Don’t Be A Scrooge. Start An Office Christmas Tradition.

Tis’ the holiday season folks and while you’re busy buying gifts and making last minute travel plans for Christmas with family and friends, in all the hustle and bustle, have you forgotten about about your co-workers?

Studies have shown that we spend more than half of our lives at work, therefore, we spend over half our lives forming relationships with our co-workers. The traditional office structure inherently shapes our lives and while we enjoy our colleagues/teammates (at least we hope you do), admittedly we’re often excited for holiday breaks from work. 

However, that includes a break from the people we interact with on a daily basis. Instead of fleeing your office woes, why not incorporate holiday cheer into your work space.

While each workplace has a different office culture, several organizations conduct (major) holiday activities starting a week before Christmas, while others celebrate for a longer duration — some spanning a month.

While it may be too late to enjoy these activities with your office this year, 2016 is right around the corner.

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1.Schedule an Annual Trip

Have you ever thought about taking an annual company trip? Depending on the office budget, time, and availability of co-workers, you can schedule an annual trip every year to cap off a successful year in the books.

And while it may not be possible in the 2015 calendar year, if you incorporate the idea into your 2016 budget, you’ll certainly be able to close out 2016 on a high note. 

Ask your team for suggestions on destinations and hold a vote or conduct a draw to finalize your choice. Whatever you decide on, make sure it’s somewhere everyone will enjoy.

2.Attend A Movie Screening

The stress of the Christmas season can cause employees to feel less motivated than usual. Well, how about giving their morale and mood a boost so that they can regain their mojo at work?

While the option exists to rent or stream a few holiday classics, you can always make arrangements for a trip to the theater; the summer season and Christmas holiday are the two most popular release dates for movies; high-concept blockbusters in the summer and potential Oscar candidates in the winter.

3.Participate in Cosplay Conventions

Cosplay conventions are becoming more widely known in popular culture, particularly for the eccentric personalities donning character costumes — Cosplay participants dress up like notable characters from comic books, novels, anime, cartoons, and pop culture.

Or even Santa Claus, as is the agenda at the Annual Santa-Con held in New York, NY; Santa Con’s are also held throughout the country. 

Why not organize one within the company itself to bring out everyone’s inner geeks? If nothing else, it should at least put a smile on your face!

4.Perform Team Building Exercises

Add more fun to the Christmas celebrations at work by adding exciting games to the list of activities.

Turn your workplace – the cubicles, cabins, cafeteria and every nook and corner – into a game zone! Arrange for board games, video games, or even VR (Virtual Reality) for your workforce to enjoy.

Or, you can just rush to the nearest paintball facility and let the office hold an air of grievances on a sanctioned battlefield.

5.Capture the Holiday Spirit

Capturing a quality images via smartphone is nothing new, but capturing great subject matter is rare.

However, you can be assured that a Christmas-themed photobooth will suffer no shortage of inspiration — You can wear Santa hats, reindeer headbands, elf-ears, tacky ornaments, or anything quirky, funny, and festive.

We hope you found these Christmas ideas for the workplace helpful and remember, don’t be a Scrooge and be sure to share your unique Christmas celebration ideas with us and help spread the holiday spirit!