14 Fun Christmas Spirit Week Ideas for Work in 2023

You found our list of the best Christmas spirit week ideas.

Christmas spirit week ideas are fun activities that will enhance the festive mood in the workplace. Examples include office decorations, Christmas gifting, and Christmas-themed performances. The purpose of these activities is to boost the festive spirit and create a fun time for your workforce. These weeks will also reinforce a fun holiday company culture.

These events are holiday-themed versions of spirit weeks and virtual spirit weeks. These ideas are similar to corporate party entertainment ideas and holiday party themes. These activities are essential tips for improving company culture.

This list includes:

• Christmas spirit week ideas for the office
• virtual Christmas spirit week ideas
• Christmas spirit week contests
• Christmas spirit week games
• Christmas spirit week activities
• Christmas spirit week dress-up ideas for work

Let’s get started!

List of Christmas spirit week ideas

Christmas spirit week offers an excellent start for employees to celebrate the holiday season. These activities enable workers to bond with each other, build a positive company culture, and foster an enthusiasm for holiday celebrations. From Christmas movies to dressing contests and pet day, here is a list of the best ideas that your workforce will enjoy during Christmas spirit week.

1. Baking Contest

If you want to engage your team in Christmas spirit week contests, then you cannot go wrong with a bake-off. You can let workers bake different foods throughout the week. You can even organize a pastry potluck daily and reward employees based on the best-tasting pie or the most creative delicacies.

Examples of baking contest ideas for Christmas week:

• Candy bar pretzel bites
• Hot chocolate cookies
• Santa cookies
• Reindeer cookie balls
• Gingerbread House
• Holiday pies

Baking contests are a great way to engage team members and teach your workforce new holiday recipes.

Check out this list of office cook-off ideas.

2. Office Decorations

Office holiday decorations are some of the best Christmas spirit week activities that require the input of all employees. You could have interdepartmental holiday decoration contests where folks compete to get seasonal bragging rights. We encourage team leaders to decide on the decoration theme by factoring in the styles and ideal holiday colors. Some great Christmas decoration colors include gold, red, and green.

Here are some office Christmas decoration ideas:

• Place festive plants such as olive branches or poinsettias
• Make Christmas trees
• Use edible Christmas decorations- You can have both delectable festive treats like candy canes and healthier options such as bowls of seasonal fruits
• Decorate the office lobby with colorful Christmas ornaments. You could request each employee to bring three unique holiday ornaments
• Illuminate the offices with Christmas lights
• Decorate all office doors with Christmas wreaths
• Use trinkets and Christmas stockings to give your office a new look
• Use balloon decorations- Perfect for workplaces that want simple Christmas decoration ideas
• Hang a festive Christmas banner
• Decorate the archway with candies, ribbons, and red Christmas balls

Office decoration Christmas spirit week ideas will lighten the mood and unite all workers. These activities are also great for workplaces that want employees to embrace holiday cheer. Be sure to involve all workers in the office holiday decorations activities.

Here is a comprehensive list of Christmas decorating contest ideas for work.

3. Company-Wide Christmas Potluck

Potlucks are great Christmas spirit week ideas for the office that will promote diversity. You can have a themed potluck every day throughout the spirit week. However, communicate the themes to give every participant enough preparation time.

Examples of Christmas spirit week potluck themes:

• The favorite food from their culture
• Best holiday treats like candy, pies, or chocolate pretzels
• Best Christmas movie meal- Let workers bring one meal that appears in their favorite Christmas movie. This activity is a great conversation starter as workers can state why the selected movie is their favorite.
• Christmas morning breakfast favorites- Workers could bring their favorite Christmas morning breakfast or foods that remind them of family holiday breakfast traditions.
• Food colors- You can select random Christmas colors and let workers bring foods with the chosen theme. For instance, each employee could bring a dish that features red and green colors.
• Holiday comfort foods like desserts, side dishes, and soups
• Vegetarian potluck featuring salads, bread, bean dips, cheese trays, and other meat-free meals
• Takeout days- Workers can bring their favorite festive takeout meal

To encourage workers’ creativity with the selected theme, offer incentives for the most unique dish selection. You could even use the company-wide Christmas potluck to switch up the monotonous lunchtime routine.

4. Christmas Gifting

If you are looking for simple Christmas spirit week ideas, then Christmas gifting activities are a good bet. These activities will liven your workers as participants exchange unique gifts while creating workplace holiday memories.

