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Nothing or almost nothing. I don't like strangers discussing my family, and items I'm attached to I use at home. A plant, or a calendar with a favorite views, work for me. They are disposable. I remember one of my bosses, when she moved in, brought a whole suitcase of crap with her, from candles to a special toothpick can, and everything was looking cheap and ordinary, but it was a ton of this crap around her. And her children were as ugly as she itself, but of course everyone in the office was supposed to awe at them loudly.
I have a framed picture of my husband and me, a couple Snoopy figurines and a Magic 8 ball that were secret Santa gifts, a couple bottles of lotion. I also keep my fat picture taped to my computer monitor.
Used to have a lot of mementoes of projects I've worked in the past, some Air Force memorabilia, family photos, stuff like that. Then I got moved to a new building with cubes instead of offices and most of the personal stuff got taken home. Right now we are more toward the everything has to be work related with no personality side of things in the office. Current management wants people to feel temporary under the impression that makes everyone work harder.
LOL that is sad but lot of companies are going toward less space, less personalized mindset.
We had a receptionist whose work area/desk was covered with her favorite magazines, stuffed animals, boxes of 'whatever', and vases of long ago dead flowers. Since she was the first point of contact it was not acceptable and mgmt did everything they could to get her to clean up her space.
She refused and eventually made so many errors and ignored warnings about her attitude and performance they were finally able to walk her out the door.
Now that is what I call overdone with bringing in personal items. But in a cube area where the public never sees you I think employees should be able to bring in some personal items (to a degree and with discretion).
Cut outs of porn from a magazine and empty alcohol bottles.
Besides that, I have the normal stuff - couple of photos (facing me, not facing), an African type pen holder that I got from one of my adventures, an artsy sculptural type pen holder, a drawing from my son.
There is a body of work that focuses on what your office space says about you. Google it.
Before I retired, my cubicle (which was in a back room unvisited by the public) contained a water-boiler/hot pot, (kept in an overhead cabinet when not in use) to save trips to the grungy microwave in the break room (we did have running water in the office), an incandescent small lamp to counter the harsh light produced by the overhead fluorescents, and the 3/4 walls bore postcards of favorite places and things, including stained glass windows, waterfalls and other scenic views of favorite places, and wildflowers (no windows in the workroom). A scenic view calendar was also on my wall. In addition, a small desk-top bookshelf accommodated books related to my profession. When I retired, all of these items fit into one box.
I did take home a few extra things - copies of successful grant applications I'd done, copies of professional articles I'd written, etc. The final drafts remained with my employer, of course - but I kept copies of my work. I also took home thank-you notes from clients which were directed to me rather than to the agency.
I kept hot chocolate, instant soup and tea packets on hand but out of sight, along with cheese and peanut butter cracker sandwiches, in case I had to stay late or overslept and didn't have time to fix a sack lunch (my usual practice - I'd go outside and have a picnic lunch hour in pleasant weather).
So everything was functional, or helped lift my spirits in a predominately gray, chilly workplace.
Mostly pictures, mostly of family, plus my law school diploma and a framed journal article with a handwritten acknowledgement from the author.
I used to have a plant but a friend confiscated it to save it from death by neglect. If you know you will take care of it and you have the desk space I can see the appeal of a bonsai plant.
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