17 Christmas Spirit Week Ideas for Work

Christmas spirit week ideas for work are activities, games, and experiences you can share with colleagues during the days leading up to Christmas. Examples include Secret Santa, Christmas Bingo, and Ugly Sweater Contest. While you celebrate the season, the experiences give you and your coworkers a chance to bond and learn more about each other. Also, these ideas can boost your employees’ morale and increase productivity at work.

These weeks are examples of holiday team building and Christmas team building and are similar to the 12 Days of Christmas.

This list includes:

  • virtual Christmas spirit week ideas
  • Christmas spirit week dress up ideas for work
  • holiday spirit week ideas for work
  • Christmas spirit week office games
  • holiday spirit week activities for work
  • Christmas spirit week workplace events

Let’s get started!

List of Christmas spirit week ideas for work

Throwing a Christmas spirit week at work is a great way to anticipate Christmas with your colleagues. From Christmas Scavenger Hunt to Carol Contest, here are the best Christmas spirit week experiences perfect for work:

1. Christmas Character Dress-up

A good idea for your next Christmas week at work is to dress up in your favorite Christmas character costume. You can be as creative as you want with your costume. Also, you can take your Christmas spirit week to another level by having your employees show up in Christmas villain costumes.

If you cannot decide on your favorite Christmas villain, then you should consider watching famous Christmas movies for inspiration.

Fun Christmas villains you can play are:

  • The Grinch from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
  • Jack Frost from “Rise of the Guardians”
  • Ebenezer Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol”
  • Oogie Boogie from “The Night Before Christmas”
  • Professor Hinkle from “Frosty the Snowman”
  • Burgermeister Meisterburger from “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”

You can set up a Christmas-themed photo booth to take amazing pictures in your costumes. Furthermore, to encourage colleagues to bring their A-game, you can award prizes for categories like the most creative, scariest, boring, and funniest costumes. Dressing up as a Christmas character is also among the most fun virtual Christmas spirit week ideas. You can add a festive backdrop to enhance your experience.

2. Christmas Tree Decoration

You and your colleagues can decorate the office tree in the spirit of Christmas. Setting up a Christmas tree in your workplace will go a long way in spreading joy and cheerfulness among workers. You can make the activity extremely fun by involving everyone in the office. Also, you can use the opinions of your team to decide the best Christmas tree for your office, whether a traditional Christmas tree or a tree made from beer bottles.

Furthermore, planning a Christmas tree decoration contest will be a great idea to make the activity more fun for workers.

To have the contest:

  1. Divide your team members into small groups
  2. Then have each group create handmade ornaments for the Christmas trees
  3. After, go through the rules with participants and set a time limit. The aim is for each team to decorate a Christmas tree before time runs out
  4. In the end, the first team to decorate the tree completely and as instructed wins the game

You can compensate winners with simple gifts like a cup of hot chocolate, a free lunch, or a box of cookies.

Check out these Christmas tree decorating ideas.

3. Christmas Week Challenge

Christmas Week Challenge is one of the fun Christmas spirit week ideas for work. The idea is to create a list of experiences to share with your colleagues over the week. You should plan a different activity or event for each day. Also, you can have group members suggests the best experiences to include in the to-do list.

Fun ideas for Christmas Week Challenge include:

  • Try a new mix of hot chocolate
  • Wear an ugly sweater to work
  • Exchange cookies with colleagues
  • Decorate your workspace with Christmas decors
  • Make a festive wreath
  • Read a Christmas book over the week

You can have the challenge with your team in person or virtually. At the end of the week, you and your colleagues can come together to share how the challenge went.

4. Christmas Bingo

Christmas Bingo is one of the most exciting holiday spirit week activities for work. First, you need to prepare bingo cards with Christmas-related prompts. Examples include:

If you plan to play the game virtually, then you should send a printable copy of the Bingo card to your team ahead of your meeting. After printing and distributing the cards to participants, explain the game rules. A player will mark an “X” on the board containing actions the participant once experienced. You can judge the winner as the first player to mark the boards horizontally, vertically, diagonally, or completely.

