Who says Christmas has to come just once a year? You can make any month the season to be jolly with some entertaining Christmas in July party ideas for adults, easing office stress with some Santa-fuelled fun. A mid-year office party is not only a great way to reward staff for their contributions to the business, but it is also a way of summoning the spirit of the holidays to lighten the mood of the workplace.

In this post, we’ve put together 10 Christmas in July office party ideas to boost morale, ranging from amusing games to relaxing social activities. Whether you opt for culinary challenges or nostalgia-filled pursuits, your staff will thank you for giving them a chance to let off some mid-year steam.

1. Why Is Christmas in July a Thing?

The original idea of having a reverse Christmas in July party is commonly attributed to the 1930s, when a girls’ camp in North Carolina decided to spend the summer recreating the joyous atmosphere of the holiday season. It’s since become quite a common concept in the southern hemisphere, which experiences its winter season from June to August.

For businesses in both the northern and southern hemispheres, Christmas in July opens up the opportunity to inject a little pep into your workforce, who may be suffering from fatigue or loss of motivation halfway through the year. 

Although there’s no official date for Christmas in July, the 25th of the month is usually given as the principal day to celebrate, to reflect the December 25th date of regular Christmas.

2. 10 Unique Christmas in July Party Ideas To Choose From

2.1. Beachy Christmas

Ringing in our Christmas in July party ideas, a beachy Christmas combines the celebratory atmosphere of yuletide with the sunny days of the summer season. Take your staff out of the office and head to the nearest sandy shoreline or pool, where they can enjoy some casual socializing and get to know one another outside of the professional sphere, aided and abetted by tropical cocktails.

If you want to add a bit more structure to the occasion, organize sandman-building contests, swimming races, or team sports like beach volleyball. You can also emphasize the Christmas theme with blow-up Santa inflatables and elf hats.

2.2. Christmas Cookie Decorating

A Christmas cookie decorating contest is an opportunity for your team to show off their culinary as well as their creative skills. Take inspiration from TV hits like the Great British Bake Off and get your team icing their way to a Paul Hollywood handshake.

If you intend to bake the cookies from scratch, the office probably isn’t the best place for this activity. Instead, consider hiring out a cookery studio where your team will have plenty of space to spread out the flour, sugar, sprinkles, and glitter.

Alternatively, you can enjoy your cooking class virtually via video conferencing with platforms such as Hooray Teams who host awesome teambuilding activities. They also send out special decorating kits to each participant beforehand.

2.3. Christmas BBQ

Take influence from the Aussies for your Christmas in July party ideas and have a sizzling-hot barbie, complete with Christmas Tree-shaped burgers and snowman marshmallows. Ask each member of your team to bring a signature side dish or dessert as a way of encouraging attendees to show a little bit of their personality. These unique additions will also help to simulate conversation around different families’ culinary traditions.

For a bit of added entertainment, plan some light-hearted games to test the mettle of your team. In keeping with the theme, you could organize a blind barbecue sauce tasting to see who has the most refined palate or a hot sauce contest inspired by the Hot Ones interview show to find out who can take the heat.

2.4. Santa’s Summer Workshop

Host a crafting party where employees will learn how to create and/or decorate classic Christmas objects, such as wreaths, baubles, woodcut hanging ornaments, and hand-stitched napkins. Make sure you have adequate space to host, or you can make the event virtual. Either way, the main bit of prep for this activity is purchasing and distributing the required raw materials to your staff, whether on site or via mail.

A practical as well as an amusing activity, you can use YouTube videos as a guide to your crafting activities. Alternatively, take things to a more professional level by hiring an experienced instructor from a company like Hooray Teams or Wild Goose to lead the workshop.

2.5. Water Balloon Fight

Transport your team back to their childhoods with a water balloon fight. While it’s not quite the same as snowballs, your staff might actually find it more enjoyable to be hit with a bit of cooling water on a hot summer’s day than they would a ball of ice during the freezing winter! If you want to make things feel a little more festive, you can find Christmas-themed balloons online.

Add a more concrete team-building element to your event by dividing participants into groups and having them try to hit people on opposing teams with water balloons. Each time someone is struck, they are eliminated, until there is only one person (or team) standing).