Here are some popular Christmas gift exchange ideas:

• White elephant- You can start by selecting a gifting theme for all participants. Then, let all employees bring one wrapped gift that fits the theme and put the items in a pile. Next, let participants draw one number that workers will use to pick a gift. Once employees pick a gift, they can choose between the selected item or another unwrapped present. The White Elephant game will continue until all participants have a gift.
• Secret Santa- Team players will start by leading participants through an activity where workers draw the names of the gifting partner. Then, use a gifting questionnaire where each employee will give two gift suggestions. For larger teams, you can let workers give distinguishing interests or features like ‘female golf lover’. Then, toss the names into a hat and let each player pick one piece of paper. You can then set a gifting date where every employee is available and let participants exchange gifts.
• Pass the present- Pass the Present is a gifting game with a fun twist. For this activity, you will wrap an equal number of presents to your employees. Then, let workers form a circle and hand each player a gift. You can then play a Christmas carol and pause the music without warning. Each employee retains the gift they are holding once the music stops.

Be sure to put a specific spending amount on each gift. You could also set a gifting theme and encourage workers to bring a handmade gift.

Check out this guide on how to do a virtual secret Santa or how to do a virtual white elephant.

5. Dressing Contest

Christmas spirit week dress-up ideas for work are fun activities that you can engage your entire workforce. The Christmas dressing contest is ideal for both in-person and remote teams.

Examples of Christmas dressing ideas:

• Ugly sweater contest
• Throwback day, where workers will wear outfits from past decades’ holidays
• Grinch day, where workers dress to imitate the grinch
• Holiday socks contests
• Polar Express pajama day
• Favorite Christmas headwear
• Christmas tree costumes
• Gingerbread costume
• Reindeer costume
• Santa costume
• Inflatable turkey costume

You can encourage workers to bring out their creative juices by rewarding the most unique Christmas dressing idea.

Check out this list of virtual costume contest ideas.

6. Christmas-Themed Games

Christmas spirit week games are some of the best activities that you can use to spread holiday cheer among your workforce. You can select the ideal game depending on the available resources and time.

Christmas games ideas for spirit week:

• What’s in the stocking?- For this simple game, you will start by filling up to ten holiday items in a large stocking. Then, tie the stocking and let workers use their sense of touch to guess the items.
• Scavenger Hunts- You can give team members a list of items they will get within a limited time. Be sure to make the scavenger hunts as Christmassy as possible.
• Gift wrapping race- You can start by grouping your workforce into small teams of up to ten players. Then, give each group a box, ribbon, tape, wrapping paper, and scissors. Every group gets two minutes to wrap the boxes. The team with the neatest and most creative box wins.
• Christmas tree decorating competition- You could request participants to bring Christmas tree ornaments a day before the decorating contest. Then, provide each team with a mini-Christmas tree and give each group up to 15 minutes to decorate.

Christmas games will promote holiday cheer while offering workers an avenue to interact and connect outside work.

Check out this extensive list of holiday team building activities for Christmas fun and this list of the best holiday scavenger hunt templates.

7. Christmas Music-Themed Activities

Singing-themed activities are fun Christmas spirit week activities, especially for music lovers. However, some of these activities require prior planning, so be sure to choose ideas that you can easily implement.

Examples of music-themed Christmas spirit week ideas:

• Name the Christmas Tune- The Name the Christmas Tune is a fantastic holiday game that requires little prior planning. Start by creating a list of festive-themed songs. Then, play a song for a few seconds and let participants guess the tune and the artists.
• Christmas karaoke competition- A karaoke competition is a fantastic choice for an evening Christmas party activity. Depending on your budget, you can surprise your workforce by treating participants to an after-work party event. Then, let teams play off as participants showcase their vocals.
• Backward Christmas carol- The backward Christmas carol activity is a simple idea that requires no prior planning. Participants will attempt to sing a Christmas carol backwards.

Be sure to pair the music-themed activities with festive bites and drinks.

8. Christmas Craft Competitions

Christmas craft competitions are a fanatic choice of Christmas spirit week contests. These activities will give participants a creative break from the regular work routine. You will also get to see workers’ special capabilities.

Ideas:

• Painting
• DIY hot chocolate mugs
• Festive party invitation poster
• Storytelling through a series of photos
• Drawing
• Knitting
• DIY wreaths
• DIY holiday tree ornaments
• Cards
• Paper bag snowflakes
• Custom bookmarks

Encouraging your workforce to undertake creative projects can help develop participants’ skills outside their scope of work. You could also surprise workers who want to learn a specific craft by inviting an expert or signing remote workers to an online class.

You can find more festive craft ideas from this list of holiday team building activities for Christmas fun.

