Virtual Office holiday celebrations are a plus for employees residing at far ends of the world. Seasonal greetings and rejoicing bring remote teams closer to one another. It is the perfect time off work to make memories that last forever. Besides, your employees deserve a fun pack-up from the projects they have been tirelessly working on all year long! So a virtual Christmas party is a great way to help them relax and reconnect with one another. Not only do they get to celebrate the success of their hard work, but they also look forward to coming back with a fresh mindset. So why not make your virtual holiday party an annual thing?
It is about time to spread joy among colleagues. So if you wish to host a virtual Christmas party, follow some fun party ideas for team activities, games, and more.
Best Practices for a Fun Office Virtual Christmas Party
Do you wish to create a real-life party experience for your employees? With a virtual platform, companies can create an immersive virtual experience for their staff with complete branding. In fact, a well-decorated-themed party would be a fun escape from work deadlines. Not just that, you can also create an engaging experience for the employees by incorporating fun activities, games and Christmas rituals. Because definitely, your remote teams deserve that you go the extra mile in the efforts to throw a fantastic online party. But make sure they do not miss out on any aspect of an office party!
We are here to help you follow the best practices when gathering remote teams online for an end-of-year celebration. You can either pass the cocktails, schedule movie night, or simply organise an ugly sweater show-up party to help employees share a laugh. Who wouldn’t like jingle bells ringing around the Christmas season?
Let us find out how you can make your 2022 Christmas party memorable for your employees.
1- Send Out Invites they Can’t Turn Down
Invites are a great way to build interest. Sending out digital invitation cards would boost excitement and inform employees of what awaits. For starters, you should address each invite with recipient’s name engraved on the card. You can also use visuals, colours, graphics, and compelling messages to create a convincing invite. However, your focus should be on ensuring that all the teams make themselves available for the occasion. So better be clear about the date and time of your party.
In addition, your card should be descriptive about the theme and the costumes, if any. For instance, an ‘ugly Christmas sweater’ is the perfect outfit idea for a holiday party. This way, the colleagues have something to share in common while they enjoy their time connecting with each other from over their laptop screens. In order to give them better guidance, you can post a link to the event landing page, which directly brings them to the party.
2- Begin with Christmas Chants and Songs
What is the easiest way to bring the festive spirit to life? You guessed right! It is the Christmas carols that ring ears and makes everyone around sing along. Basically, these rhymes and songs bridge the way to everyone’s heart with melodious musical notes. Here, you can begin with the most popular carols for everyone to join as a chorus. These lighten the sense of togetherness, love and light among the souls. Hence, you’ll watch faces brighten as the chants go loud during your online zoom party.
To enhance their experience, you can also invite singers and musicians to the party because there’s no harm in welcoming the holiday season in its true spirit. In fact, this way, you bring closer people from different backgrounds to experience the true beauty of the Christmas season.
Here’s a list of top Christmas carols that you can begin with
- Jingle bells all the way
- We wish you a Merry Christmas
- All I want for Christmas
- O holy night
- In the bleak mid-winter
- O come all ye faithful
3- Surprise Colleagues with Secret Santa Gifts
What’s a Christmas party without gifts from Santa? Receiving a gift for Christmas is probably the most thoughtful way to make your employees’ day. For starters, you can randomly pair the team members with one another to send a Secret Santa gift to their colleagues. You will need to provide your employees with the recipient’s name, address and contact information so they may receive the presents well in-time before the party. Then later at the party, you can get everyone to show off their presents from secret Santa and make a guess about who they came from.
Moreover, you can also pitch in this activity by giving away gift cards and vouchers to all the employees. Here, you being the event host, become their ‘Secret Santa.’
4- Kick Off the Party with a Christmas Concert
Pump up the holiday spirit with a classic Christmas concert that leaves your remote teams screaming at the top of their lungs. You can easily invite rock bands to perform holiday specials and get everyone grooving. On the other hand, your attendees can enjoy the performances from the comfort of their couches. Music lovers can also pitch in requests to sing their favourite songs so they may enjoy themselves.
