How to Save Your Holiday Get-Together: Tips for Celebrating with Colleagues Virtually

New Virtual Holiday Party Games & More

What was true this past summer is true this holiday season: Your office get-together is going to look different this year. Like everything else for most of 2020, it will likely involve a little bit of creativity and a lot of Zoom.

Of course, none of that should stop you from celebrating and bonding with your team. But how do you liven up your video-conferenced virtual holiday parties? First, you can enjoy one of our new virtual holiday games, Joy Around the World: Virtual Holiday Scavenger Hunts and ’Tis the Season for a Virtual Holiday Game. And then, try one of these fun additions at your virtual holiday get-together.

Incorporate Food

Zoom Holiday Office Party Snacks

Instead of gathering together around a table full of food, your team can gather virtually with some food of their own. The simplest option is to let colleagues expense their meal for the party (within reason, obviously).

If you want to get a little more into it, you can coordinate snacks or meals based on a theme. For example, if you’ll be playing the Joy Around the World: Virtual Holiday Scavenger Hunts, you might all get international wintery snacks, like latkes, Vietnamese pho, or, uh, fermented shark from Iceland.

You can also arrange to send your team a box of snacks, whether based on a theme or simply full of fun treats, ahead of time. Just check into food allergies before sending anything.

And Don’t Forget the Drinks

There are plenty of fun ways to zhuzh up the libations for those who choose to. Have everyone make their own favorite drink at home, which gives them each a chance to talk about their creation. Or encourage your team’s creativity by sending each team member a mixology kit.

Dress to Impress

Another fun, easy way to bond as a team is to dress as a team. Especially when you’re looking at a grid of colleagues on your screen, dressing thematically is a powerful visual cue that you really are a unit.

Encourage everyone to dress in, say, ugly holiday sweaters or Zoom-appropriate pajamas. Or send everyone team sweatshirts to wear during your virtual game and the after-party.

Give Gifts

Zoom Holiday Office Party Snacks

Just because you’re apart doesn’t mean you can’t still exchange gifts. Naturally, arranging a virtual Secret Santa will require a good bit of planning to get everyone matched up and sending gifts, but the payoff is worth it.

Or Give Back

With everything else going on, arranging a gift exchange can be complicated, particularly for larger groups. A great option is to instead give to charity. After your virtual scavenger hunt or trivia game, announce that the winning team can choose the charity or cause to which your company will donate. It’s a fun reward and a good thing to do.

Join a Holiday Scavenger Hunt

Our new virtual holiday scavenger hunts bring laughs, challenges, and team bonding to any virtual get-together.

In the new Joy Around the World: Virtual Holiday Scavenger Hunts, travel the world in a virtual search for glad tidings and good cheer. Similar to our other online scavenger hunts, you’ll virtually visit locations around the world and answer fun questions. You might swing by the North Pole, fly to India to celebrate Diwali, sail to the Bahamas for Junkanoo, encounter a creepy Krampus, and more.

In the new ’Tis the Season for a Virtual Holiday Game, teams will gather around the virtual yule log in Zoom breakout rooms to tackle multiple rounds of humorous questions and challenges, covering a wide range of holiday topics. You might sample seasonal songs, uncover celebrities’ festive connections with the holidays, and make creative holiday memories of your own.

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Photo credits: Lead image photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash; holiday snacks photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash; Santa photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash