A student will spend the rest of her university term dressed as a Christmas tree after a joke she posted on Twitter got seriously out of hand.

Kelsey Hall, a 20-year-old student at the University of Alabama, tweeted a photo of herself in the festive tree costume saying if she got 1,000 retweets she’d wear the outfit for the rest of term.

Much to her surprise, Twitter took the bait. 

The image soon reached way beyond Kelsey’s 345 followers, receiving a whopping 15,000 retweets in less than two days.

Needless to say, she instantly regretted her joke.

Speaking to People magazine, Kelsey explained her mum bought her the costume as a joke because she loves Christmas. 

“I took this picture and thought it would just be funny to post, but I had no idea that I would actually have to wear this so that’s why I said I would wear it for the rest of the semester,” she said.

“I definitely did not think I would get 1,000 retweets, I thought it was a very unrealistic number – the most retweets I have ever got before was, maybe, five.”

Despite this, Kelsey decided to be a good sport and follow through with her promise.

Her classmates have been sharing photos and videos of her first day wearing the costume on campus.  

Kelsey, we applaud your festive spirit.