With the holidays just around the corner, breaking the routine at work and incorporating festive Christmas competitions can help employees wind down for the year. Celebrations and socializing are integral to achieving work-life balance and boosting workplace morale and employee wellbeing.  

A great way to jump into the holiday spirit is to embrace play and host a Christmas contest (or more than one!) that lets workers take a break from their daily tasks and provides a fun and lighthearted atmosphere. In addition to simply being fun, Christmas contests can encourage teamwork and collaboration while helping reduce stress and promote team building amongst colleagues.

Here are 17 Christmas contests to start the season off right:

1. The great Christmas cookoff: Holiday recipe contest

Have everyone in the offices submit their favorite holiday recipes through an online survey or in person. After everyone has presented, have a designated jury or communicable survey to vote on the best recipe based on several categories, from main dish to dessert. 

Categories to include in the 

• The main course, which could be a turkey, lamb, or a vegetarian option like a mushroom roast
• Side dishes, like green bean casserole or mashed potatoes 
• Desserts, such as holiday fruit tarts and cookies shaped like Santa Claus

After choosing the best recipes, organize a potluck featuring the winning dishes. If your company has an office budget, tap into those funds and do a bit of light decorating, bringing in plates, cups, and hot drinks, like cider and coco, to pair with the delicious home-cooked meals. 

2. Best light display

Depending on what part of the world you live in, the holidays inspire many to decorate their homes with bright Christmas light displays and inflatable Santa and Rudolph; it’s a sight to see. 

This contest works for in-office and remote teams, as they will do the light display at their homes and then submit photos for the game! Encourage employees to go all out and offer incentives for brightening their homes, such as gift cards, wellness days, etc., that can be handed out as prizes. 

Since this contest is best done virtually, consider posting photos of each participant's display online for the public to vote on, engaging your virtual community to spread Christmas cheer. 

3. Best Christmas tree decor

Like the light-display contest, the Christmas tree decorating contest can be done in person or virtually. The easiest way to host this contest is to have employees decorate their personal Christmas trees at home (which can be significant, small, natural, or plastic) and submit photos to be judged. If your company is big enough, designate a panel of judges or ask your online community to vote on which tree is their favorite.

• To inspire participants, choose a theme: 
• Winter Wonderland
• Santa Claus and the Nine Reindeer
• A theme linked to your company's mission

Having a theme guides participants and allows them to showcase their unique interpretations.

Alternatively, this contest can reach a wider audience by incorporating an ornament-making workshop led by an outside expert or hosted by a creative team member to get excited about the competition and encourage team-building. 

4. Christmas-carol karaoke

A Christmas carol karaoke contest is a great way to enter the holiday spirit. As an in-person event, transform the office into a concert hall where your team can play Christmas Rockstar for the night. 

Most offices won't have a karaoke machine, so budget for testing the necessary equipment, such as a screen and a mic. To shake it up, provide hand-held instruments like a maraca and a tambourine to let employees add flair to the performance. If you need more space in the workplace, consider renting a venue with a karaoke machine and a stage. For a little friendly work competition, designate different categories, such as "best performance," "best duet," and "most festive," and pass around cards with each category for people to write in who they think the winner should be.  

At the night's end, tally up votes and award the winning singers a prize, such as a holiday gift card, restaurant certificate, or even some extra PTO for them to use at the end of the year.  

5. Ugly sweater competition

Encourage participants to show off their ugliest, silliest Christmas sweaters to work in the spirit of the Ugly Sweater competition. Host an in-office party or online event with drinks and games, encouraging employees to enjoy each other outside work while showing off their most ridiculous holiday wear. 

Let everyone know that the party will also incorporate an ugly sweater competition and set up an online poll with specific categories so participants can choose the winning sweaters based on several factors. So, ideas for categories could be: 

• Most original 
• Most festive
• Most Creative
• Most colorful

After the party, encourage everyone to write in their favorite ugly sweater based on category and compensate the winner with a prize, like tickets to the movies or even a gift card to their favorite clothing store so they can get another ugly sweater for next year!

6. Gingerbread house decorating contest

A gingerbread house decorating contest is a great way to kick-start the holiday season, allowing employees to gather socially. While making a gingerbread house requires a little space, it's essential to have enough surface area, like tables and countertops, where employees can construct and assemble their houses.  

