Battle of the Houses – Christmas Edition

With only a few days left before we break up for Christmas it’s unsurprising that the festive spirit has well and truly taken over RHS (or most of it at least…Mr Cohen…). In the boarding houses this is most notably shown in their Christmas decorations most obviously of course their Christmas trees. Whilst I’m sure most people would confidently claim their houses tree to be the best decorated, I’ve decided to end this debate and analyse the quirks and charms of each tree, officially crowning this year’s winner of best Christmas tree/decorations. So, without further ado here are this year’s contestants.

6. Drake-

Let’s just say Christmas has definitely hit every corner of Drake with a total of 4 trees spread across the house, spreading Christmas cheer to every corner. I like that each of the tree has been decorated uniquely including even a Santa hat on top of one and of course I again appreciate that the star on top is straight. However, I’m not sure how members of the eco-committee would react to the vast amounts of multicoloured tinsel coating two of the trees? Definitely an… artistic choice.

5. Hood-

The prize for most unique Christmas decor definitely goes to Hood, I can’t say I’ve ever seen a festive polar bear head before but maybe that’ll be the next Christmas trend! There’s definitely a homely feel to this house, from the vast array of decorations on the tree (from snowmen to a Spanish flag?) to the snowflakes dangling from the ceiling which creates an immersive Christmas wonderland. However, I feel like this array is lacking a sense of order or theme which dare I say makes it feel slightly too chaotic.

4. Blake-

Blake definitely took the creative brief seriously with angles that would challenge even the front cover of Vogue. But angles aside, I have to comment on the colour coordination of the baubles, the addition of the elf who even appears to be helping decorate, and of course the handmade garlands, giving this tree the perfect homely feel. However, I do think there’s a distinct lack of fairy lights at the top of the tree perhaps leading to a less pleasing twinkle, although this may again be due to the angles giving an inaccurate view.

3. Nelson-

Before even commenting on the decorations, I feel it would be remiss not to comment on the sheer size of the Nelson tree, it may just be the angles, but it seems significantly larger than some of the other contestants. I love the red and gold theme (perfectly Christmassy) and of course I appreciate that all the decorations are colour coordinated and even the garland on the door matches. But, as a fellow year 13 I appreciate that time is not something we have much of, but I still feel like this picture doesn’t quite do the tree justice.

2. Howe-

This tree looks like it could’ve been stolen straight off of a Pinterest board, the fairy light to bauble ratio is perfect, there’s a star on the top which shockingly is actually straight and most importantly for me there’s no array of randomly coloured baubles sprinkled across the tree. However, I would’ve liked to see a few more decorations spread across the house for some extra festive spirit rather than it just being the tree.

1. Raleigh-

If you thought the number of trees around Drake was impressive Raleigh clearly decided to one up them, with trees even being found in individual study rooms! I love the involvement of different members of the house showcasing their decorations, a definite display of house pride. Alongside this the use of colour coordination is a delight to see and gives each tree a unique twist whilst keeping a sense of order. Even though the use of tinsel is still questionable at least it stayed in line with the colour scheme of each tree making it slightly less offensive.

Finally I’m sure your left wondering about the boys boarding houses… so am I! This year they’ve clearly decided to keep their Christmas decorations under wraps or log out of their emails early (your guess is as good as mine) so you’ll have to sit tight until next year for them to eventually reveal their decorations.