12 Virtual Holiday Party Ideas for Remote and Hybrid Teams
When it comes to the holidays, we want our loved ones to know how much they mean to us. To do this, we want to share a holiday experience with them through social media or video chat. One way of doing this is by hosting a virtual holiday party.
Virtual holiday parties have become one of the best go-to team building activities as more and more people turn to a hybrid model or work from home. Office parties can take place on any day of the year, not just during a special occasion - but they are more prominent for the holidays like Christmas, the winter holiday season, Independence Day, St. Patrick’s Day, or Thanksgiving. A virtual holiday party is a way to celebrate the holiday season with your entire remote or hybrid workforce.
In this post, we will focus on virtual holiday parties for remote, hybrid, and even in-person teams and walk through how you can host one for your team. We’ve got virtual holiday party ideas for work that are perfect for your next celebration.
How do you celebrate the holidays at work virtually?
Virtual holiday parties are online gatherings hosted using video conferencing tools like Zoom, WebEx, or Google Meet. While video calling your coworkers, you can engage in festive-themed games and activities. They are a fantastic way to interact with and show appreciation for your remote workers. While their purpose is to celebrate the holidays, remote teams can use these parties to build camaraderie and nurture a strong company culture.
Why you should host a virtual holiday party at work
There are many benefits to hosting a virtual holiday party. These include:
Team building: A virtual holiday party can be a great way to celebrate the holidays with remote team members. It’s a time for them to connect with each other and have some fun.
Happiness and productivity: Virtual parties help remote employees connect with their colleagues. These employees are happier when they feel like they’re part of the team, thus improving collaboration and productivity.
Build and nurture company culture: If you are a remote team, organizing virtual holiday parties can help build company culture. You can use this opportunity to share your company’s values and goals.
What are some ideas for a virtual party?
Virtual Secret Santa
Virtual costume contest or holiday dress code
Holiday-themed home office decoration
Virtual cooking demo
Virtual holiday pub quiz
Create a holiday playlist
Virtual Karaoke night
Virtual tour
Zoom movie night
Virtual holiday parties are a great way to bring everyone together to have fun. Here are some ideas for your next virtual holiday party:
1. Virtual Secret Santa
If you want to get your team’s spirit up for the Christmas giving season, then this is the right virtual game for the job. Secret Santa is a game where you are assigned a person to give a gift to, in the spirit of the holiday season. As a remote team, you can play this game by giving one another virtual gifts anonymously. These gifts can be anything from a digital photo collage of your remote co-worker, an online shopping gift card, or a subscription to their favorite movie streaming site. The game is usually played in the days leading up to Christmas. The key is: the person who receives the gift is not supposed to know who their Secret Santa was, but once they receive their gift, they can take a guess!
2. Virtual costume or holiday dress code
This concept for a virtual workplace party is a simple approach to make people laugh and come out of their shells by showing off their fashion sense through Zoom. It’s a chance for the team to gather around a Zoom meeting so that everyone can show their sense of style. Invite your employees to dress up as their favorite holiday characters, flaunt their best ugly sweaters, or make homemade holiday t-shirts. You could even make it into a competition and give the winner a prize (or bragging rights!). If your team is made up of people who are shy to participate in this activity, they can dress up a pet. Who doesn’t adore a dog wearing a Santa hat?
3. Virtual holiday trivia
Virtual trivia games are a great way to get remote teams to interact in a fun and competitive way. They can be used as an icebreaker or a team-building activity. The game can be played with teams of any size. With great holiday-themed trivia questions and professional trivia hosts, Bar None Games has all the resources you need as a remote team to host a successful trivia session for the holiday season.
4. Holiday-themed home office decoration
This holiday season, encourage your team members to decorate their home offices and desks or cubicles in holiday spirit! The decorations will help create festive feelings in their home offices and help employees feel more connected. You can turn this into a fun competition by giving awards to those with the most impressive decorations in their home offices.
5. Organize a virtual cooking demo
Without food, a party is not a party - especially in the holiday season. Organize a virtual cooking demo for your remote team to not just have fun, but learn a few new skills. In a virtual cooking demo, the chef cooks in front of the camera and shares their cooking process with the audience. The audience (your team) can ask questions and interact with the chef in real time. Whether you get someone on your team to do the demonstration or hire a professional chef, this is a demo your remote workforce will never forget.