Establish specific themes or categories to help guide participants and inspire their work:

• Winter Wonderland
• Candyland
• Classic gingerbread house 
• Santa's house

If you're hosting the gingerbread house contest outside of the office, consider extending invites to friends and family by hosting a small party where people can come and enjoy light refreshments and admire the sweet architecture. Please set up an area where attendees can write down their vote on their favorite gingerbread by category and place their choice in a designated box. Afterward, tally the ballots and announce the winners, handing out prizes and allowing participants to take home their gingerbread houses at the end of the event. 

7. Stocking-stuffer scavenger hunt

Organize a scavenger hunt where employees are given a list of items (stocking stuffers) that need to be found to fill it to win. This contest can be done individually in the office or even in teams, depending on your organization's size. If your office space is too small to host the event,  or your team is hybrid, consider hiring an outside expert to help you set up the scavenger hunt in a third space, like a rec center. 

To make this contest more inclusive, make some of the stocking stuffer's gift cards that anyone can use if they find them, like sweet treats and Christmas candies. For those individuals or teams that collect every item on the list, offer bigger prizes, like a spa day or holiday-themed gift certificate.  

8. DIY ornaments 

Create a festive and collaborative atmosphere at your workplace by organizing a Christmas ornament contest. Encourage team members to get creative with the holiday spirit by crafting promoting teamwork and camaraderie. 

Take a half day and spend the rest of the afternoon making ornaments together, including passing out a list of categories they can consider while creating their ornaments:

• Introduce categories like:
• most creative
• most unique 
• most festive

If you're in the office, provide employees with materials to create their ornaments, like paper, glue, sequined, glitter, and anything reusable you might have in the office. At the end, have all the participants choose their favorite ornament in each category and arrange prizes for the winners, like gift cards to a local shop, festive office supplies, and a gift card to the local coffee shop. 

9. Christmas card contest

A Christmas card design contest is great to do with all types of teams, as it can be done without using physical space. Plan the contest so you can use the winning design as the official company holiday card you send to your customers, collaborators, and anyone subscribed to your mailing list. If this is your first time sending out a holiday card on behalf of your business, consider this contest the jumping-off point for a beautiful annual tradition. 

Set a deadline for designs to be submitted, and let participants know of any specific requirements, like theme deadline and, of course, what they will win should their design be chosen. After all participants have submitted their designs, display each card and allow team and community members to vote on social media platforms, announcing the winner online and including their artwork as part of your official holiday message. 

10. Bobbing for candy canes

Bobbing for candy canes can be a fun and festive activity for a Christmas contest at work. Since this contest requires a space that can get messy with the potential of water spilling (which it most likely will!), consider renting an outside venue, like a community space or rec center, where you can host this get-together is a good idea. 

For this contest, you will need a set of specific materials: 

• Large buckets
• Candy canes (same amount for each participant)
• Access to water to fill the buckets
• Towels so participants can dry off
• Stopwatch

Get a list of participants and set up each tub with the same number of candy canes. Those who are part of the contest have to pull as many of the candy canes out of the buckets in a limited amount of time (about 60 seconds) as possible, only using their mouths.

Consider making bobbing for candy canes for your large holiday party, bringing a lighthearted atmosphere to the end of the year.

11. Gift wrapping contest

A gift-wrapping contest is a great way to incorporate holiday-themed events, or as part of Christmas spirit week, in the workday leading up to Christmas and a period when many employees take time off. Many people will have bought gifts for loved ones during that time, so take advantage of this period and offer a practical and fun way of engaging employees.

Consider choosing a theme for your gift wrap, such as a specific color scheme or even a company-related theme, and also provide materials for employees to use like wrapping paper (can also be out of recycled materials), bows and ribbons, and even gift tags to stick on the present once they're all done being wrapped. Like the Christmas card contest, encourage employees to get creative and use this moment to promote communication and team-building. 

After all participants have wrapped their gifts, have everyone vote on a winner based on originality, creativity, and execution. Make sure the winner gets something a little extra to celebrate their win. 

12. Build a snowman contest

This contest may only work for some workplaces, especially those in places that don't get snow (luckily, you have 16 other great options to choose from!), but it's a classic winter activity that couldn't be kept off the list. A snowman-building contest will bring you and your team back to childhood nostalgia and get everyone outdoors. 

Keep your eye on the weather, and if you are getting a fresh snowfall, plan a tentative date to head to the park or any outdoor area where you have enough space to build a snowman. A plan for outdoor activities also ensures everyone is adequately dressed for winter weather. 

