As I started to write this post on Christmas Jumper Day (Friday 15th Dec in support of Save the Children), I got thinking about Christmas traditions and how they’ve become a feature in the office as well as in the home.

Christmas Jumper Day has not been around for very long, launched by Save The Children in 2012, but has quickly become a tradition in many offices, schools and shops. Other traditions like Secret Santa have found a natural home in the office environment, and of course unique to businesses and organisations around the world is the ubiquitous Office Christmas Party!

With the help of Wikipedia I thought I would look at some of these Christmas traditions that are part of preparations for the big day in many workplaces around the country. If your office has a special Christmas tradition, we would love to hear about it!

Get Hyped Christmas Marketing

OFFICE CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

  1. The Giant Tub Of Chocolates

One of the first signs that it’s Christmas is when the jumbo tub of Quality Street arrives on the reception desk. Usually bought to share with clients and visitors to the office, it’s closely guarded by the reception team as otherwise it quickly disappears if all the staff get a look in. Nearer Christmas the staff room might get it’s own box of chocs, and with luck clients and happy customers will also start gifting goodies so everyone gets some treats.

  1. The Advent Calendar

Many teams share an advent calendar during December, providing a little bit of excitement when it’s your turn to open the door. This tradition dates back to the 1900s when the first advent calendars were mass produced in Germany. Of course sharing one advent calendar between a team of co-workers can be a little challenging, which is why in some offices this tradition has evolved into something else. For example, employees may take turns to bring in treats for the rest of the team.

Other companies are doing it differently and using the advent calendar tradition as a way to give back. This year, along with many other businesses and organisations, our client CBS Office Interiors are doing a Reverse Advent Calendar where staff bring in long life food items to donate to a local food bank.

  1. Secret Santa

Secret Santa derives from Christian gift-bringing traditions and is played in many cultures around the world. In the workplace it typically involves being randomly allocated the name of someone in the team or company, and tasked with buying him or her a present often for a specific amount of money.

Here at Hyped we like to use Elfster.com to generate names and also to provide ideas for gifts. Our tradition is to exchange gifts at our Christmas party (see below); and try to guess who gave who what.

  1. Christmas Jumpers, Antlers and Other Fancy Dress

While some employers maintain a strict dress code throughout December, others actively encourage staff to come to work dressed in Christmas jumpers or sporting antler headbands etc. Christmas jumpers started to gain popularity in the 1980s when TV celebrities like Giles Brandreth and Timmy Mallet (both known for their novelty jumpers) appeared wearing them.

During the nineties they were seen as really tacky and sales declined, but recently in the last 5-10 years their camp appeal has gained in popularity. With Christmas Jumper Day now widely supported by businesses and organisations nationwide, we expect Christmas jumpers to be a feature of most offices for many years to come.

  1. The Office Christmas Party

One of the highlights of our year, the Hyped Christmas Party this year was a beaut. We go for the fairly traditional night out, including drinks, fantastic food, speeches and presents. However, lots of office Christmas parties involve activities too. Our clients NRG Digital are off to an escape room this year; if they don’t escape I guess there will be no Christmas after-party for their team…

Let us know what your workplace’s Christmas traditions involve, we’re nosy!

The Hyped Team will be shutting the office early on Friday 22nd December, so if you need anything urgent please let us know now! If you’re in Farnham that afternoon and would like to join us for a festive drink, we’ll be in The Hop Blossom from around 2pm.

The office will be open again on 2nd January, in the meantime from all at Hyped Marketing – Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!