5 of the funniest Christmas out of office email templates

With Christmas coming up this weekend, you may have already mentally clocked out of working mode.

When it’s time to officially put that out-of-office message in your emails, why not go a bit left-field and take inspiration from some of these hilarious OOO messages to spread some fun festive cheer?

Here are some of the funniest and most creative Christmas out-of-office email messages.

Poll

Rather than a bog standard, “I’ll be back in January”, why not provide a bit of entertainment with a brief Christmas film quiz? HubSpot suggests adding a fun poll on the honorary Christmas film Die Hard.

“Sorry I missed you. I’ll be out of the office and slow to respond until after the break. While I have you, though, help settle an argument among my colleagues and me:

“Die Hard Quiz

“What was the best Die Hard movie?

“1. Die Hard 1: The Office Christmas Party Gone Wrong.

“2. Die Hard 2: Airport Conspiracy.

“3. Die Hard 3: Samuel L. Jackson. Enough said.

“4. Die Hard 4: Cyberthreat.

“5. Die Hard 5: You should probably not pick this one.

“6. Impossible! It’s like choosing a favourite child!”

Complete honesty

Everyone knows that Christmas is made for doing nothing but eating, drinking and watching TV. Might as well be brutally honest about it in your OOO like this example:

“Oh hey, it’s Christmas, what are you doing emailing me?

“I’m extremely busy watching Home Alone, Die Hard, and the 1994 Ninja Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Christmas Special on repeat until the new year.

“I might stop for food and toilet breaks, I also o might not.

“Regardless of my general health and hygiene over the silly season, I’ll be back in the office on January 2.”

Work-from-home gag

If you’re working at home full-time, the Christmas break could be a fun opportunity to poke fun at the fact that you almost never leave your house.

You might say something like: “Hey,

“Thanks for your email. I’m on Christmas break (on the sofa eating chocolate). Unfortunately, I can’t answer your email (even though my office is three feet away). I’ll get back to you once I’m back from my long-awaited trip to the fridge.”

Short and sweet

If long rambling messages aren’t your thing, never fear, as you can always go for the just as useful: “Hey, I’m out of office and probably drunk.”

Cutesy

Looking for a sweet but firm way of saying you won’t be going anywhere near your emails over the festive season?

Try something like, “Thanks for your message! I’m currently buried in snow and will get back to you once I’ve defrosted on January 2nd.”

Festive cheer

If you want to deliver a good dose of festive cheer to whoever is trying to reach you out of hours, why not include something like a festive recipe in your out-of-office reply, like this helpful example from Wild Fig:

“Ho ho ho!

“I will be out of the office until January 2nd watching holiday films, drinking, and eating Christmas food. (Here's my favourite Gingerbread recipe if you'd like to join in the spirit!)

“I'll respond to your message once I’ve made it through the seven levels of the Candy Cane Forest, through the Sea of Swirly Twirly Gumdrops, and back to the office.

“Until then, have a happy holiday!”

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