Lancaster throughout December! I didn’t even have time to do everything on offer, such as ice skating on 'Lancaster in Ice' rink at Dalton Square or watching the production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ which was held at Lancaster Castle during the last week of term. No matter how you’re celebrating the festive period, I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing time and a happy New Year!