9. Weeklong Holiday Party

You could create a memorable event with a company-wide party for your Christmas spirit week. The week-long Christmas party idea is a fantastic option for businesses that have large and diverse teams. Rather than holding the company party on one evening, you spread the fun throughout the workweek. This approach enables more employees to attend and gives teammates a choice of activities they would like to enjoy. For instance, you could have holiday food stations throughout your workplace or let workers dress in festive clothing. Be sure to display holiday colors throughout the office with well-thought-out decorations. You can also invite professional entertainers at set times throughout the week. For example, workers can have dancing competitions, yoga lessons, group lunches, or gifting sessions.

Check out more office Christmas party ideas.

10. Christmas-Themed Performances

Christmas-themed performances are some of the most memorable holiday spirit week ideas for employees. These activities are also fantastic virtual Christmas spirit week ideas that your remote team will enjoy. For in-person workers, you can host a company-wide event. However, remote performances are easier to organize. Participants can even record videos showcasing their capabilities and send them to team leaders.

Examples:

• Stand-up comedy
• Storytelling
• Skits
• Juggling
• Acting
• Impersonation
• Miming
• Lip syncing

While these performances are fantastic Christmas spirit week ideas, the activities can take up a huge chunk of time and money. You could select a few activities if you have a large team. Or, you could let each department select two to four workers to represent the entire group. These activities will encourage teamwork and collaboration between participants while entertaining your workforce.

Check out this list of employee talent show ideas for work.

11. Holiday Pet Day

If you have pet lovers and owners within your workforce, then set a day and let employees bring in their furry friends to work. Pets are fantastic for workers’ stress relief and are also entertaining. In-office pet days can include a station where pets can get portraits with Santa, as well as special holiday treats.

The pet day activity is also a great choice of virtual Christmas spirit week ideas to create a sense of community among remote workers. You can even have a fun twist to the virtual pet day idea through a paint your pet session. Just request employees with pets to send pictures of their furry friends. Then, host a competition where other participants sketch the pets on canvas and send the original picture and the drawing via an online collaborative platform. You can also send remote employees care packages with pet-themed holiday swag and treats.

Here are some more virtual take your day to work ideas.

12. Charity Activities

The Christmas season is the best time to spread love and give back to the community. Regardless of your choice of charity activities, you will promote teamwork and promote the brand image.

Christmas spirit week charity ideas:

• Sing carols in nursing homes
• Host a clothing, food, book, or holiday toy drive
• Make care packages for deserving groups in the community. For instance, you can let workers make care packages for soldiers overseas or animal shelters
• Send handwritten holiday cards to nursing homes or children’s hospitals

Companies can also encourage employee philanthropy by matching workers’ donations to their choice of non-profit organizations. To find out the type of charitable activities your team wants to support, we encourage you to survey and let participants vote.

Check out this list of charity team building ideas.

13. Christmas Photoshoots

Companies searching for Christmas spirit week ideas for the office cannot go wrong with team photoshoots. While this idea is relatively simple to plan, companies could need to provide workers with some items, such as matching holiday clothing.

Examples of Christmas photo shoot ideas:

• Matching pajamas
• Festive props with pets
• Pictures with Santa
• Opening presents
• Departmental Christmas photos

You could also have a photo booth during an office Christmas party and let workers take goofy pictures. Photo booths are relatively inexpensive party icebreakers that will also provide extra entertainment and encourage attendees to bond.

14. Christmas Movies

You could host a Christmas movie marathon where participants vote on their favorite holiday films. However, rather than having a general Christmas movie activity, we advise you to choose a themed idea instead. Some fun Christmas movie themes that workers can vote on include modern favorites or classics. Then, let workers watch the film that gets the most votes depending on the theme. Be sure to offer snacks and drinks during the Christmas film-watching sessions.

Conclusion

Your team may be counting the days to shop for Christmas gifts, enjoy festive meals, and bond with families. Rather than holding one activity, you can make the most of the holiday season and create a more inclusive culture by hosting a Christmas spirit week. With the wide variety of ideas, you can select activities that require the participation of every employee. A Christmas spirit week office tradition is the best way that companies can use to ensure workers look forward to the holiday season each year. In addition, these activities will bring a sense of community to the office and help workers create new memories each year.

Next, check out virtual holiday party ideas, games, and activities for work, hybrid Christmas activities, and office party ideas.

We also have a list of holiday messages for employees, colleagues, and the boss, Christmas trivia questions and answers for adults, and holiday party etiquette do’s & don’ts for Christmas.