School Locker Decorating

Decorating the locker at school is something that for some boys and girls is as much functional as it is a fashion statement. Some schools even hold school locker decorating contests. By first choosing a theme or even a favorite color, your creative juices will get flowing. Showing off signs of individuality and personal expression are the most important rules to follow when it comes to school locker decorating.

Time Frame

The best time for decorating your school locker would be just before the school year as you are assigned a locker number and combination. For some, this may be the best time to get into the locker, clean it out and choose a theme or what should be displayed for decorating purposes. The first day of school is typically a half of a day of school or a day that is used for instructional purposes only, so this is a great time to decorate a school locker. Bring all of the supplies and decorating items to school that day. Allowing up to 30 minutes to prepare a decorated locker, but decorating in spurts throughout the school day, such as in between classes, is also a time efficient way to squeeze in some decorating time.

Features

Celebrity themes are one of the most popular locker decorating themes among teenagers. Browsing through popular teen magazines such as Bop, Teen Beat and Tiger Beat to get ideas for celebrity designs is a great idea because they carry posters and photographed pages of popular celebrity musicians, bands and movie stars. These magazines are great resources for girls who like a certain teen idol. For the guys, posters of teen girls are always popular as are magazine pages of exotic cars and even video game heroes. Magnetic items that can hold up school pictures of classmates as well as notes and memos are also great features for the interior of lockers. Pencil holders and storage organizers that keep lunches from crushing and all the books straight are great tools for the organized student.

Considerations

Before deciding what locker techniques to implement, make sure you check the student handbook for rules and regulations. If images or items that are placed on the locker are deemed inappropriate by school officials, detention or expulsion can occur. When in doubt, ask the school staff. Scissors, tape, glue and magnets are great tools to have while setting up your decorating theme. Keeping the items age appropriate as well as functional are essentials in school locker decorating. Adding necessities, such as mirrors and a small dry erase board to keep a schedule, are great things to add after the backdrop.

Types

Before decorating the locker, choose a theme. Whether it be a theme about a person (such as an entertainer that involves the music or movies of the person involved in the theme) or a place (such as tropical location that would include palm trees and tiki decorative accents), choose what you love. Use fabric, wallpaper, contact paper or construction paper as some students allow classmates to sign their locker paper and then take the paper home as a keepsake at the end of the year. Sports themes are also popular, such as football and basketball. Use scrapbooking sport themed paper for a great backdrops in lockers.

Size

The size of the locker that is going to be decorated is good to know before you go out and buy supplies and accessories for decorating your locker. If you are looking to just decorate one side of the locker, a minimal amount of accessories are required. If the entire locker needs to be decorated, extra materials and decorations need to be considered. Decorating the inside and not the outside is recommended, if not required, by some schools. The size of the decorations should also be kept minimal. For example, mirrors should be locker sized or no bigger than 5 x 7 inches wide and long. Locker storage racks have to be based off of the size of the width and depth of the locker. Decorations need to be thin so they do not come in contact with the racks inside of the locker as well as added items, such as books and clothing.

Resources

• School locker decorations