Deck the (office) halls! There’s more to the holidays than just decoration, instilling the festive spirit into your workplace is a great way to keep motivation high in those cold winter months when sunshine is in short supply. It’s the festive season and it’s time to uplift the office by decorating and making jolly with touches of holly. Without further ado, here are 12 Christmas office supply and decoration ideas to get you feeling the warm and fuzzies.
1. Get a real Christmas tree
There’s nothing more festive than the smell of a real Christmas tree in the office. It’s a fact that plants are good for physical and mental health, they clean the air and boost the mood in the office. The best thing about Christmas trees is that they require little maintenance, a quick vacuum now and then and some tinsel to get the party started is all they need! It’s a great idea to decorate the tree as an office activity, getting everyone involved and bonding the team can improve mental health and lets everyone get a better sense of togetherness in the festive season.
2. Bring some colour into your entryway
Use all the bright and shiny things you can find to make the walk into the office more merry. From draping tinsel over the coffee machine to finding festive cushion covers for sofas and chairs, adding in the classic green and red tones is bound to get everyone in the Christmas spirit. Streams of gold and silver can be more appropriate for more corporate settings that want to make their space festive but minimal. Think adding baubles and glitter into clear glass bowls or hanging some subtle lighting to really spark some cheer.
3. Post-it designs
Utilise some leftover post-its from the storage cupboard and make a colourful green and red wreath to go on your doorway. Using up office supplies that have been languishing for the year isn’t just helpful for making space, but it also helps to eliminate waste and encourages recycling your old supplies into something new and festive. Turn those sad, old post-its into a cheerful new wreath.
4. Christmas doodle of the day
Get creative (or let someone else do it if you’re not that way inclined) and draw a different Christmas-themed doodle on the whiteboard every day. It’s guaranteed to get smiles and works as a sort of advent calendar where the chocolate is replaced with hand drawn office artwork – way healthier! The doodles don’t just have to be Christmas themed though, anything to do with the holiday season can be taken as inspiration for your daily doodles..
5. Paper chains
A throwback to the school days and a great way to use up those leftover Christmas office supplies. Paper chains are a fun activity for everyone to get involved in. Minimal skill, maximum colour. Once again using up older or abandoned supplies to make the office more cheerful is a good way of being resourceful if your office Christmas decoration budget isn’t bringing the holidays to work – as long as you remember to recycle after you’re done.
6. Craft day
Keep it crafty with a day dedicated to making your own Christmas office decorations. Swing by a local coffee shop on your way to the office and treat everyone to a morning coffee and pastry then get going with some Christmas crafts. Utilise every thing you can find in your office that might make merry: paper clip garlands, pen Christmas trees or even a push pin outline of Santa on a cork board! Get the creative juices flowing and you’ll not only be feeling more merry, but more productive too.
7. Staff elf on a shelf
Crack out the photocopier and printer and get some photos of your colleagues to make little elves. Put each one up on a shelf somewhere and wait to see if it moves come the morning. Ok, it might be a childish festive game, but it’s also a bit of fun to move the ‘elves’ around the office after everyone has gone home or before they get in. Spot the elf mover and you definitely get some sort of prize.
8. Paper snowflakes
Another cheap and cheerful suggestion that helps with that New Year sustainability drive. Go back to your own childhood and make some fold-and-cut paper snowflakes to stick all over the office. Half the fun of the festive season is reigniting your inner child! By using up all the office supplies before Christmas, it ensures that Santa will have something to do when you’re carving the turkey.
9. Hang some stockings
Who knows? Come Christmas they could be filled with presents (we’re asking for a new water bottle and yoga mat). Stockings are a festive classic and they can be personalised with people’s names or just picked on a colour basis. Seeing a Christmas stocking every day is a sure-fire way to get the festive feeling flowing.
10. Add some festive florals
If plants aren’t your thing, think of picking some flowers to bring a more sophisticated and adult Christmas edge to your office. Strategically placing bouquets in shot of video meetings and office presentations makes sure that everyone knows it’s the holiday season, but keeps the office from feeling like it’s descending into a child’s dream of Christmas madness (not that we would complain about that!).
11. Christmas desktop backgrounds
This is probably the most subtle festive update to your office. If decorating the desks and hanging holly isn’t appropriate, get around the rules by having a merry desktop background on your work laptop or computer. Try switching up the image to a holly bush, a picture of a classic Christmas card or just a snowy scene (personally, we would go for a bauble background).
12. Go all out
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent me: everything! Throw the paper around and get some fake snow. Tinsel from head to toe and make a Polar Express out of your cubicles. There’s plenty that you can do with your space – and not all of it is too expensive either. Use every piece of your leftover inventory to make some office Christmas decorations that are truly unique, festive and over-the-top. There’s no time like the holidays to go all out and make merry all over the workplace.
That’s it for our 12 days of Christmas – office Christmas decoration edition. If you’re looking to see exactly what you can do with your office space outside of the festive season, check out our office space calculator or fit everything in by having a chat with our office furniture & fit out services.
