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The Best Ways to Celebrate Christmas With Your Team

16 Sep 2022 by Sophie White

Read time: 7 mins.

 

With Christmas 2022 fast approaching, it’s time to start planning your company’s Christmas celebrations.

Christmas celebrations in the workplace are a great way to say thank you and show your appreciation for your team’s hard work year-round.

 

Parties and get-togethers give the team an opportunity to bond outside the workplace, leading to better communication and improved team spirit during working hours too.

Employee gifting during the festive celebrations ensures each team member feels valued, motivating them to keep up the good work over the next year.

Team festive celebrations also help to build rapport between bosses and staff, which can lead to employees developing an increased sense of loyalty towards your company.

 

Need help with work Christmas party ideas? Here are our top 10 suggestions for how to celebrate Christmas with employees.

 

1. Host a Christmas team dinner

Get the team together for a festive feast at a local venue.

Sitting down for a Christmas team dinner allows people to enjoy each other’s company alongside great food.

With the focus on the meal itself, there’s less pressure to make small talk whilst those that want to continue the party after the meal can do so.

Places fill up quickly so be sure to book a table before the festive rush begins.

Need inspiration for where to go? Take a look at our top recommendations for where to go for Christmas team meals in London and in Edinburgh.

Wanting to host a staff Christmas dinner in the office? Order from a local takeaway, host a potluck or for a more upmarket affair look for local caterers to deliver food to the office.

Looking to have a Christmas dinner with your remote team? How about getting the team together for a virtual cooking class? Employees can cook along to a class over Zoom before sitting down to enjoy their homemade virtual Christmas dinner with the team - made just the way they like it.

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A food-led Christmas celebration for staff is always popular with employees.

 

2. Challenge staff to an office Christmas bake off

Christmas team challenges are sure to get staff in the holiday mood so why not inspire the team to get baking by hosting a festive bake-off?

Whether they make their own or buy a festive treat, it’s a chance for everyone to get involved and taste-test the showstopping bakes.

Your team will be sure to bond over the culinary highlights and baking disasters, perhaps even sharing stories of what the cakes mean to them.

Give it a go - you may even have the next Mary Berry or Paul Hollywood on your team!

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Christmas team activities, including festive bake off’s bring fun and festive cheer to what can be a busy and stressful time of year.

 

3. Celebrate with Christmas team awards

A little recognition goes a long way to keeping staff happy. Giving out awards to each member of your team will show them that their contribution is valued.

Even if the award names aren’t work-related, everyone will feel noticed as a member of the team. Fun and witty awards are a great way to bring the team together for a laugh.

Not sure what to call the Christmas team awards? Here are some of our suggestions:

  • Snack King or Queen Award – for the individual that always brings in the best treats and home bakes
     
  • The Green Thumb Award – for the team member single-handedly keeping all the office plants alive. Who knows how they do it?
     
  • Best Dressed Award – for the one who always looks sharp and never a hair out of place
     
  • The Ray of Sunshine Award – for the employee that brings positivity to the office each day and can’t help but put a smile on everyone’s faces

Celebrating Christmas with your remote team? Host an employee Christmas awards ceremony over Zoom or Teams so that everyone is involved. Then send the awards out to them for pride of place on their home desk.


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Staff award ceremonies are a fun way to get the team in the festive spirit.

 

4. Purchase staff gifts for Christmas

Well thought out staff Christmas gifts, especially from direct line managers, ensure that employees feel valued by their team.

This in turn helps to motivate them and increase their confidence going into future projects.

Christmas gifts should be personalised where possible as individual recognition has been shown to increase engagement, boost productivity and encourage company loyalty.

But this doesn’t have to be challenging or time-consuming – a simple handwritten gift card or personal festive message presented with the Christmas staff gifts will do the trick.

Some popular team Christmas gifts include:

  • Staff Christmas hampers - Christmas is the time for indulging so why not treat them to team Christmas hampers packed with festive treats? Send a hamper individually to each team member or send a large Christmas basket to the office for everyone to share
     
  • Christmas gift vouchers - Whether it’s a voucher for a well-being day at a local spa, a meal at a local restaurant or a Christmas food voucher, employees are sure to appreciate a gift experience that they can enjoy in their own time
     
  • A staff Christmas bonus - Company shares and staff bonuses are a great way to show staff how valued their work has been over the previous year. These allow your team to treat themselves in whichever way they prefer

Looking for Christmas staff presents for your remote team? Send individual hampers, vouchers or gifts to their home address. Many corporate gifts can be delivered internationally so you can treat your remote team wherever in the world they may be.

Top tip: Remember to take into account different beliefs and dietary requirements.

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Looking for staff hampers for Christmas? Browse our corporate Christmas gift range for inspiration. 

 

5. Set up festive games to play around the office

Wondering how to celebrate Christmas in the office? How about playing a few Christmas games to get everyone in the festive mood?

Spread festive cheer by setting up a selection of games around the office or in the break room for your team to enjoy in the lead-up to the festive season.

Or how about dedicating an afternoon to festive fun by getting everyone involved in some competitive Christmas challenges and activities?

But which staff Christmas games and activities should you try? Here are our top ideas for Christmas team games for work:

  • A stocking decorating competition - Choose a theme and a prize and have a judge award the most creative and most memorable designs
     

  • Elf on a shelf - Hide an elf doll around the office each day and see what sort of mischief it can get into…perhaps it has been lowering everyone’s chairs or making its way through the contents of the biscuit tin
     

  • Deck your coworker - Nominate a couple of judges and divide the remaining players into teams of 3+ people. Within each team, 1 player will be the tree. When the judges say “Go!” each team will have 90 seconds to decorate their ‘tree’.  After the time is up, the judges will select the most successful speed decorators as the winners.
     

