The break starts on Friday, you have a list of people to write to, and you do not want to send the same line to all of them. A short holiday message is easy to get slightly wrong. Too formal and it feels cold. Too familiar and it feels awkward. Too long and it becomes another thing in an already full inbox.
The wording here stays neutral on purpose. On a mixed team, in a global office, or with a client you do not know well, you rarely know what the season means in someone else’s house. Everything below is grouped by who you are writing to, so you can take the closest one and change one detail.
Key Takeaways
- A short holiday message to a colleague should be three to five lines maximum. One line acknowledging the year or the relationship, one warm wish for the season, optionally one line about the new year.
- Specific beats generic every time. “It has been a good year working alongside you” lands differently from “wishing you a wonderful holiday season.”
- Pair your message with a ForestNation Gift Story for a colleague whose work you want to recognise: a tree in their name in Tanzania, your personal message inside, delivered to their email. You can create your message free at giftstory.ai. Your first send is free, and every Gift Story after that plants at least one tree, at $1 per tree. See ForestNation Gift Stories.
Short Holiday Messages for Colleagues
- Happy holidays! It has been a good year working alongside you. Wishing you a proper rest and a strong start to the new year.
- Season’s greetings, wishing you a peaceful holiday and everything good in the year ahead.
- Happy holidays. You have made this year better. Wishing you a wonderful break.
- Warmest holiday wishes. Here is to a restful season and a great new year.
- Happy holidays! Enjoy every moment of the break, you have earned it.
- Season’s greetings. Wishing you and yours a peaceful and joyful holiday.
- Happy holidays. Here is to good rest, good food, and a strong new year.
- Warmest wishes for the holiday season, thank you for everything this year.
When to Use Holiday Wording Instead of Naming the Holiday
Holiday wording is the right choice whenever you are writing to more than one person, or to someone whose traditions you do not know. It carries the same warmth as naming a specific holiday, and it asks nobody to explain what they do or do not celebrate.
The spread in an average team is wider than most people assume. Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study, conducted across 2023 and 2024, found 61% of US adults identify as Christian and 30% as religiously unaffiliated. In a team of ten, the chance that everyone marks the same day the same way is small.
Reach for holiday wording when:
- You are writing to a whole team, a department, or a client list.
- Your colleagues sit in different countries, and take different days off.
- You do not know the person well enough to know what they celebrate.
- Your company marks the season without naming a religion.
Name the holiday when you know the person celebrates it, and you know them well enough for it to read as personal rather than assumed.
When You Know Which Holiday They Celebrate
If you know a colleague celebrates Christmas, name it. These are the short versions for exactly that case.
- Merry Christmas! It has been a good year working with you. Wishing you a proper break and a strong start to January.
- Merry Christmas and a happy new year. Thank you for making the busy weeks easier this year.
- Wishing you a peaceful Christmas and a well earned rest. See you in the new year.
- Merry Christmas. Hope you get real time off and good company over the break.
- Happy Christmas. It has been a pleasure working alongside you this year. Enjoy every bit of the holiday.
- Merry Christmas to you and yours. Thank you for the steady work and good humour all year.
Looking for something longer, or messages sorted by relationship? See our full list of Christmas greetings for colleagues.
Holiday Messages for a Global or Mixed-Faith Team
A message to a whole team has to work for the person taking two weeks off and the person covering. Keep it about the year and the rest, and leave the holiday open.
- “Happy holidays to everyone. Whatever you are marking this month, and whenever your break falls, I hope it is a real one. Thank you for this year.”
- “Season’s greetings to the whole team. Different countries, different calendars, same thank you from me. Enjoy whatever time off you get.”
- “Happy holidays, everyone. Thank you for a year of showing up for each other across every time zone we cover.”
- “To the whole team, warm wishes for the season and a proper rest whenever yours lands.”
If you are sending on behalf of the company, a tree in each person’s name travels as easily as the wording does. No postal address, no customs, and nothing that assumes what anyone celebrates. Our employee tree gifts do that for a whole team at once.
Short Holiday Messages for Coworkers You Do Not Know Well
- Happy holidays, wishing you a restful break and a great new year.
- Season’s greetings. Hope the holiday season brings you everything you need.
- Wishing you a wonderful holiday. It has been good working alongside you this year.
- Happy holidays and a great new year to you.
- Happy holidays. I hope the break gives you a proper chance to switch off.
- Season’s greetings, and thanks for the good work this year. Enjoy the holiday.
Six lines is not many when there is a whole floor to get through. There are more of them, sorted the same way, in our holiday wishes for coworkers.
