Holiday Spirits + Festive Virtual Celebration Ideas

It has been a heck of a year and maybe you didn’t get the time to plan some holiday events for your team to end the year with? No worries – here are a few virtual options that you can schedule right now and still squeeze it in before the end of the week or early next week!

I always love celebrating any event with the team, but the Christmas holiday season is my absolute favorite. There is just something about it that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I do miss being in the office and hosting a hot chocolate bar or kicking off a cookie swap with the team – but I am thrilled that we are still doing something that brings us together before we break. This year our team is doing a secret santa exchange with the help of Elfster. I loved the entire experience from signing up, creating a wish-list, inputting my address and having the platform randomly pick your secret santa recipient for you. It takes the pressure off of the host to manage all those moving pieces.

With it being the last full week of work, my colleague is hosting a virtual happy hour to unveil our secret santas (and the gifts) while sharing stories with one another. We even added a baby photo challenge too. I am looking forward to the silliness.

If you need a few ideas that you can pull together overnight – here are a few that are virtual conference friendly whether you use Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Webex – you can still spread some holiday spirit!

(1) Holiday Photo Booth // Gather the team on a call and have them print paper props (or use real props in advance). Everyone can use the props during the call and you can take screen shots of the group or individuals! Some suggestions for prop ideas are:

Santa’s Hat and Beard
Reindeer Antlers
Candy Canes
Silly Glasses
Colorful Presents
Knit Hats and Scarves
Sparkly Headbands and Bowties

The screenshots can be shared with the other teams as a virtual holiday card from your department!

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(2) Holiday Trivia // If a photo booth is too tame for for your team , how about some form of holiday trivia? Whether you play holiday music like to have the team guess the tune or a prep series of holiday themed questions, this is a great way to keep everyone engaged! You can even give the winner a prize such as a digital gift card. Here’s a link to a few to kick start you: 23 Holiday Trivia Questions For Your Zoom Holiday Parties

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(3) Winter Party // This is the more traditional, low stakes idea of all of these – but still a goodie. Host a virtual party for everyone at the end of the day. You can decide if its a happy hour based on company policy but if so, its BYOB. So whether you have a water, soda or glass of wine – it gives everyone time to check out at the end of the day. Here is a great list of modern holiday music that you can pull together into a playlist for the team during this time: 45 Modern Christmas Songs For Your Holiday Playlist

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(4) (Delivery) Lunch Party // Last but not least, this is a creative way to host a lunch. If you have a little bit of an expense to spare – you can send everyone digital gift cards to a Grub Hub or Uber Eats type of service in your area. Have the team order lunch and enjoy it together during a virtual lunch party. This way – everyone can have a great meal but share in some water cooler talk too!

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I hope that this encourages you and your teams to get together to not only celebrate the season but start the countdown to the end of 2020. Out with the old and in with the new.