9 Fun Virtual Holiday Party Ideas [2020]
2020 may have put a dampener on in-person events, but there are still some great virtual holiday party ideas to get inspiration from!
With the holiday season just around the corner, there are many ways to keep the traditions of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah and other special holidays alive, and spread a little bit of cheer!
Here are some of our favorites…
Table of contents
- 9 Great Virtual Holiday Party Ideas
- 1. Book a pre-made, professional Virtual Team Party!
- 2. Take a Virtual Vacation
- 3. Play virtual holiday bingo
- 4. Send your virtual employees a holiday gift box
- 5. Organize a holiday dress-up competition
- 6. Host a karaoke night
- 7. Host a holiday virtual trivia night
- 8. Organize a holiday happy hour
- 9. Create a holiday music playlist
- 6 Virtual Holiday Party Themes
- How to host a virtual holiday party
- Frequently asked questions
- Who can help organize fun virtual events & activities for teams?
9 Great Virtual Holiday Party Ideas
1. Book a pre-made, professional Virtual Team Party!
If you’ve got a large team (50-250+ people), don’t try to find a single virtual activity that can cater to everyone in your office. We’ve created the Party In A Box, an online party for remote companies, with various virtual activities running simultaneously!
With a menu of fun, hosted Zoom activities and breakouts, you can ensure there’s something for everyone, and let your distributed coworkers choose their own adventure!
Some of our favorite online activities for team parties:
- Virtual Karaoke: it’s your time to shine, with a hilarious host and your living room as the stage (read our guide to running Zoom karaoke here)
- Team’s Got Talent: an AGT-style open mic, and chance for everyone to share their talents
- DJ Dance Party: get down with a high energy DJ playing top hits
- DIY Cocktails + Drinking Games: with an innovative cocktail bartender
- Intro to Improv Comedy: with a Chicago improv instructor teaching improv basics using Zoom
- Clown School 101: with an instructor from the SF Circus Center
- Graffiti Workshop: a fascinating, hands-on masterclass with a renowned graffiti artist. Develop your own graffiti name, and practice lettering your own tags and pieces!
- Virtual Vacation: our tropical vacation (Hawaiian shirts are encouraged) with fun ice-breakers and meaningful skill-building games (learn more about it here!)
- Drag Show: a group of incredible drag queens led by the renowned Mary Vice will dazzle you with a live virtual drag show, banter and Q&A
- Ghost Stories: creepy campfire ghost tales told online by a haunted ghost tour guide
- Acoustic Cafe Show: get swooned by a folksy duo with an incredible acoustic concert on Zoom
Sample itinerary for a 2 hour remote office party:
- 15 minutes: All join for intro games and orientation
- 45 minutes: Session 1 (2-3 breakout rooms)
- 45 minutes: Session 2 (2-3 breakout rooms)
- 10 minutes: Wrap up with everyone together
At Wild SF, we are experts at setting up customized online events for remote teams.
We cover everything from organizing invites to coordinating experienced, high-energy online activity leaders, and taking care of the logistics of online facilitation.
2. Take a Virtual Vacation
Brush off winter blues during quarantine by traveling to warmer climes.
On the Virtual Vacation remote team builder by Kabloom, your team gets transported to a tropical vacation (Hawaiian shirts are encouraged). But there’s a catch: your team must work together (escape-room style) to navigate across waters to your destination.
Our energetic, quirky guides will get everyone laughing and connecting, and working together through fun challenges.
3. Play virtual holiday bingo
Bingo is a familiar and fun game, and can easily be adapted to a holiday theme and played online during a virtual holiday party.
If you mail out a gift box, include bingo cards, and let people play along at home while the virtual party happens.
Our favorite tool to create a free and customized bingo game is Bingo Baker. It offers thousands of ready-made bingo cards, or you can generate your own.
This Merry Christmas bingo game has 300 words and phrases, including All I Want For Christmas, Jingle Bells and Jack Frost.
4. Send your virtual employees a holiday gift box
During COVID, we’ve all felt isolated from our family, friends and remote coworkers. What better way to cap off a difficult year by sending them a box of holiday treats?
Holiday gift boxes could include:
- hot chocolate mix
- Christmas cookies
- candy canes
- stockings
- chocolates
- gift cards
- card games
- board games
If you wanted to add a personal touch, pop a handwritten note in there to show your appreciation for their work during this challenging year.
5. Organize a holiday dress-up competition
A big part of the traditions of the holiday season is getting dressed up in festive gear. Given that we’ve been stuck in our homes for a large part of this year, people are excited to have an opportunity to get dressed up! And why not include dressing up your beloved pet while you’re at it?
You can spice this up by organizing an online voting system for the best-dressed and/or offering prizes. You could also do this for Halloween or Thanksgiving.