Short Holiday Messages From a Manager
- Happy holidays to the whole team. This year has been exceptional because of what each of you brought to it. Enjoy every moment of the break, you have all earned it.
- Season’s greetings. Leading this team is the part of my job I am most grateful for. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday and a strong new year.
- Happy holidays. The work this team does matters and the way you do it matters more. Enjoy the rest, it is well deserved.
Short Holiday Email Subject Lines for Colleagues
- Happy holidays from [name]
- Season’s greetings and a quick thank you
- Wishing you a wonderful holiday season
- Happy holidays, and thank you for a great year
- A quick note before the holidays
End-of-Year Sign-Offs for Email
The last line of your last email before the break is doing a small job: closing the year warmly and setting up the return. One line covers it.
- “Have a good break, and I will pick this up in the new year.”
- “Happy holidays, and thank you for a good year of working together.”
- “That is me until January. Wishing you a restful break.”
- “Enjoy the holidays. I am back on the 5th and will come straight to you.”
- “Signing off for the year. Thank you for everything, and happy holidays.”
Put your return date underneath and the sign-off does two jobs at once.
What to Write in a Short Holiday Card to a Colleague
The formula: one line that is specific to the year or the relationship, then one warm holiday wish, optionally one line about the new year. That is it.
Example: “This year has been one of the more demanding ones, and you have handled it consistently well. Wishing you a proper rest over the holidays. Looking forward to a great new year together.”
If you want to go beyond words: a ForestNation Gift Story plants a tree in the colleague’s name in Tanzania and is delivered to their email on any date you choose, with your personal message inside. Appropriate for any colleague, any level. The first send is free, and you can see how we measure our reforestation impact before you send.
Short Holiday Messages for Slack and Teams
A Slack or Teams message is shorter than a card and lands somewhere busier. One or two lines, no formal opening, first name and nothing else.
- “Happy holidays [name]. Thanks for all the help this year, it made a difference. Enjoy the break.”
- “Off for the break now. Thanks for a good year [name]. See you in January.”
- “Happy holidays! Hope you get a proper rest out of it.”
- “Thanks for everything this year [name]. Have a great break.”
For a team channel, post it once, name two things the team pulled off this year, and let people add their own.
Short Holiday Messages for LinkedIn
- Wishing everyone in my network a peaceful and joyful holiday season. Here is to rest, reflection, and a strong new year.
- Season’s greetings to all. Grateful for the connections, conversations, and collaborations this year has brought. Happy holidays.
- Happy holidays! Whatever the season brings you, I hope it includes rest and something to look forward to in the new year.
If a gift is going with the message, choosing it is the harder part. Our guide to corporate Christmas gifts covers what holds up for a whole team and what gets left in a drawer.
ForestNation is a corporate tree gifting company that has helped 500+ businesses plant nearly 2 million trees in Tanzania through verified reforestation. Imagine the colleague you write to planting their tree in the spring, and thinking of who sent it every year it grows taller. That is a message that keeps growing long after the season ends.
If the wording is the part you are stuck on, you can create your message free at giftstory.ai. It drafts warm, personal messages in seconds, tailored to the relationship and the occasion, and you can send it with a real tree planted in their name.
Research and References
- Pew Research Center, Religious Landscape Study (2023-24): 61% of US adults identify as Christian, 30% are religiously unaffiliated. pewresearch.org
- ForestNation employee tree gifts: holiday gifting for colleagues and teams, with your own message delivered by email. See ForestNation employee tree gifts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good short holiday message for colleagues?
“Happy holidays! It has been a good year working alongside you. Wishing you a proper rest and a strong start to the new year.” One specific line, one warm wish, optionally one line about next year. Three to five lines maximum.
What do you say in a short holiday card to a coworker?
One specific line about the year or the person, then a holiday wish. “This year has been demanding and you have handled it consistently well. Wishing you a proper rest over the holidays.” Specific always beats generic.
How do you wish a colleague happy holidays professionally?
“Season’s greetings. Wishing you a peaceful holiday and everything good in the year ahead.” Or: “Happy holidays, thank you for everything this year. Wishing you a wonderful break and a strong new year.” Warm but professional, brief, specific.
What is a short holiday message for a whole team?
“Happy holidays to the whole team. This year has been exceptional because of what each of you brought to it. Enjoy every moment of the break, you have all earned it.” Or send the whole team a ForestNation Gift Story at once, a tree in each person’s name, your message inside, delivered globally with no postal address needed.
