7 Office Door Decorating Contest Ideas to Spruce Things Up

Bring some Christmas cheer to the office this year with these 7 festive ideas for office doors brimming with holiday spirit.

Updated November 13, 2023
Christmas decorated door

The winter holidays are all about giving back, sharing the love, and uplifting others around you... until your office sets up a door decorating contest. That sweet holiday spirit flies out the window in the face of winning the workplace competition. Win Christmas this winter with one of these spirited office door decorating contest ideas. 

7 Christmas Door Decorating Ideas That'll Sleigh at the Office

Coming up with a great theme for the Christmas decorating contest can really do a number on your creative brain. Obviously, you want something that'll attract people's attention! But, like showing up to prom wearing the same outfit as someone else, you want an original idea. Look no further than these fun and festive wintery themes. 

Santa Needs a Vacation

Santa Claus Takes A Surfing Holiday At The Beach

Even Santa needs a break during the hectic holiday season. Get your team ready for Christmas vacation with this fun, easy design. You're sure to score bonus points if you work in a high-stress environment where everyone counts down the days 'til their next day off.  

Custom print a large Santa cut-out (or one of your boss) and source some beach-themed decorations from the craft store. Put Santa in his element, surfing on a surfboard or lounging in a beach chair. Some extras you can include in this design are sunshine shapes, beach chairs, sand, waves, surfboards, sunglasses, and flip-flops.

You could always add some glitter for a little sparkle and incorporate your company's logo or names of coworkers onto the beach balls for that personal touch.  To really bring the theme home, use a strand of battery-operated lights and twirl them around a palm tree cut-out for a spectacular effect.

Helpful Hack

Lay your craft sand on a baking sheet in the sun for a few hours to ensure it's fully dry before you try to glue it down to cardboard, butcher paper, or poster board. 

Favorite Christmas Recipes

Mulled wine recipe ingredients on chalkboard

Besides family fun time, the holidays are all about delicious food, so what better way to entice the judges than with a holiday cookbook door? Print out or handwrite your favorite holiday recipes and arrange them on the door. Some recipes you could include are eggnog, hot cocoa, Christmas cookies, gingerbread, and fruitcake. In addition to the recipes, attach festive kitchen utensils like snowmen cookie cutters and ingredients like candy canes, cinnamon sticks, or clove to add that extra pop.  

Quick Tip

For a special touch, leave copies of your recipes on or near the door for people to take and try themselves. 

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Christmas Emojis

Christmas balls with emoji representations

Emojis' popularity wax and wane, but with some careful planning, this theme is sure to get a few laughs. Print off or illustrate your own emojis and secure them to the door with festive accents, such as Santa hats, ugly Christmas sweaters, antlers, and lights. A solid color background will work great for this design. Let the emojis be the focus of the door and add some small decorations, such as candy canes or little Christmas tree shapes in the blank spaces.

But the most important part is to assign a different emoji to each coworker. Just like how everyone couldn't wait to see their senior superlatives at the end of the year, your coworkers will be pacing your door to see which emoji they are. And, you can't go wrong grabbing people's attention with some fairy lights strung up around your door frame. 

Snow Globe Spectacular

Snow globe

One quintessential winter trinket is the Christmas snow globe, and with a little creative spirit, you can transform your door into one. First, design a winter scene on the door complete with lots of cut-out snowflakes and Christmas designs. You can write your names on the snowflakes and incorporate seasonal elements like candy canes, holiday lights, and Santa. Add layers, folds, and 3-D elements to really make the pieces pop. Once you've finished, use clear cellophane wrap and tape it into a circle around your design. 

Use spray snow around the edges to hide the tape to complete the look. If you have a star shower or a small spotlight, you can use that to illuminate the entire door. Add a final touch with a sweet winter playlist to really bring that traditional Christmas village scene to life. 

Homemade From the Heart

Knitted Christmas lights

Get your knitting needles or crochet hooks ready, because this holiday season you can bang out a heartfelt, homemade door. The idea for this door decoration is that everything you include should be homemade. Twist your own wreaths with ribbon and wire and spray it with a pine scent. Hang knitted or crocheted ornaments off the door. You can also use a strand of knitted lights or popcorn garland to adorn the door.

Don't forget to add some bells so that when the door opens or closes, it jingles. To really up the ante, wrap some empty boxes in burlap and ribbon and set them up on a doormat outside your door. The homier the items look, the better. 

It's an Animated Christmas 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer defective copyright notice

Rankin/Bass have a chokehold on the Christmas movie marathon, with massive hits like Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town. Bring back your coworkers' childhood merriment by decorating your door in all things animated Christmas.

From setting up an empty Christmas tree with little cumb and mouse on the ground and dropped ornaments to emulate How the Grinch Stole Christmas to recreating Rudolph's island of misfit toys with handmade illustrations, the possibilities are endless. With this one, you can go as simple (printed and pasted illustrations) or all out as you want to. 

Return to Sender 

A letter to Santa asking for superhero powers

Inspired by Elvis' song "Return to Sender," this Christmas door decoration takes a decidedly humorous turn. When little kids send their letters to Santa Claus in the mail, where do they end up? Why, your door of course! Using cardboard, construction paper, and a little glue, make your own mailbox to attach to the door. Then, cover the rest of the door in letters to Santa. Bonus points if you recruit real kids to pen a few extra for authenticity. Add a little fake snow to the door's trim, and you're ready to go! 

Door Decorating Basics to Cover 

Before rolling up to decorate your door with everything in tow, there are a few basics to cover.

  1. Plan your set-up before putting anything on the door. Make sure you've got all the dimensions and supplies accounted for. 
  2. Cover the door's background first. You can use gift wrap, large sheets of paper, felt, fabric, or another material as the background. 
  3. Make or collect any props. You don't want to bring everything to your door and have to assemble it there. The better option is to have everything pre-built, so all you have to do at the office is glue. 

How to Win Christmas

Decorating your office door for Christmas should be a fun way to get into the festive spirit. Dig into all the possibilities and find a theme that speaks to you. Remember, Christmas may be about giving, but it can also be about winning. 

7 Office Door Decorating Contest Ideas to Spruce Things Up