Alternatively, you can play this game in a “mingle bingo” variation. The idea is for participants to mingle and chat to find colleagues that fit the traits on the card.

Here is another Christmas Bingo card.

5. Christmas Charades

Christmas Charades is a fun and easy game to play with colleagues during Christmas spirit week. In this game, a player gestures a particular word or phrase. Then other participants will try to guess the word correctly.

You can play Christmas Charades following these steps:

  1. Divide the participants into at least two teams, depending on your group size
  2. Then set aside a bowl and pieces of paper. On each piece, write down various prompts from topics like Christmas movies, Christmas carols, or Christmas food
  3. To make the gesture easier for players to guess, you can center the word or phrase around only one topic
  4. A participant from a team will then move to the center of the room, pick a piece of paper, and describe the written word with only gestures
  5. All other members of the gesturer’s team will try to guess the word

Ideally, a team wins a point for every correct guess. However, if the guesturer speaks any word to give a hint, then the team loses a point. In the end, the team having the most points wins.

6. Christmas Scavenger Hunt

A Christmas Scavenger Hunt is one of the best Christmas spirit week office games. The rules of this activity are similar to the regular scavenger hunt: players race to find a list of items. For this activity, you can prepare an assortment of detachable figurines. All you need to do is simply detach and hide the figurines’ parts around your office area. To organize a Christmas Scavenger Hunt:

  1. You can divide your colleagues into groups if you have a large team
  2. Then get and assign a different Christmas character figurine to each group
  3. Dissemble the figurines’ parts, write down a list of these components, and hand over the lists to each group
  4. Hide the parts all over your office space
  5. Then explain the game’s rules to participants before starting
  6. Once a player finds a part that fits the team’s figurine, then the group will mark the part as “found” on the list
  7. The first group to completely mark their list and assemble the figurine parts wins the game

To make the hunt even more fun, you can lead the players on with clues attached to the figurine part. Each clue will reveal how to locate one of the figurine’s parts. Then the last clue will lead the group to the winning prize.

7. Desk Personalities

Desk Personalities is one of the most exciting Christmas spirit week ideas for work. The idea is for you and your colleagues to decorate your office desks following a specific theme. First, you and other employees have to pick a Christmas-related theme, like Elves, Gingerbread Man, Grinch, or Reindeer. Then you must decorate your office space or desk using your chosen theme. You can use mini ornaments to save space while giving your desk a festive look.

The size, amount, and type of decor you choose to use are entirely up to you and any regulations set in your workplace. After decorating your desk with your favorite Christmas personality, you can check out other employees’ desks for fun.

8. Holiday Road Trip

Going on a Holiday Road Trip with your colleagues is one of the best ways to experience the Christmas spirit week. You can rent a charter bus to make the trip convenient. From icebreakers to “guess the carol,” you and your colleagues can enjoy the journey while doing fun activities. You can also organize in-car karaoke and duet your favorite Christmas songs with your team members.

A Holiday Road Trip will be a great idea if you plan to celebrate the festive period with colleagues out of town and explore other cities’ Christmas lights. You can come along with yuletide wines and hot chocolate mixes for passengers.

9. Christmas-Themed Outfit

Showing up to the office in a Christmas-themed outfit is among the exciting Christmas spirit week dress up ideas for work. You do not have to wear a full Santa or elf costume. You can simply dress up in any clothing that highlights the festive period. A fun idea will be to wear the ugliest sweater you can find in your closet.

You can also wear outfits with Christmas-related colors like red, green, and gold. This idea will be great if you plan to host a holiday party during the Christmas spirit week. Furthermore, you and your teammates can have a mini photoshoot in your office to capture your festive outfits. Besides clothes with a Christmas-themed color, you can show up to work with any colored outfit having a Christmas design.

