Reception, atrium, breakout, party
Office Christmas Decorations
Most office Christmas decorating is done at 4pm on a Friday by whoever drew the short straw, out of a box that has been in the same cupboard since 2018. It does not have to be. Here is how to decorate an office for Christmas so it still looks deliberate on the 23rd — and what to hire if you would rather not do it yourself.
Decorate the office for the visitor, not the cupboard
An office has two Christmas audiences and they want opposite things. Visitors — clients, candidates, couriers — see reception for ninety seconds and judge the whole company on it. Staff see the same decorations for six weeks and want them to be fun rather than corporate.
So split the building. Make reception restrained and expensive-looking: one good tree, one considered scheme, nothing hand-made. Let the desks, the kitchen and the breakout space be as daft as people want. Trying to run one tasteful scheme through the entire floor is how you end up with something nobody likes.
- One statement piece in reception beats twenty small ones.
- Pick two colours and hold the line. Three is a jumble sale.
- Light it — a dim scheme reads as tired by mid-December.
- Keep fire doors, signage and walkways clear. It is the first thing an inspection notices.
Office Christmas decorating ideas by area
What actually works, room by room.
Reception & entrance
One decorated tree, lit, plus a low arrangement on the desk. If the ceiling is high, go taller rather than wider — height is what visitors register.
Atrium & stairwell
The one place an oversized prop or a lit centrepiece fits properly. Sightlines from the upper floors matter as much as the ground.
Meeting rooms
Restrained. A garland on the credenza, nothing in the camera frame behind whoever is presenting.
Desks & team areas
Let people decorate their own. A desk-decorating competition costs nothing and does more for morale than anything you can install.
Kitchen & breakout
Where the fun goes. Colour, novelty and the daft stuff live here, not in reception. Our display scenes include a workplace one.
The Christmas party
Backdrops, photo staging and party-season props — hired for the night and gone the next morning.
Office Christmas decorations to hire
Reception trees, garlands, tabletop pieces and photo backdrops — delivered, installed and taken away again in January.
The bit nobody plans for: taking it down
Putting an office Christmas scheme up is a nice hour on a Friday afternoon. Taking it down on the first week back, when everybody is behind and nobody volunteered, is not. Neither is finding somewhere to keep it, or discovering in November that half of it is broken and the lights have gone.
That is the actual argument for hiring rather than owning an office scheme. We install it, we collect it, and it never occupies a cupboard that could hold something useful.
Common questions
When should we put up office Christmas decorations?
Most workplaces go up in the last week of November or the first week of December, so the scheme is live for the whole trading and party season without feeling early. If you want us to install it, book well before that — late November is the busiest fortnight of our year.
Can you decorate our office for us?
Yes. We deliver, install and collect with our own team, anywhere in the UK, so nobody in your building goes up a ladder.
What office Christmas decorations look most expensive?
One tall, well-lit, properly decorated tree in reception, in two colours, with nothing else competing with it. Scale and restraint read as expensive; quantity does not.
Do you supply decorations for an office Christmas party?
Yes — backdrops, photo staging and party-season props can be hired for a short period rather than the whole season.
How much does it cost to decorate an office for Christmas?
Many props publish their own hire rates on their product page — typically a three-day, seven-day and six-week rate. For a whole scheme, add what you like to My List and we quote the lot together against your space and dates.
Where we work
We deliver and install anywhere in the UK. We are based in Wigan, so everywhere below is within about a hundred miles of the warehouse — the places we can get to fastest, and where a same-week site visit is straightforward.
- Wigan
- Bolton
- Warrington
- St Helens
- Manchester
- Salford
- Liverpool
- Preston
- Blackburn
- Blackpool
- Chorley
- Southport
- Chester
- Wrexham
- Lancaster
- Kendal & the Lakes
- Leeds
- Bradford
- Huddersfield
- Sheffield
- York
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Crewe
- Shrewsbury
- Derby
- Nottingham
- Birmingham
- Carlisle
- North Wales
Tell us about your Christmas
Add anything you like to My List and send it over — we come back with one quote for the lot, delivered, installed and collected. Or just ring and talk it through.