Working During the Holidays
Tags: Business, Self Help, Holidays, Work, Inspiration

1. Bring Treats to Work

It can be something you’ve made or something simple from the grocery store. I would recommend something from the store because you never know what allergies and sensitivities people will have to your homemade goodies (also, I’m lazy). If you opt for the homemade route here’s a quick video tutorial on how to make some simple, easy, and festive treats.

This year I plan on bringing some powdered hot chocolate because it’s cheap and easy. I also plan on bringing either a tin of cookies or some candy canes. Depending on how strict your work is, you can bring some treats for the staff or for the customers. Either way, nothing lifts the mood like food.

2. Play Some Festive Tunes

Make a playlist of your favorite holiday tunes for the day. For those of you who don’t hold much sway over the music, it still doesn’t hurt to ask. There are tons of great playlists already out there if you don’t have the time or energy to make one yourself like this one.

The classic holiday songs tend to focus on topics such as family and home. I know that listening to that will make me feel melancholy in my present situation. Here’s a more modern playlist from a variety of pop artists.

There are tons of other playlists if you don’t like either of the examples above. If you have Spotify it’s easy to create a custom playlist for yourself as well. I personally plan on building a playlist from the soundtracks of my favorite holiday movies such as Edward Scissorhands. Your playlist doesn’t have to strictly be within the theme, it should be whatever lifts your spirits and makes you feel good.

3. Organize a Party

Photo from The Office

If you can’t do much in the way of playlists and treats, celebrate within your team by throwing a white elephant or secret Santa. Keep the maximum amount of money spent on gifts low to encourage participation and creativity.

Making a gift that’s thoughtful or funny often goes further than buying something. You could make a card with pictures and highlights from the year, much in the style of Jim Halpert who filled a teapot full of memorabilia for Pam in season two episode ten of The Office.

You can also run over to the dollar store for cost-effective yet useful gifts with the ideas in this video.

If you can’t organize a small holiday party at work you can always plan to host the party at someone’s house. Talk amongst your coworkers and see when people are available and who would be willing to host the gathering.

Alternatively, you can get your team to pitch in towards a gift for someone on your staff who may be struggling. Coming together to help each other through hard times is what the holidays should be all about.

4. Dress Up

While a cheap felt hat might not completely dispel the gloom of having to work on the holidays, it may help in combination with the tips on this list. If you like to wear makeup, do a holiday-themed look to get yourself in the mood, or you can make your own ugly sweater with help from this video.

5. Decorate

Most work environments will take the initiative on this. If you see they haven’t, ask your manager about taking the lead. Hit the dollar store or thrift store for some cheap decorations. If you can’t do that, there are so many cheap and easy DIY holiday decoration ideas out there. Here’s a video tutorial of crafts you can make from recyclables and items laying around the house without spending a cent.

You can improvise with the materials you have at hand. I plan on transforming my junk mail into holiday baubles with the help of this video tutorial.