Here’s exactly how to have the perfect house Christmas

Christmas is approaching with (a slightly concerning) velocity, and what better way to celebrate its approach than through a big bad house Christmas. Last year, we hosted a suspiciously successful student house Christmas, so here’s my (very much self-proclaimed) expert guide on how to celebrate the festive season with your housemates.

Who and when?

So, who are we inviting? House Christmas sort of implies inviting your housemates, but really it’s an opportunity to have a special day with whoever you’re closest to at uni. If you happen to live with Ebenezer Scrooge, it may be best to just invite your closest friends round. This step is both crucial and pretty straightforward, so that’s the first thing to get sorted.

Once you know who’s invited, set a date early. Find a time when everyone is free and doesn’t have contact hours (seminars are off-limits, lectures are optional, but we all have that one friend who refuses to catch up later even though it’s literally Christmas…). Setting a date allows for the best preparation. And for building some fun suspense.

The guide to good food

Now we’ve established the basics, it’s time to figure out the most important part of the evening… What’s on the table. In our house last year, the housemates who could realistically make an appearance on Hell’s Kitchen bought the food, and the rest did the cooking. To figure out what to buy, we had a think about what would 1. actually get eaten (parsnips get f*cked challenge) and 2. what we could actually cook with our microscopic oven. A general rule of thumb: the beiger the better, with the exception of pigs in blankets (divine) and parsnips (again, NFI, despite their hue).

Expert tip: Buy those weird disposable tray things, most other ones won’t cut it.

Fun fact: When you’re cooking a dinner like this, yelling at everyone is absolutely permitted.

Decking the halls

This is the time to get creative (maybe avoid “quirky”, experimental cooking for now). Whether you set up a table display that’d bring a tear to Piscatella’s eye, cover the whole house in red and green ribbons, or put up a whole tree, decorating is a great way to make the house feel homely and to spend time with housemates.

Decorating doesn’t have to be really expensive either. You could make paper or pipe cleaner chains, paper stars and snowflakes, DIY bunting, or do some fun paintings. This definitely counts as a festive activity in and of itself, too.

10 ideas for activities

Here’s a list of fun things you can do on the day when you’re not screaming and cooking (mutually inclusive) or eating said cooking jubilantly.

1. Exchange gifts (if that’s the vibe – though that’s probably a good conversation to have beforehand).
2. Watch a Christmas film. A Christmas Carol (2009) and The Holiday are my top picks. Plus, (Sapphics listen up) Carol (2015) definitely counts as a Christmas film.
3. Do karaoke on the TV or a laptop.
4. Make silly TikToks – if you want suggestions, the poisoned Pringle trend and the Am-I-Lying-About-The-Object-I’m-Holding game are good picks.
5. Make (Baileys) hot chocolate.
6. Give out House Awards. This one requires a little preparation, but if you send out a Google Form with lots of categories in advance this could be a fun way to celebrate.
7. Suggest a gingerbread competition and take it way too seriously. Bonus points if you try to make the SU or another Durham landmark. You could decorate cookies if you don’t fancy crying from frustration when your gingerbread house falls down.
8. Bake something together, if cooking a dinner hasn’t destroyed your will to live.
9. Ugly T-shirt exchange.
10. Drink.

8 games you definitely need to play

Here are some game suggestions if you’re fancying a bit of a games night.

1. Tipsy Land – this is a really fun game if you fancy drinking.
2. Sip or Spill – another really good drinking game. Love this one.
3. Monopoly, if you’re feeling dangerous.
4. The ID game.
5. Cards Against Humanity.
6. Pass the parcel, for the primary-school-core vibes.
7. Blind karaoke, kind of copied from the last list, but more specific. Let your friends pick something from Sing King and then sing it without looking at the lyrics.
8. Card games. Rummy, trumps, and poker are our favourites.

Hope this helps and good luck! Merry Christmas divas.

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