Christmas is an exciting time of year, and whether you are taking an extended holiday or working through the festive period, there are many ways you can enhance your Christmas experience. Spreading Christmas cheer at work is something that anyone can do, whether your office is in person or online. Today we are going to look at six ways that you can get your colleagues excited about Christmas and celebrating the year’s end.
1. Good Old-Fashioned Secret Santa
You can’t beat the classics, and secret Santa is certainly a classic fixture in many offices. It is so easy to organise and everyone knows what to do, and it always results in a lot of laughs. It’s also a great opportunity to spoil your peers with stunning white elephant gifts for colleagues and other thoughtful gestures. This can be a great social activity for the team as everyone unwraps gifts together right before the holiday break. Be sure to set a budget limit for your colleagues so that no one is put out, and set rules around funny gag gifts as your office might not find this appropriate. Now you can get planning your perfect secret Santa event!
2. Enjoy A Christmas Feast
Decadent Christmas lunches and dinners are not just for the family, but it is also a great thing to do with your work family too. Organise a workplace Christmas feast where everyone can bring a plate of food that represents their favourite Christmas dish. If you happen to have colleagues who work remotely, invite them to attend this lunch virtually as you video them into the office to enjoy their own meal virtually. If your office does not have the space or resources to pull off the lovely meal you are aiming for, you may prefer to choose a great restaurant and take the team offsite to celebrate that yuletide cheer.
3. Don Christmas Attire
There is a reason that the daggy Christmas jumper trend has caught on so well. It can be fun to dress up in Christmassy attire as we lean into those gimmicky candy cane earrings and Santa costumes. This is going to get the Christmas cheer spreading. You can start wearing your Christmas attire as soon as December 1 to really get the team pumped, and you may even want to step it up a notch and create a competition around the best-dressed festive colleague in the office.
4. Decorate The Office
Decking the halls can go a long way in enhancing the atmosphere at work and transforming your boring workplace into Santa’s workshop. You do not have to spend a lot to decorate your office, and in fact, you may even encourage your team to make decorations as this can be a great teambuilding exercise that will not cost a fortune. If you want to add a little bit of competition, have a department competition to see which team can decorate their workspace the best. Get your sales team to compete with the marketing team to see who can dress the biggest Christmas tree and have the most fun!
5. Make It Inclusive
Christmas may be a period that is well celebrated by the majority of your team, but it might not be celebrated by everyone. If you have an open workplace, and even if you do not, put the feelers out to understand what sort of traditions the people in your office enjoy at this time of year. This will allow you to understand and respect the cultures of all so that you can be inclusive to everyone. It may be as simple as changing your office messaging from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays so that you can create a workplace atmosphere that does not profile or detract from any culture.
6. Mix It Up Each Year
When you find something that works it can be tempting to continue to do the same thing time and time again. Keep your Christmas celebrations fresh and try to mix things up each year – allowing different colleagues to choose the line-up and celebration style every year. You may even want to have different themes each year, choosing to honour different values and trends that best reflect the interests of your current team. It is very easy to send around a feedback survey after the festive period to get a sense of what your team thought of the effort and how you can make next year more inclusive and festive.
So there you have it – six ways to spread Christmas cheer in the workplace and make the most of the end-of-year festivities! If you have not celebrated in the past your team is in for a great surprise, and if you are known to deck the halls then be sure to take a new, fun approach!