  • Who’s that? -  Ask your team to bring in photos of them as children (ideally at Christmas time) and arrange them on a wall. Each team member must then try to guess who is in the photo. The person who guesses the most correctly wins.

There are countless further Christmas team games that you could try to get staff in the festive mood – you could even choose to design a few games yourself!

Looking for Christmas games for remote staff? A couple of games of online festive bingo and charades will be sure to get the team bonding through Christmas cheer.

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Spread festive cheer with Christmas office team games.

 

6. Take a Christmas team photo

Celebrate a moment in time with a fun festive photo of your team.

Encourage everyone to dress up for the Christmas team pictures with Santa hats or reindeer antlers and perhaps even invite Santa (or a willing dressed-up office manager) for a cameo.

Creating a happy memory with the team and giving the photo pride of place in the office will show your employees that as well as being part of a great team, they are also valued and integral to the business.

Looking for Christmas team photo ideas for your virtual team? Get everyone to send in a funny photo in their festive outfits and edit them all together into a team collage.


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Looking for Christmas team fun ideas? Get dressed up for a team Christmas photo.

 

7. Arrange a team Christmas quiz

Test your team’s festive knowledge and competitive spirit with a Christmas team quiz.

Split the team up into equal-sized groups of 2-6 people from different parts of the office - a bit of friendly competition is sure to bond team members who may not usually work together day to day and improve overall morale.

Plan for roughly 5 rounds to truly test their knowledge, giving each round a different theme.

Need some ideas? How about:

  • A Christmas film round – Name the Christmas film from the poster or name the year a film came out
     

  • A Christmas songs/carols round – Play the first 5 seconds of a well-known Christmas song and challenge employees to guess the song title or artist
     

  • A Christmas adverts round – Find out if they know their John Lewis from their Coca-Cola Christmas adverts
     

  • The history of Christmas round – Test their knowledge of Christmas through the years by posing questions such as who invented the Christmas cracker?
     

  • A Christmas around the world round – Find out how much they know about Christmas celebrations around the world

And of course…you’ll need a prize for the winning team!

If you’re working remotely, try organising a virtual team Christmas quiz. Arrange a quiz yourself via Zoom or take part in a virtual Christmas quiz hosted externally.


Get in the festive spirit with a Christmas team quiz.

 

8. Organise a team secret Santa

Office Secret Santa’s bring a sense of excitement and mystery to the office during the festive season.

Everyone will buy and receive a gift for another mystery individual in the office.

To arrange a Secret Santa:

  1. Explain the rules, set a budget and deadline and invite your team to take part.
     
  2. Pick names out of a hat or use a virtual Secret Santa generator to decide who’s buying for whom.
     
  3. Decide where to leave the gifts, this could be under the office Christmas tree or in the boss’ office, where gifts can discreetly be placed.

Hosting a remote Secret Santa or including your remote staff? Ask them to post their gifts to you or the office for safekeeping and send gifts bought for them a few days prior to the deadline (ensuring that their address details aren’t shared with other members of staff).

  1. Exchange presents. This could be over a festive lunch before the office closes for the holidays or perhaps Santa will make a surprise visit to people’s desks.
     

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Bring festive cheer to the office by hosting a team Secret Santa.

 

9. Take part in Christmas jumper day

Get in the festive spirit by encouraging your team to wear their most outrageous Christmas jumpers for Christmas Jumper Day.

The garish and cheerful designs are sure to put a smile on everyone’s faces – even the office Scrooge!

And with donations encouraged for participating, your team can also support Save the Children or a local charity of their choice, spreading festive cheer to those most in need.

When is Christmas Jumper Day 2022?

This year, Christmas jumper day is on Thursday 8th December, but you can arrange it for the day that suits your team best.

Make sure to take a team photo and award a prize to the most festive attire!

How can you celebrate Christmas jumper day with a remote team?

Working remotely doesn’t have to mean missing out on Christmas Jumper day. Host a team meeting to get a look at those fabulous jumpers and pick a winning entry to send a prize to.

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Christmas jumpers are a must for the festive season.

 

10. Arrange a work Christmas party

And not forgetting the classic staff Christmas party!

Hosting a party in the office? Decorate the tree, string up some tinsel and bring in some mince pies, festive treats and of course, your Christmas spirit.

For something more elaborate, look to a local venue. Many offer catering, discos and activities as part of their Christmas party packages – all you need to do is turn up.

Looking for some unusual staff Christmas party ideas? Here’s some inspiration:

Hosting a virtual staff Christmas do? There’s plenty of fun to be had at a virtual gathering with festive games and Christmas Zoom backgrounds or if you’re looking for something more elaborate, have a look online for a remote workers Christmas party package with games, food and activity packs delivered to your team’s doors.

And don’t forget Christmas parties in the UK are tax deductible!

 

Those are our top Christmas team events and activities for getting into the festive spirit.

How will you be celebrating Christmas in the office this year? Let us know on our social channels.

 

Whilst you’re here, why not take a look at our luxury corporate Christmas gifts? They’re packed full of British artisan produce and tipples to really treat your staff this Christmas.

 

 

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