Office Christmas decorations: 23 ideas by space
Decorate the entrance, the kitchen and one shared wall first, then let teams add small touches at their desks. Use LED lights, paper and greenery, never a flame. Here are 23 ideas by space, five cheap themes and a plan for remote teammates.
Decorate the places everyone passes first: the entrance, the kitchen and one shared wall. Then let each team add a few small touches at their desks and doors. Use LED lights, paper and greenery instead of anything with a flame, check your building's rules before you hang anything, and lean on winter decor in shared spaces so people who don't celebrate Christmas feel at home too.
23 office Christmas decorating ideas by space
Pick two or three from each space you share. A few things done well look better than a little of everything.
Entrance and reception
Visitors and new hires see this first, so spend the most care here and keep it tidy.
- A tree of the year's wins. Hang plain kraft tags on a small tree and have each team write one thing it shipped or solved this year.
- Lights along the reception desk. One run of warm white LED lights under the desk lip and a short garland on top reads festive from the door.
- Two potted evergreens by the door. Small live pines in plain pots look wintry, carry no holiday symbol and can stay through February.
- A season's greetings board. A corkboard where staff and visitors pin a card or a note about what they are looking forward to this winter.
Kitchen and break room
This is where people actually linger, so a little goes a long way.
- Decor you can eat. A glass bowl of clementines and a jar of candy canes on the counter, refilled through December.
- Snowflakes on the cabinet doors. Cut paper snowflakes stuck on with painter's tape, so nothing marks the finish when they come down.
- A gingerbread centerpiece. One gingerbread house on the table; teams can build it together in a hosted gingerbread house workshop.
- A fridge door of cards. Clip the holiday cards clients send to the fridge or a ribbon on the wall instead of a drawer.
- A winter mug shelf. Ask people to bring one winter mug from home and line them up on an open shelf for the month.
Desks and cubicles
Keep desk decor optional and small. These are the funny ones people walk over to see.
- A paper clip garland. Chain a box of colored paper clips into a garland for the cubicle wall. It costs almost nothing and gets a laugh.
- Sticky note pixel art. A snowflake, a tree or a mug of cocoa made from square sticky notes on the cubicle wall or the window.
- A traveling desk penguin. A small plush penguin visits a different desk each morning with a one-line note about where it went.
- A scarf for the monitor. Drape a knit scarf over the top of the monitor so the screen looks bundled up for winter.
- A battery mini tree. A tabletop tree with battery or USB LED lights, switched off when the desk owner leaves for the day.
Meeting rooms
Rooms get booked all day, so pick decor that survives a full table and a projector.
- Winter room names for December. Rename the rooms in the booking calendar for the month: the Igloo, the Snow Day, the Mitten Room.
- A tray centerpiece. Pinecones, a sprig of greenery and three LED tea lights on one tray that slides aside for laptops.
- Snowfall on the idle screen. Set the room display to a quiet snowfall or crackling fire video between meetings.
Doors
Office doors and team area entrances are the easiest place for a team to show some personality.
- A handmade wreath on each team door. Each person makes one in a hosted wreath workshop, and one goes up on the team door.
- A door of thanks. Tape up blank paper ornaments and a pen; coworkers write a thank-you to someone and stick it on.
- A paper chain frame. Run a paper chain around the door frame with one link per person on the team, names written on each.
Windows
Windows show from the street and the parking lot, so check with facilities before anything faces out.
- Removable window clings. Snowflake clings peel off clean in January, unlike spray snow, which some landlords don't allow.
- Lights around the frame. Warm white lights around one big window on a timer, so they glow for the evening commute and switch off overnight.
- Paper star lanterns. Hang three folded paper stars at different heights with LED puck lights inside, never a candle.
Make the decorations together
A decor workshop turns decorating into a team event: a live host walks everyone through it, each guest gets a kit with the supplies, and the office ends up with handmade wreaths and framed pieces. Remote teammates make the same thing at home.