Split your employees into small teams and provide them props, like a scarf, hat, carrot for the nose, or anything else that could be used to construct a face and arms on a snowman. Criteria for the winning team could be height (it's a challenge to make sure a tall snowman doesn't fall over!), creativity, and sculpting skills. Make sure there's a judging panel comprising leadership or those wanting to sit out on the construction part to judge the winning snowmen when the teams are finished. 

Take the whole team out for a post-contest celebration for hot drinks at a local cafe and hand out prizes when everyone is out of the cold. 

13. Christmas cookie bake-off

This contest could be done in tandem with the first activity (best recipe) to make your office place holiday lunch extra sweet. Plan to take the afternoon off so there’s enough time for everyone to judge the cookies and then relax over a good meal. 

Announcing the Cookie bake-off in advance, so employees can plan their recipes and know when to bake, which they can do at home. Separate the contest criteria into various categories: 

• Most unique flavor
• Most creative recipe
• Best decoration
• Most festive

Set up a ballot for people to vote and announce the winners during the office lunch, handing out prizes before everyone settles in for a great meal. 

14. Holiday Movie-Watching Party (and trivia)

A virtual film screening is a perfect activity for both in-office and virtual teams. You can use platforms that allow synchronous viewing and create a chat for remote team members. 

Organize movie night and do a trivia activity before you watch the film. Split into small teams, and the team that gets the most answers right gets to choose the movie. 

Some examples of classic Christmas movies: 

• It's a Wonderful Life 
• A Christmas Carol 
• Home Alone 
• Die Hard
• Elf 
• Nightmare Before Christmas

In addition, offer the winning team a prize and participants, a coffee shop gift card, or a flexible Friday to show appreciation for their hard work throughout the year. 

15. Holiday desk decorating

Desk decorating is always a fun event and perfect for the holidays. You will have to be an in-person team for this one, or if you are remote but work in the same city, you could rent a coworking space for the day.

Once the tinsel has been spread and the whole team is finished decorating, include your more comprehensive network to help with the voting process. Share photos of each desk and participant on social media and even the company website and ask customers, supporters, and followers to pick the winner.

16. Christmas trivia 

A Christmas trivia contest is easy to do online or in the office. It encourages office colleagues to put down their work and connect over a few laughs and friendly competition. Keep an eye out for Christmas or holiday theme trivia games you can purchase beforehand, or better yet, designate an organizer to create an original set of holiday-themed questions. 

Break employees into small teams and hand out sheets with all the questions for them to answer. Depending on where you are in the world, you can tailor your trivia questions to the culture where you are. 

Some unique themes and questions you could include are: 

• Where in the world did exchanging Christmas gifts originate?
• Why do we put a star on top of a Christmas tree?
• What is a traditional Christmas meal in Italy?

At the end of the event, tally up which team got the most rights and hand out prizes while having snacks and drinks at the office.

17. Elf-on-a-shelf contest

Like ornament crafting, designing your Elf-on-a-Shelf is a simple and creative way to engage colleagues. Set aside a Friday afternoon for coworkers to get together and construct their elves to be displayed in a designated self-space in the office. If you have a remote or hybrid team, set up a video call and have them show off their elves so they can be included in the contest. 

Let everyone decide how they want to design their elves and judge them on set categories like: 

• Most creativity
• Most playful
• Most festive 

To shake up the voting process, take photos of the finished elves and post them on your company's social media page, prompting your virtual community to participate in the festivities. Tally upvotes and announce the winner at your office holiday party, handing out prizes to the winners of each category and providing refreshments and a festive atmosphere so everyone feels included. 

Plan for the New Year

As we wind down for the year, this is a perfect time to reflect and prepare for the upcoming year. Take advantage of this slower period and consider how to continue cultivating employee well-being into 2024. Amongst all the Christmas festivities, remember to include regular teambuilding activities and especially retreats, which are essential to employee bonding and work-life balance. 

At the Surf Office, we recommend planning team retreats at least three months ahead, leaving space and time to organize all the logistics and details to ensure your retreat is seamless. Surf Office team can help you manage and customize your teambuilding retreats, from selecting your perfect location to coordinating activities and ensuring that the retreat aligns with the team's goals. 

So, whether it's a Christmas contest or a teambuilding retreat, it is wise to take advantage of the winter period to engage in these activities. With Surf Office's expertise, the planning process becomes even more accessible, allowing teams to make the most of their time together.