5 Fun Ideas for your Virtual Christmas Office Party

Christmas parties are what most employees look forward to throughout the year. It is a moment to reflect on the past year and to show appreciation for your employees. Event planning in 2020 has not been easy and this year does not offer the option for a face to face Christmas gathering. However, this doesn’t mean that Christmas should pass by uncelebrated. The online alternatives are limitless! This is how you can create a virtual party that is engaging and interactive nevertheless, and that every employee will remember. 

1. Make your own Christmas movie and release it at your event

Transform your Christmas event into a real movie premiere! Assign a ‘movie committee’, that will be given the task of creating a very personal Christmas movie in which every colleague plays a role. In this way, everyone is starring 2020’s Christmas celebration. Also, the medium of a movie allows you to experiment with more engaging content than the usual Christmas toast. Think about distributing a goodie bag or snack bag to nibble on during the premiere, if you want to add a physical touch to your event. 

2. Holiday quiz 

A classic that never becomes boring: a good old pub quiz, in a virtual coat. Come up with questions that are personal and relate to current developments. You could make it even more interactive by requiring all participants to hand in a question themselves beforehand! Don’t be afraid to spice things up by including surprise elements such as bonus points, a help line, and online mini games. Come up with suitable and fun rewards and/or tasks for the winning and losing team.

3. Organise an online Christmas cooking workshop

Turn Christmas into a learnful experience for everyone! Where at any other Christmas party catering would be outsourced to the most sophisticated catering companies, this time it will be the participants themselves who will be cooking! Don’t be afraid to challenge your colleagues with an extraordinary and challenging dish. You could give them a push in the right direction by supplying your colleagues with a dinner box in which the first steps are already taken. Tip: try to partner up with a local restaurant. They can come up with a tasty menu, help you to find the right suppliers of the products and are probably more than willing to give the online workshop! 

4. Play charades over video-call

Another classic that never gets old. Play charades in front of the camera! To make the game more surprising, you could supply your colleagues with a box of random props, or give them a set of cards with characters to make sure it will be a challenging and creative night. Again, come up with suitable rewards for the winning and losing teams. 

5. Spread Christmas over the entire month

With Christmas being celebrated in a little more sober way than usual, why not just prolong this festive day? You could, for example, decide to spoil your employees or colleagues with an advent calendar, with a virtual Christmas toast as the climax. Another idea is to play Secret Santa in a chain reaction: have every colleague create a little surprise for each other, with colleagues telling each other who to play Secret Santa for, until everyone has experienced their little ‘mini Christmas’. 

There are many alternative ways to celebrate this years’ extraordinary Christmas. Don’t be afraid to get creative! Christmas is a special holiday that is centered around gathering and sharing memories, the smallest gesture already means a lot! Virtual events can serve as a relief rather than a burden. A study on the impact of Covid-19 on the eventing business found that online live events allow a more personal experience for the attendants, make use of this! Also, think of a suitable platform for your Christmas event. Many platforms, like Superevent, offer rich engagement features. And, last but not least, don’t forget to enjoy this year’s Christmas like any other year! Happy Holidays!