Post-concert, a live meet and greet session is also organised to let attendees connect with their fav musicians and singers. Interestingly, live chat, Q&A and polling features enhance the networking experience for the audience.
Also, check out the best practices for hosting a virtual concert.
5- Watch Everyone Smile at Virtual Photo Booth
If yours is a costume party; you must not forget to set up a virtual photo booth. This is the place to create and store memories forever. For instance, colleagues gather at the booth and smile together for a picture. They can either click group photos or individual snaps with a snowy background and a Christmas tree. You can also allow the attendees to choose the background for their pictures, click funny photos with friends at work and later post these on social media platforms.
Nowadays, crazy Christmas photo filters and frames are available, which help click cute Christmas-themed pictures. The same idea is incorporated into your photo booth to enhance your attendees’ experience.
6- Set up a Virtual Holiday Movie Theater
The spirit of your virtual party can pick up from playing classic holiday films. So why not enjoy holiday films with colleagues? You can pick snippets from top holiday movies and create your own comedy pack for the employees. This shall fill the event with laughter and discussions on your top picks. For instance, you can add scenes from ‘home alone,’ ‘office Christmas party,’ ‘a Christmas story,’ or ‘jingle all the way.’
The movie theatre is a great way to fuel your virtual celebrations. Also, it works as a bridge to spark conversations among the employees. For instance, they get to talk about their own favourite film or scenes from the films. Some office parties today are incomplete without a movie night, where trending Christmas films are played through the night.
7- Engage Remote Teams in Fun Holiday Games
Games are the best part of your virtual Christmas party. It makes the event more fun and allows everyone to participate. Moreover, it cultivates a sense of competition while encouraging team building. You can team up the members as opponents to compete in online games. We have compiled a list of games your remote team members can play.
- Office trivia
- Virtual bingo
- Dumb charades
- Escape room
- Scavenger hunt
8- Make them Share, Show and Tell
Some other light mood fun activities can also be included in the party. These activities encourage participants to share, show, and tell secrets about themselves and their lives. This helps employees get to know their colleagues better and also learn about their fun side.
You can form small teams to help co-workers connect better. We have devised a list of activities your team members can perform to better enjoy their time at the party.
- Share your favourite memory of Christmas
- Tell everyone about your favourite Christmas food
- Show your favourite Christmas gift of all times
- Share a sneak peek of your Christmas outfit
- Give a virtual tour of your house decor and lights
- Show your Christmas tree all decked up
- Tell everyone a funny Christmas story
- Show a funny picture of you and your family
- Share anything naughty you do in the holidays
- Tell everyone about your holiday plans
9- Celebrate the Yearly Success of your Team Members
What’s a better occasion than an official party to celebrate? While everyone is gathered online, it is time to recognise the achievements of your team members. You can begin by appreciating employees for a number of reasons. Here are some takeaways on employee recognition award ideas you can give away and make a yearly thing.
- Top-performer award
- Outstanding achievements
- Employee milestones
- Team meeting awards
- Team performance awards
- Mentorship awards
- Team player awards
10- Close Sermons with Virtual Holiday Dinner Party
There’s no party without the food! So to bring your virtual party to an end, you can schedule a dinner time for the attendees. Everyone can gather in front of the screens and begin eating the food and click glasses for drinks they received from official delivery. You can further make this dinner time memorable for the employees by sending over gingerbread and customised cookies with the company logo. It is a great way to make your virtual experience a little more top-notch for the employees.
There’s more to it!
There are a hundred ways to make a virtual Christmas party a memorable experience for your employees. However, you must follow what works best for your employees because the purpose of your holiday party is to bring remote teams together to have a great time. Also, make it an annual thing for your company and be known for throwing the greatest virtual holiday parties.
If you are still confused about how to set up a virtual holiday event, then connect with the experts at VirtuaDays. We would be happy to assist you with fun virtual office party ideas for your virtual holiday-themed party.
Get in touch with us today to plan a big virtual party for your remote teams.
