How to Organize the Best Virtual Christmas Party Ever

The most important way to mark the occasion is to get into the Christmas spirit by organizing a themed virtual holiday party. With the numerous video conferencing platforms available, it is now possible to set up a quality online party – and tailored to the reality of your remote workers, who will enjoy actively participating in virtual activities.

During this end-of-year event, you will get to organize team building activities around the theme of winter holidays. Here are our tips for unforgettable virtual events!

To structure and liven up your virtual end-of-year party, nothing works better than a designated host who will be in charge of presenting the activities and getting the guests to participate. You can ask your employees if they would like to have this role, and even select several hosts for even more interaction and animation. Some employees enjoy presenting these types of events, while others don’t: it’s best to choose the host on a voluntary basis. You can also hire a professional host, depending on your preferences and reality.

Don’t forget to plan enough team building activities to keep guests entertained throughout the evening! Above all, think of virtual holiday party games that bring people together, that are participative and team-based to help promote exchange and collaboration. 

If you are short of inspiration, don’t worry: we have ideas for virtual holiday party games that your employees will definitely enjoy!

Secret Santa is always a popular and familiar game. Even better, it is easy to organize virtually! There are many free websites to draw your Secret Santa. All you have to do is inform the participants and define the theme of the gift exchange for a successful Christmas party.

The gifts received can be shared with everyone during the virtual party for a fun social time. This will also be the moment to reveal to each participant who their Secret Santa was! This is a great opportunity to create some friendly moments between colleagues, or even to initiate a conversation between employees who did not know each other well.

What better way to brighten up the end of the year than with themed gifts?

You can also send your own Christmas-themed gifts and goodies to your employees so that everyone gets a little something extra at the end of the year (gift cards, Christmas mug, gingerbread man kit, Christmas candy, warm socks…). It’s even better if the gifts are personalized with your company’s logo! This festive gesture will undoubtedly make your employees happy.

You can always rely on costumes to bring a festive mood to a company event!

The dress code for the party can range from a simple knitted Christmas sweater to a full-on costume, including the mandatory Santa hat. To encourage team participation and creativity, you can also organize a contest for the best Christmas costume, with a prize – virtual or not – for the winner! 

For those who don’t want to dress up, it will still be fun to see their colleagues in costume. Those who wish to can also wear their best winter outfit to be in the seasonal mood. In any case, they can always participate in the voting for the best costume contest!

To perfect your evening, don’t forget the music! We recommend that you ask participating employees what their favorite festive song is, and gather their answers to create a playlist that will brighten up your Christmas party.

Turn it into a fun game by asking guests to guess which music is who’s favorite! This activity is easy to set up and represents a simple way to get to know your coworkers and their musical tastes – sometimes revealing surprises or musical affinities. This fun activity can even be played in teams, and everyone will have a moment to express themselves. The playlist will have a participative dimension and give the opportunity to the guests to share their musical preferences and to be able to discuss them during the party. It is the perfect activity to create a strong team dynamic and to meet new people!

We recommend holiday-themed quizzes, which are always popular and are perfect for building teams that will have to work together to give their answers. The quiz can include trivia questions about holiday celebrations around the world, making the game both fun and informative.

Another fun idea: musical guessing games such as ‘guess the Christmas song’. This team building activity will put all participants in a festive and friendly mood! It’s up to you if you want to make it a friendly competition with a point-counting system and thematic rewards.

Your imagination is the only limit to organize a unifying activity that will be unanimously appreciated during your virtual Christmas party!

In short, your virtual Christmas party must be as participatory as possible, and bring teams together for a good time of conviviality and sharing. The festive season is particularly favourable to this type of event, which allows you to end the year on a high note and prepare for a new year of collaboration in the best conditions!

To make sure that you make as many people happy as possible with your virtual Christmas party, why not directly ask for opinions? By surveying your employees, you will get good strategic leads to organize events that will bring the whole organization together. 

To go further and easily determine if the team building activities you organized throughout the year were effective, you can even implement employee engagement surveys in your company. These are valuable tools for measuring employee engagement and for establishing ever more relevant mobilization strategies!