If you don’t want your team members to be sitting around looking at someone to cook, you can ask them to get involved. To do this, you need to send them a recipe of what’s going to be cooked at the demonstration - so they can get their ingredients and follow along. This type of demo is also beneficial for those who are interested in learning about new recipes or cooking techniques but don’t have the time or resources to attend a live class.
6. Pre-party ice breakers
Whatever party you decide to organize for your remote team during the holidays, you will need something to get them in the mood for the main event. This is where pre-party ice breakers can do magic. Pre-party ice breakers are a great way to make your guests feel welcome before the party and help start conversation. The pre-party icebreakers are meant to be fun and engaging, but also not too difficult for the team. They should be able to get people talking about themselves, their interests, or their hobbies. This ice breaker session can include anything from having a few drinks with your team members over Zoom, to telling some jokes or even playing some games.
7. Virtual holiday pub quiz
The holidays are a time to spend with family, friends, and loved ones. And what better way to celebrate than with a festive pub quiz? Pub quizzes are popular among students and professionals alike. They are also a great way to spend time with friends or colleagues. Consider basing your entire quiz on the holidays, or include a few themed rounds with questions regarding holiday costumes, music, and cuisine. Use visual components to make your holiday quiz lively and interactive. For instance, sharing a slideshow on Zoom is a quick and low-cost method to create an interactive virtual pub quiz for your remote team.
8. Create a holiday playlist
For remote teams, this time of year can be a little tough. It’s the time when everyone is longing to feel connected, and it can be hard to get into the holiday spirit. To help your remote team get in the mood for the holidays, put together some music that will make your work season merry and bright. The playlist should comprise songs that are upbeat, or have an uplifting message to them, and that can be enjoyed by all ages, from young adults to older adults and everyone in between. You can also use this opportunity to get to know more about your team members because our music preferences can often be very telling!
9. Virtual karaoke night
One of the most popular activities during the holiday season is karaoke night. A holiday karaoke night is a great way to get everyone in your team to have some fun and let loose. It’s also a great way to build team morale. You and your team can organize a virtual karaoke night with the aid of a virtual team building service provider. Your friends will be prepared to join you for entertaining versions of holiday classics as soon as you sign up and prepare your virtual party space.
10. Virtual holiday bingo
Bingo is a great game to play during the holidays since it’s perfect for all skill levels and promotes a little friendly competition. To make it more engaging, you could mail out bingo cards to everyone or use a platform like Bar None Games, where Bingo is hosted by a professional virtual host. You can play this game as one of the activities at your big holiday celebration.
11. Take a virtual tour
Virtual tours are becoming more and more popular for people who want to explore a new destination without leaving their homes. They are a perfect way to get your remote team to explore tourist attractions and popular city centers. You can even have your team members vote on the destinations that they would most like to see.
12. Movie night over zoom
Virtual movie nights are a great way to bond with your remote team. You can watch movies together and chat about them in real-time. The virtual movie night can be done in two ways: you can either host a live stream event or schedule a pre-recorded video. Pick a holiday classic, grab some popcorn, and get ready to be in the holiday spirit!
How do you organize a virtual holiday party? Tips for 100% success
Hosting a successful virtual holiday party is not as simple as it seems - here are some tips to make sure that yours is a success.
Have team members volunteer help with tasks
As you make your plans, you might find that there are additional responsibilities or tasks you hadn’t expected. Assemble a team that is adaptable and ready to help you handle issues as they arise by allowing your remote employees to volunteer for the different tasks.
Set your budget
When you plan for a virtual game for your remote team, one of the first things you need to do is to set your budget. It will help you determine how much time and money you can spend on the game, which will help you choose and plan your experience.
Choose which type of party or game to host
The next step is to think about what games would be best suited for your team. You can do this by considering their interests, personalities, and the team size. Also, you can get the team involved with this decision by using a survey to the topics or types of games they would be interested in.
Have a lively, entertaining host
Select an MC who can liven up the occasion and keep interesting. And don’t forget to have someone running tech support and monitoring chat (breakout rooms, troubleshooting audio, letting people in)! The party will go more smoothly and be more interesting if you have a well-organized team of people. If this seems like a lot of work, you can always go with a professional host, like Bar None Games.
Host a virtual holiday party with Bar None Games
As a remote team manager, it can be hard for your team members to feel connected during the holidays. That’s why it’s important to host an online virtual party. You and your team can play virtual games, build personal connections, and have fun. It is a great way to connect with each other, even if you are all in different locations.
