A Christmas door decorating contest is a simple and fun way to bring some holiday cheer to the workplace. Anyone who wants to participate in the office Christmas contest can use paper and other art supplies to transform an ordinary office door into a magical winter wonderland or silly holiday scene. Knowing that your co-workers are going to walk past your door every day for weeks certainly adds pressure when brainstorming office Christmas door decorating ideas. Start by identifying a category that interests you and go from there.
Christmas pop culture themes
Video of the Day
Popular Christmas figures from pop culture can be a great source of inspiration for your entry in the Christmas door decorating contest. Just a few of the pop culture characters you might feature include:
Video of the Day
- The Grinch: Create large construction paper cutouts of the Grinch with his trusty dog Max or Cindy Lou Who and add a headline with some play on words about not being a Grinch this holiday season.
- Buddy the Elf: Everyone's favorite festive optimist will cheer up your office hallway. Make Buddy's yellow pants, green and white coat, pointy green hat and black belt from taped-together pieces of construction paper. Use white paper and/or cotton batting to make his collar and cuffs. Add a printed image of Will Ferrell's smiling face (or a smiling picture of a beloved co-worker) and a caption reading "I just like to smile; smiling is my favorite" or "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."
- Ralphie from A Christmas Story: Using Ralphie in his pink bunny suit will help your door stand out from all the contest entries that are decorated with more conventional Christmas imagery. Create the entire bunny suit from pink paper and add cut-out black glasses and a word bubble saying "Oh, fudge" to complete this simple door.
In a workplace holiday door decorating contest, it only makes sense to use your work as inspiration for your door. Use some of your office supplies to create a holiday scene. For example, someone who works in a medical setting could blow up latex gloves to make them into balloons and use them to create the shape of a Christmas tree. In a typical office setting, you might make a tree out of sticky notes and decorate it with garlands made from paper clips and snowflakes cut from company letterhead or old memos.
Tip
Does your office door get propped open often? Don't forget to decorate around the edge of your door frame with garlands and ribbons so your office still looks festive even when your door is open.
Classic Christmas themes
You can't go wrong with the classics. Imagery of Santa Claus, reindeer, snowmen, wreaths or Christmas trees are all perfect for a holiday door decorating contest. For example, cover the door with red construction paper bricks. Add Santa's boots at the very top as he disappears down the fireplace.
Make a simple winter scene by covering the top half of the door with blue paper and the bottom half of the door with white paper covered with white batting to make it look like fallen snow under a blue sky. Add some trees, snowmen and a small house decorated with wreaths and Christmas lights.
Religious imagery on your office door: yes or no?
Religious imagery might or might not be appropriate for your office door depending on your workplace and workplace culture. Decorating with your favorite Bible verse about Christmas or an image of baby Jesus in a manger surrounded by gold stars could be a contest winner in a Catholic school or other Christian organization. But in a shared office where you and your co-workers don't all share the same religious beliefs, stick to secular winter decor or at least run your idea past HR before getting to work.
Themes specific to your team
Adding personal touches to your door may help you win points with the contest judges and delight your co-workers. Start by wrapping the entire door with wrapping paper in a subtle Christmas print. Then, tape individual elements to the door that highlight your team and/or the year at work so far.
- Cut out individual ornaments, candy canes, Santa hats, snowmen or stars, one for each person who works in your office. Put each person's name or photo on one cutout along with a funny holiday memory or their favorite gift they ever received.
- Use your door decorations to reflect on the previous year in your office and tug on the heartstrings of the higher-ups. Ask each co-worker to name their favorite work moment or proudest accomplishment from the year to write on their cutout.
- Involve your family and co-workers' families when coming up with office door ideas. Ask all the young kids in your lives to color Christmas pictures for you to hang on the door. Not only does this decorating idea make life easy for you—no artistic effort is required on your part!—but you can't win second place when you feature artwork made by adorable kids.
No matter who's ultimately named the winner, an office door decorating contest should ultimately be a fun way to celebrate the holiday season with your co-workers and have some fun with arts and crafts on company time. Choose a door theme that makes you smile when you get to work every day and that will be prize enough!