2.6. Christmas Karaoke

Company karaoke is always a good standby when it comes to team-bonding activities, and it can easily slot into your Christmas in July party ideas. While you can implement a Christmas-song-only karaoke rule, a more relaxed way to approach the event is to decorate the environment with Christmas-themed ornamentation. Tinsel and fairy lights are particularly effective at evoking a yuletide ambiance.

It’s possible to buy karaoke machines that can be used in the office. Alternatively, hire a private karaoke room that comes kitted out with a snack buffet and boozy beverages to give your staff a bit of liquid courage before they take to the mic.

2.7. Secret Santa Gift Exchange

What could be more Christmas-y than giving presents? In Secret Santa, each member of staff buys a small gift for one of their colleagues. The pairing of giver and recipient can be randomly determined using the tried-and-true method of drawing names from a hat or through one of the many online generators. Make sure you set a budget beforehand so that the value of all the items is more or less the same.

For a more playful take on the concept, try hosting a White Elephant Gift Exchange. In this version, all gifts are placed in the center of the group and names are drawn out of a Santa hat to determine order of play. The first player picks a present and opens it to kick things off, but the second player may choose to either pull from the middle or steal the present off of the first person. The gameplay continues in this fashion until all the gifts have been opened.

2.8. Santa’s Sports Tournament

While winter weather can often preclude sporting contests during office Christmas parties, holding Christmas in July doesn’t have the same drawback. That means you can organize a whole range of fun al fresco activities, from tug-of-war to egg-and-spoon races.

Lean more heavily into the festive theme by introducing Christmas elements to the contests. For example, you could have a relay race where the baton is a Christmas present or a sack race where the sack is decorated to look like Santa’s iconic gunny. 

To enhance the competitive side of things, award gold, silver, and bronze medals for each event, with the team that accrues the most medals winning a prize.

2.9. Christmas Treasure Hunt

One of the most popular Christmas in July party ideas, a treasure hunt combines teamwork, problem solving, and entertainment in one jolly package. There are a few different ways you can set it up, the first being to create a list of items that participants must photograph within a particular time, such as a pine tree or a stocking – just bear in mind that Christmas-specific objects will be in short supply in July!

The other way to organize your treasure hunt is to have teams follow clues to specific locations, either within your office or in a downtown public area. Each time they reach a location, they are then given the next clue, with the first team to get to the end crowned the winner. 

It might sound complicated to arrange, but apps like Actionbound and Scavify make it much easier to create your own custom adventures.

2.10. Christmas Movie Marathon

It doesn’t need to be December for you to enjoy the heartwarming messages contained within a classic Christmas movie. There is no shortage of options to fuel your cinematic marathon, from feel-good family fare like Home Alone and Elf to raunchier adult comedies like Bad Santa or Trading Places.

The preparation for an office movie marathon can be as simple as installing a few comfy chairs around a projector, but if you want to upgrade the occasion, consider hiring out a private cinema screen so that everyone can enjoy the full cinematic experience. Throw in buckets of popcorn and some hot cocoa or Bailey’s-infused milkshakes and you are all set!

3. FAQs

3.1. How do you host a good Christmas party at work?

The twin keys to a good office Christmas party are amusing social activities and plenty of refreshments. If you’re struggling with decorating ideas, check out some of the Christmas in July ideas Pinterest has to suggest, including cheerful festive displays and homemade decorations.

3.2. What to get for Christmas in July?

What you purchase for Christmas in July depends on the activities you want to host. If you are planning a beach-themed event, then elf inflatables, reindeer-embossed towels, and red-and-white sunglasses would suit the occasion perfectly. Alternatively, if you want to go down the traditional route, focus on Christmas ornaments, mince pies, and tinsel.

3.3. What should I serve for Christmas in July?

Christmas in July party food can be exactly the same as December Christmas food, complete with fruit cake, candy canes, pigs in blankets, and stuffing balls. On the other side of the coin, you can lean into the summer aspect with barbecue eats like hamburgers, hot dogs, and potato salad.

3.4. Can you celebrate Christmas in the summer?

Yes, you can definitely celebrate Christmas in the summer! In fact, for people in the southern hemisphere, Christmas always takes place during the hottest time of the year. For people in the northern hemisphere, meanwhile, celebrating Christmas in summer is less about the religious significance and more about evoking the positive vibes associated with the holiday season.