What's one company holiday party idea for remote workforces, that isn't totally lame?

Question

From "Holiday Happy Hour" to "Use pre-built activities to avoid holiday stress", here are the 10 answers to the question, "What's one company holiday party idea for remote workforces, that isn't totally lame?"

Evan McCarthy · Answer

We have 3 remote employees and want to keep them involved with our team during the holidays. What we decided to do is a holiday happy hour where everyone gets on an hour zoom call and enjoys their favorite drink. We sent all the remote employees a gift card for total wine so they could pick out their favorite drink of choice. We will then have a fun call and can talk about everyone's holiday plans and what their drink of choice is. We have done this for the last 2 years and everyone seems to enjoy it and is a great bonding experience for our remote employees.

Maegan Griffin · Answer

You can host a virtual holiday movie night (depending on how big your team is). Teleparty could be a good streaming option for this since it allows up to 50 viewers at once. Perhaps your team members could even meet up afterward on Zoom to discuss the film. This creates a team bonding opportunity that gets employees in the holiday spirit.

Sacha Ferrandi · Answer

With the rise of remote workers companies have been thinking outside of the box to find creative ways to involve everyone during the holidays. For starters, everyone would love a good snow day! This may not be a holiday party but it will get everyone excited. A snow day is when the company announces that it's a 'snow day' and lets everyone off of work early, this could be half day or a full day off to have extra time with their loved one.For holiday party ideas trivia and mocktails are always a classic. Trivia can be catered towards Christmas classics, from movies to music, and it can be sure to get everyone in the Christmas spirit. You can also reward the winner with a special Christmas goodie box.Another great and unique party idea is virtual cocktail/mocktail classes! You can hire a mixologist or let an amateur from the team showcase their favorite Christmas cocktail drink and have a virtual drink show-off. This show-off can be based on taste, seasonality, and appearance.

Admir Salcinovic · Answer

One option is to do a holiday-themed scavenger hunt! You can break everyone up into teams and give them a list of items to find or tasks to complete, all with a holiday twist. This can be done entirely online or you can combine it with a physical scavenger hunt if some of your employees are local.

Luke Lee · Answer

One company holiday party idea for remote workforces is to have a themed party. This could be a costume party, where everyone has to dress up as something related to the company. For example, if your company is in the food industry, everyone could dress up as a different food item. Or, if your company is in the fashion industry, everyone could dress up as a different fashion designer. This would be a great way to get everyone into the holiday spirit, and it would also be a lot of fun! Another company holiday party idea to go with this is for remote workforces that isn't totally lame is to have a virtual Secret Santa. To do this, everyone in the company signs up and is randomly matched with another employee. They then have to buy a small gift for the person they are matched with and send it to them in the mail. On the day of the party, everyone logs into a video call and opens their gifts together. This is a great way to build company morale and get everyone in the holiday spirit!

Amy Adlerstein · Answer

A significant area of interest among workers is how to celebrate holidays in a way that makes everyone feel included. One way of bringing people together over the holidays is to hold a company holiday party online. Ensure you send the game out ahead of time so people can prepare. You could organize a holiday musical bingo game, where employees pick songs and plan activities to go along with them. Set away any preconceived ideas about who bingo is for and how it works because it is not what you think it is. Instead of checking off numbers, you'll check songs off your sheet as you rock around the Christmas tree in this version.  This can be a fun way for people to get to know each other and make new friends even though they're working from different offices. This way, you can let workers feel like they've been included in the holiday festivities.

Nancy Eichler · Answer

Many remote teams bond with one another over food and cooking. Therefore, your company could implement a holiday version of this, such as making gingerbread houses. Employees could make them together in real-time over Zoom, show them to one another, and perhaps even compete for a prize for the best gingerbread house. It may seem childish to some, but in that sense, it can allow employees to let loose and have fun, which can boost employee morale.

Grace He · Answer

One company holiday party idea for remote workforces is to create a shared photo-album of favorite pictures throughout the year.  This can be done through a platform like Google Photos or iCloud, and can be a fun way for everyone to feel connected, even if they're not able to be in the same physical space. While the host is displaying the photos, you can call on participants to talk more about what was happening in the photo and why it's important. In this way, the activity is a great icebreaker for virtual holiday parties.

Annu Daniel · Answer

Team unboxings are a super popular holiday idea for remote workers everywhere. The biggest challenge of being remote is instilling the feeling of togetherness common to all holiday gatherings. By shipping everyone their own customized gift box, the group unboxing delivers that feeling, and gives employees something they each will enjoy individually too.

Julian Schaaf · Answer

November and December are peak crunch times, leaving little time for making meaningful connections. It's often overwhelming for HR or managers to organize a holiday event on top of trying to complete projects while half the company is about to go on vacation. Tools like Gomada or Gatheround take some of that stress away by offering pre-built virtual activities where the host only needs to schedule a time - not research, organize, invite, and moderate the session. They're also free to try.

What are some remote holiday party ideas?

What are some remote holiday party ideas that aren’t lame?

Holiday Happy Hour

Virtual Holiday Movie Night

Snow Days, Trivia, and Mocktails

Holiday-themed Scavenger Hunt Activity

Costume Party and Virtual Secret Santa

Holiday Musical Bingo Game

Gingerbread Making

Shared Photo Album

Team Unboxings

Use Pre-built Activities to Avoid Holiday Stress

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