There are many ways in which you can wish your colleagues the very best for the Holidays. The first step is to get the tone of the message right. Who are you sending your Christmas wishes to? Does it have to be formal or would you like it to be informal? If it is to business clients you may choose to be more formal and send a festive holiday card with a lovely poem by email. However, in the office, you may like to spice things up a bit. You could still choose to send everyone an email wishing them all the best for the holidays and leave it at that. There are many websites that have examples of Christmas wishes ranging from formal to festive and fun that you can consult for the right tone for your messages.

Once you have found the right tone you can go ahead with your wishing. There are many benefits to paying extra attention to your colleagues and business partners during the Holidays. It is a dark and stressfultime of year and this may help lift their spirits and get into the spirit of Christmas.

Here are some options for you to consider so that your colleagues will also feel ready for Christmas;

Option 1: Decorate your office

Of course! Decorations! Make your office more festive by acquiring a Christmas tree and work together with your colleagues to set up all the decorations. If your budget is limited, surely people have decorations they may or may not be using at home that they can bring to help liven up the office even more. Perhaps you can even ask colleagues to be creative and bring homemade decorations. In addition to that, hanging sweets in the tree is always a good idea.

Option 2: A Christmas card

Christmas is the season to be jolly and celebrate with friends and family. Colleagues, especially those you work with on a daily basis, count as close relations as well. So start by sending a Christmas Card with a festive message that wishes them well and all the best for the New Year.

Option 3: Send everyone a small gift

Why limit yourself to a card? Send a small gift to all of your colleagues to show how much you appreciate their hard work over the past year. The gift can be included with the card if you send a physical one, but you could also hand them out during your annual Christmas party. Business partners do not have to be excluded from this gift giving. You could send a small token thanking them for their partnership over the past year and wishing for many more successful years to come. There may be other traditions in your country that you can follow for this gift-giving. Some businesses in the Netherlands give their colleagues a so-called ‘kerstpakket’ which is essentially a decorated box filled with tasty snacks that they can unpack with their families right before Christmas.

Option 4: Ugly Christmas sweater day

Perhaps you would like to make things a bit more fun at the office. Why not organize an ugly Christmas sweater day? Send out an email blast inviting all of your colleagues to find their best and ugliest Christmas sweaters and organize a day (or week if you like) that you promise to all wear it to the office. Trust us; it will lead to Merry conversations about whose is the best (read: ugliest) at the coffee machine! You could even add a competitive element to this day by inviting people to participate in an Ugly Christmas Sweater Challenge. The ugliest wins, of course. Perhaps you can make a wall of fame with a photo of the year’s winner and add to it every year.

Option 5: Organize a Christmas party

Christmas parties come in all shapes and sizes. Consider throwing a party at the office or rent out a location to invite everyone to. Perhaps you can have lunch or dinner together. If your budget is somewhat limited you can also organize something in the office or ask everyone to bring a homemade dish and drink for a shared lunch or dinner.

How does FourVision celebrate Christmas?

We at FourVision decorate our office to set the right mood for Christmas. It always looks incredibly festive. We send every one of our colleagues a personalized, physical, Christmas card that doubles up as the invitation to our annual Christmas dinner. We have a small gift with personalized message waiting for everyone to show them how much we appreciate their hard work over the past year. We hope this may inspire you to get your colleagues and your office into the spirit of Christmas as well.

On behalf of the FourVision team, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.