10. Christmas Sack Race

Christmas Sack Race is a fun game where players compete to reach a finish line while running in a sack. This activity is an excellent way to warm up with your colleagues during the cold season.

To organize a Christmas Sack Race Day at work:

  1. Prepare a free space where participants can conveniently run without obstacles
  2. After, set aside a few sacks, depending on the number of participants racing simultaneously
  3. If you have a large group, then you can divide the participants into teams
  4. Each team can pick a Christmas-themed name like Red Nose Reindeers, Santa Paws, and The Human Santapede
  5. Explain the rules of the game to the players
  6. Then each participant, representing a team, will wear a sack over their legs and up to their waists
  7. The players start running once the referee blows the whistle
  8. The first player to reach the finish line wins the round

You can organize the sack race in a relay style. However, team members will pass a Christmas tress decor like a star ornament, elf figurine, or tinsel instead of a baton. In addition, you can place a Christmas tree at the finish line. The first player to reach the line and hang the Christmas tree decor wins the game.

11. Two Truth and One Lie (Christmas Edition)

Playing Christmas-themed Two Truths and One Lie is one of the most fun holiday spirit week activities for work. You can also enjoy this game with your colleagues virtually.

The rule of the activity is straightforward. A player will make three statements. However, only two of these statements are true, while one is a lie. Other players will then try to guess which statement is true or made up. In the spirit of Christmas, you can ask each player to state three experiences they had over the holiday. Then other players will try to guess which of these experiences were real or never happened.

12. Ugly Sweater Contest

Wearing an ugly sweater is a popular Christmas tradition you can incorporate at work during the festive period. This tradition celebrates ugly sweaters in the most fun way. Before the contest’s day, you should inform employees about the event. Also, you should ensure attendees understand the event’s context, especially the need to wear a Christmas-themed ugly sweater.

You can create a poll for attendees to vote for colleagues who has the “ugliest” sweater. Then, to make the entire experience even more fun, award prizes for the funniest, creative, festive, and boring sweaters. In addition, you can play side games, ranging from bingo to charades, to keep the event lively for attendees.

13. Cookie Bake-Off

A Cookie Bake-Off is one of the most fun Christmas spirit week workplace events. This experience brings employees together to bond over pieces of delicious cookies. To host a Cookies Bake-Off, you must arrange an appropriate space for the activity. You can reserve a local kitchen space or use a free area in your workplace.

Also, be sure to make the ingredients and needed equipment accessible to the participants. If you have a small group, then participants can work individually. Otherwise, you can divide your group into small teams to make the work faster and to give everyone a chance to participate. In the end, you can judge the winning team based on the tastiest cookie. You can also make the Cookie Bake-Off an “every-one-wins” event.

You and your colleagues can take parts of the baked goodies home to share with families and friends. In addition, you can arrange your colleagues’ favorite mulled wine and hot chocolate or run the event as a BYO beverage.

14. Office Photo Booth

Setting up a photo booth to take festive pictures is a good idea for Christmas spirit week at work. You and your colleague can show up in costumes to make the entire experience even more exciting. Also, you can create and design the photo booth yourself with Christmas props.

An office photo booth will be a good idea if you plan to host a work Christmas party. You can use the service of a photography studio to capture beautiful moments at the booth. Alternatively, guests can use their phones to get the job done. Nevertheless, if your budget allows, then you should consider renting equipment like selfie sticks, lighting devices, or cameras to improve the pictures’ quality. In addition, place the photo booth in a good location, particularly in a spot away from the windows or harsh lighting.

15. Secret Santa

Playing Secret Santa is one of the best holiday spirit week ideas for work. Secret Santa is a popular tradition where a participant randomly gives gifts to another group member, with the former staying undercover. Besides receiving presents from an unknown gifter, the fun also extends to guessing the person who gave you the gift.