6. Host a karaoke night
Since COVID, many companies have turned into remote teams looking for fun virtual holiday parties. Good news: a virtual karaoke party is an awesome (and easy) virtual team building idea to get your team connecting!
This dedicated guide explains everything you need to know to organize a virtual karaoke party on Zoom, including how to host a great event for your team working from home, and how to choose a great karaoke song.
7. Host a holiday virtual trivia night
An online trivia night is a fun and interactive way to get your team working together and letting a little loose. It does require a bit of planning, so you can save time by searching for holiday trivia questions.
You could also include categories like:
- Name this holiday song
- Holiday traditions from around the world
- Company- or employee-specific questions
For a little more fun, encourage each team to incorporate a holiday theme into their team name, like ‘The Rudolphs’ or ‘Eggnoggens.’
(Yes, we can organize this for you!)
8. Organize a holiday happy hour
Who doesn’t love an excuse to wind down and enjoy a drink to cap off the year and get in the festive mood? You could encourage the participants to wear holiday-themed clothing and accessories, like an ugly sweater, Santa hat or reindeer ears.
To replicate the atmosphere of a festive office or bar, you can play music in the background. (More on that below.)
9. Create a holiday music playlist
Festive-themed music like All I Want For Christmas Is You gets people in the mood for the holidays. So why not create a collaborative playlist on Spotify and allow everyone to choose a song or two?
If you want to play it background music at a virtual holiday party, here’s how to do that on Zoom:
- Click the Share Screen button in the toolbar
- Click on the Advanced tab
- Select Computer Sound Only
- To end, click Stop Share at the top of your meeting screen
6 Virtual Holiday Party Themes
Virtual Christmas Holiday Party
- Christmas bingo (with festive words like reindeer and chimney)
- The Great Christmas Bakeoff
- Christmas trivia night
- Create a Christmas music playlist together
Hanukkah Virtual Holiday Party
- Hanukkah sweater party
- Synchronized candle-lighting
- Latkes-making competition
- Donut decorating
Festivus Virtual Holiday Party
- Festivus pole decoration competition
- Share a Festivus meal together, including meatloaf and a hip flask
- A virtual ‘Airing of Grievances’
- ‘Feats of Strength’ talent show
New Year’s Virtual Holiday Party
Set your Zoom background to one of the following themes:
- Sydney: put up the Sydney Harbour Bridge and pour yourself a Foster’s
- New York: set Times Square as your backdrop and get ready to count down!
- London: settle down in front of the London Eye and bundle up in warm clothes to welcome 2021!
- Paris: why not welcome the new year in front of the Effiel Tower with a glass of champagne in hand?
- Rio de Janeiro: fancying a tropical theme? Head off to Copacabana and don your swimsuit
- Kiribati: want to be the first to celebrate? This Pacific Island nation is the closest to the International Date Line
If you wanted to do a trip-around-the-world party, you could follow the globe as it strikes midnight from east to west!
Thanksgiving Virtual Holiday Party
- Gratitude sharing
- Virtual recipe swap
- Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade watch party
Halloween Virtual Holiday Party
- Dress-up competition
- Surprise chocolate and candy delivery
- Murder Mystery Party
- Pumpkin decorating competition
How to host a virtual holiday party
- Prepare the guest list
- Decide on a theme for your virtual holiday party
- Prepare games
- Choose your video conference application, e.g. Zoom or Google Meet
- Send invitations to your guests
- Prepare your outfit
- Test games and video application
- Send a reminder to guests the day before
Frequently asked questions
Virtual holiday parties are online gatherings of family, friends and/or coworkers. The aim is to provide opportunities for people to connect and have fun during the festive season. An example might be a festive-themed trivia night, or a holiday happy hour.
The best virtual holiday parties are those that are engaging and easy to organize. They include festive-themed online bingo, karaoke and trivia nights. There is a full list of virtual holiday party ideas in this guide.
Celebrating important holidays in an online manner does not have to require a lot of preparation. Easy ideas include a holiday happy hour, festive-themed bingo (with pre-made card templates), and a Christmas dress-up competition.
First, make your guest list. Next, decide on the theme and games, e.g. happy hour, trivia or bingo. Then choose a video conference application and send invitations. Finally, test out the games and software, and send a reminder to your guests.
Virtual holiday games are activities like festive bingo, holiday trivia and a dress-up competition. They are played during online gatherings of family, friends and/or coworkers. The aim is to provide opportunities for people to connect and have fun during the holiday season.
Who can help organize fun virtual events & activities for teams?
Wild SF leads meaningful virtual events that get you and your coworkers, family and/or friends laughing, connecting, and learning more about one another.
Ready to bring people closer together? Start here.