Fake it till you make it
Recreating Christmas with my flatmates is a tradition that started in first year and has been carried into my second. It doesn’t matter where you’re living; some decorations, a gift swap, and attempting to cook a roast with your group will definitely leave you feeling merry and bright (be prepared for more Christmas clichés). After the year we’ve all had, me and my housemates felt we deserved to go overboard, so the fairy lights, tubs of Celebrations, and spiced apple Febreze were out from about the first week of November. We also decided to do a house Secret Santa, and planned to share our presents after we’d finished our home-made roast on our last weekend in Lancaster.
I love Secret Santa because it’s a cost-effective way of gift giving, and you can pick something truly meaningful as your focus is only on one person. We set a budget of £10, but you could go higher or lower depending on what suits everyone. As is typical for me, I ran into trouble. I had just got my delivery and was telling my housemates that everything was under control, when I walked into the kitchen and saw the exact same mug as the one I’d ordered sitting on the sideboard. My Secret Santa luckily loved the chocolates and mindfulness cards that I eventually settled for, but take this as a reminder to check that your flatmates don’t already have what you’re planning to buy them! (I was gifted a lovely set of luxury hot chocolates that I’m saving for closer to Christmas – thanks Tasha!)