To play Secret Santa:

  1. Gather all the participants and write down their names on pieces of paper
  2. Next, have each participant list one or two gift suggestions alongside their names. You can set a price limit on gifts allowed to make the presents affordable for all participants
  3. Also, encourage participants to be precise about the gift’s description
  4. Fold and place the pieces of paper inside a hat or bowl
  5. Then have each participant take turns picking a name
  6. The rule is that you will act as a secret Santa to the person whose name you drew from the hat

You can organize a gift exchange party for all participants to come together and submit the gifts tagged with the recipients’ names. Then the recipients will attempt to guess which employee was their secret Santa.

16. Snowman Building

If you can locate snow around your office area, then you and your colleagues can build a snowman together. First, gatehr the snowman’s features and attire like a scarf, carrot nose, coal buttons, hat, and coal mouth. You can explore your creativity by building your snowman with non-traditional features, such as cookie eyes, bacon mouths, and large metal washers instead of buttons.

If you cannot access snow around your office area, then you can try building an indoor snowman from stuffed socks. Also, you can turn the activity into a fun contest and see the first to build a complete snowman between you and your colleagues.

17. Carol Contest

One of the most fantastic Christmas spirit week office games to try out for your next Christmas spirit week at work is the Carol Contest. You do not have to be an experienced vocalist to participate.

To host a Carol Contest:

  1. Divide participants into groups
  2. Then let each group select a carol. Participants can also compose an original carol
  3. Select an appropriate day when you and other employees can come together to listen to the carols
  4. Decide the best method for judging the winner. You can invite a professional vocalist to grade the groups. You can also have the audience decide on the winning team

In addition, the Carol Contest can be in the form of the famous “Name That Carol” game. In this activity, you simply write down a few keywords for popular carol on pieces of paper. Then each team will pick a paper, read out the keywords, and guess the carols’ original titles. The winner is the participant or team that guesses the most titles correctly. If you work remotely, then you can also play this variation of Carol Contest. However, you can use emojis to hint at a carol’s title instead of keywords written inside a piece of paper.

Conclusion

Christmas spirit week is a time to create joyous moments on days leading to the holiday. You can spread the Christmas spirit in your office with fun holiday-themed experiences, from going on festive road trips to baking delicious cookies. There is no limit to how you can celebrate Christmas spirit week at work. Christmas spirit week is a great time for you and your colleagues to bond. You can chat over your favorite mulled wine or play fun holiday games. You can also sit together to discuss your plans for the coming holiday.

FAQ: Christmas spirit week ideas

Here are answers to questions about Christmas spirit week ideas for work.

What are Christmas spirit weeks?

Christmas spirit weeks are days leading up to the Christmas celebration day. Usually, people celebrate these days to spread the holiday spirit and remain cheerful with families and friends. You can also extend the celebration to your workplace and do festive activities.

How do you throw a Christmas spirit week at work?

To throw Christmas spirit week at work, you should first decide the days through which the celebration runs. You can have your team choose the activities or games to do over the week. Depending on your preference, you can play dress-up, icebreakers, sip hot chocolate, or play games. You can also run contests to keep the entire experience engaging for all your group members. Regardless of your selected activities, you should ensure the theme befits the festive season.

What are some good ideas for Christmas spirit weeks in the office?

Some good ideas for Christmas spirit weeks in the workplace include setting up an office photo booth, building a snowman, playing Christmas Bingo, organizing a Christmas scavenger hunt, decorating the office Christmas tree, and going on a holiday road trip.

What are some good virtual Christmas spirit week ideas?

Great ideas for virtual Christmas spirit week include Two Truth and One Lie (Christmas Edition), Christmas Week Challenge, Christmas Bingo, Carol Contest, Ugly Sweater Contest, and Christmas Character Dress-Up.

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Author: Carly Hill

Arguably the #1 Christmas fan. I believe it’s never too early to get started decorating your next tree!

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