Wreath MakingStarting at $95 USD / person
Holiday Framed Pressed FlowersStarting at $91 USD / person
Gingerbread House DecoratingStarting at $103 USD / person
Cookie DecoratingStarting at $88 USD / person
Each workshop runs about 60 minutes with a live host, on video or for a group together at the office. Kit workshops book about 3 weeks ahead for US addresses and about 5 weeks with guests in Canada or abroad. Reserve on the activity page with a 50% deposit, or ask for a free quote and get a full plan within 24 hours.
Five low-cost office decorating themes
One theme across the shared spaces makes a small budget look planned. Running a contest instead? Our office Christmas decorating contest guide has contest themes and a scorecard.
- All paper. Snowflakes, paper chains and folded stars in white and one accent color. Almost free, and anyone can help cut.
- Greenery and dried citrus. Faux or real garland, dried orange slices on twine and kraft paper bows. Warm and quiet, with no characters.
- The year in photos. Clip printed team photos from the year onto string lights along one wall. People stop and look for themselves.
- Warm lights only. Skip ornaments entirely and use warm white string lights in every shared space. Simple, calm and easy to take down.
- Frost and silver. Silver, white and pale blue with snowflakes and pinecones: a winter look that suits everyone, whatever they celebrate.
Inclusive winter decor for people who don't celebrate
Not everyone in the office celebrates Christmas. Winter decor in shared spaces keeps the season festive for all of them.
- Keep shared spaces wintry. Snowflakes, lights, greenery and pinecones in the lobby and kitchen; religious symbols belong at personal desks.
- Ask before you decorate. Ask your ERGs or the culture committee what people would like to see, and include other December observances only where the team wants them.
- Make desk decor optional. Nobody has to decorate, and nobody decorates someone else's desk without asking first.
- Keep scent and sound low. Skip scented sprays and potpourri for coworkers with allergies, and keep any holiday music at a volume people can work through.
Office decorations on any budget
Think per person so the plan scales from a ten-person office to a whole floor.
- Almost free. Paper snowflakes, paper chains, sticky notes, printed photos and things people bring from home.
- About $5 a person. Add warm white LED lights for the shared spaces, one garland per room and a small tree for the entrance.
- Make it an event. Spend the decor budget on a hosted workshop where everyone makes a wreath or framed piece, so the decorations come with an hour together.
Safety and building rules
Your building's rules come first. These general habits keep the decor from becoming a facilities ticket.
- No open flames. Use LED candles and battery lights. Many offices ban real candles outright.
- Check your building's rules first. Ask facilities or the landlord about real trees, ceiling hooks, window decor and what can hang where.
- Keep safety gear clear. Never hang anything from sprinkler heads, and keep exits, exit signs, extinguishers and smoke detectors uncovered.
- Use lights made for indoors. Check for a testing lab mark, don't chain extension cords together, keep cords out of walkways and put the lights on a timer.
Remote and hybrid versions
Half the team may never walk past the lobby tree. These bring the decorating to them.
- A shared set of winter video backgrounds. Pick five snowy or cozy images and post them in a channel so everyone on calls can use one.
- A decorate your desk photo thread. Ask everyone, at home or in the office, to post one photo of their decorated workspace by Friday.
- A show your space round. Open a team meeting with ten minutes where each person turns their camera to one decoration and tells its story.
- A craft kit at every home. A host runs a holiday craft workshop on video and a kit ships to each guest, so remote people decorate too.
- Put the office on camera. In a hybrid meeting, aim one camera at the decorated room so remote people see it too.
Planning the party that goes with it? Our office Christmas party guide covers games and a schedule, and our Christmas spirit week ideas give each day of the week a theme.
Taking the decorations down
Ten minutes of planning now saves an hour next year.
- Set the takedown day when you put it up. Pick the first week back after New Year's and put it on the shared calendar so decor doesn't linger into February.
- Give every space an owner. The person or team who decorated a space takes it down; facilities only handles the high spots.
- Pack by space, not by type. One labeled bin per space (entrance, kitchen, meeting rooms) makes next year's setup a single trip.
- Coil the lights and test them. Wrap each string around a piece of cardboard and toss any set that flickered this year.
- Photograph the setup. Snap each space before it comes down and keep the photos with a short inventory list in the bins.
