How to Make Your Lab Look More Festive

Although the Christmas season can be seen as a time of joy and celebration, it can also be seen as a time of stress and anxiety. This is the case in the laboratory setting, where there are deadlines and a high level of pressure to achieve results. A good way to add a light-hearted element to the lab is by getting into the festive spirit. With Christmas around the corner, now would be a good time to start putting up your Christmas decorations. Much like professionals in other fields, laboratory professionals might be in the festive mood and looking to enjoy the festive season while in the lab. Fortunately, professionals have many tools in the lab that could help them use creative ways to decorate their labs. We have outlined some of these ways for you in this article. These ideas should help make your lab look and feel more festive without hindering the performance of lab work or creating a hazardous environment. 

Use Innovative Decorations

One way to make your lab look more festive is by making a Chemistree. A Chemistree is a collection of laboratory equipment assembled to resemble a Christmas tree. Typically, beakers, containers, and vials can be used to hang off a retort stand to achieve this look. The better your imagination, the more impressive Chemistrees turn out. Glowing liquids and containers filled with froth work like magic when building a Chemistree.

Physics labs will be the best equipped for innovative decorating, as they tend to have a lot of tools that can glow up. One way in which professionals in the physics lab could incorporate Christmas imagery into their environment is by using a scanning mirror, red argon lasers, and green DPSS lasers to create bright, projected Christmas trees. 

We’ve got something for the biologists, too. Festive plate cultures! By using coloured yeast cultures on agar plates and carefully moulding them, you can make some festive-themed shapes. Make sure when using these plates you use friendly yeasts. 

The above-mentioned options are a great way to create a Christmas-themed lab environment. However, if all else fails, other options include making a Christmas tree out of rubber gloves or racking pipette tips in a way that they could form festive shapes. 

Use Traditional Decorations

Inject the Christmas aesthetic into your lab setting. Incorporate festive colours such as red, green, and gold. Also, make use of tinsels, wreaths, and garlands to help give your lab environment more of a festive feel. To add to the Christmas ambience, why not put a small, tasteful Christmas tree in the lab? All of these adjustments are acceptable as long as none of the decorations interfere with any lab protocols or safety measures. Decorations should not become tripping hazards or obstruct the view of equipment that needs to be made visible to lab professionals. Establishing guidelines in the lab to deter safety hazards is crucial. All team members in the lab should be made aware of these safety hazards. 

Create a Festive Atmosphere

By getting your team members to carry out festive-themed activities that involve teamwork, you can add to the Christmas atmosphere in your lab. This will also help your team members to connect on a deeper level than just work. Consider allowing your team in the lab to partake in Secret Santa. This will allow colleagues to share small, thoughtful gifts and get them into the gift-giving spirit. Another option is to host a holiday-themed dinner or lunch. This activity will allow lab members to bond and build rapport. Team members could also play fun games like “Pin the Nose on Rudolph”. Organising charity events tailored around Christmas or gift-giving would be another example of a team effort activity in which all lab professionals could get involved. Plus, it would be a great way to contribute to society. 

Cultural inclusivity is important. Be mindful of the cultural diversity in your lab and allow others to express and celebrate their festive traditions throughout the year. Consider organising a potluck, allowing lab professionals to bring in dishes that are relevant to their cultural heritage and traditional festive celebrations. By doing this, members of the team can learn more about their colleagues’ cultures whilst still enjoying the festivities.  

Incorporate the festive season by adjusting the work schedule in your lab. Allow for more flexibility during December by making adjustments like incorporating short breaks and allowing a less strict dress code. Make sure that any adjustments do not infringe on lab work or the safety of lab personnel. For example, even if a lab agrees to a less strict dress code, personnel might still be required to wear PPE over their clothes of choice.

Ensure a balance of productivity and fun is maintained by using ethical guidelines. As much as festive activities might be going on, it is important to make sure lab professionals work responsibly. Workers should be able to work on projects while still feeling like they are part of the festive season. 

The holiday season should be a time of celebration for all, including lab professionals. Researchers should not be exempt from enjoying festive activities just because of the level of seriousness attached to their jobs. By incorporating festive decorations, a flexible holiday schedule, cultural inclusivity, and rapport-building activities, your lab can be productive and enjoyable at the same time. During this festive time, we would like to wish you a happy holiday season! We hope this year has been a great one for you, and we look forward to continuing to provide you with lab supplies in the following year! If you were thinking about treating someone to a special lab supply gift for Christmas, you can look through our catalogue or contact us so that we can help you pick out the perfect option.