What was your last Christmas party like at work? At Saberr, we went for a roast lunch, played some cards in the pub and ended the evening with a Martini or two.
This year we’ll be getting together for a Zoom call... Will it be as jolly as last year? Probably not but we’ll still find a way to have fun and connect this holiday season.
Here are 6 fun and easy ways you can celebrate the holidays with your virtual team.
1. Take a cooking class for a good cause
Team size: Any
Time: 90-120 minutes
Prep effort: High
What is it?
Book a festive cooking class for your team and spend a couple of hours learning how to cook something new with a refugee or migrant as your teacher.
Why do we recommend it?
You’re learning a new skill and supporting a great cause at the same time. Plus, teams that cook together, come together.
How does it work?
Check out Migrateful. Some of their packages include hampers for all employees with the ingredients they’ll need.
2. The Hike
Team size: Any
Time: 60-90 minutes
Prep effort: Medium
What is it?
A game made for remote teams, which takes you on a spooky hike and requires you to make collaborative decisions.
Why do we recommend it?
It’s a bit different and you’ll have a laugh. In this day and age, that’s good enough as far as we’re concerned!
The game itself isn’t festive but you can give yourself festive team names and wear Christmas jumpers.
How does it work?
You can find it for free right here. You’ll just need to set up a Zoom call and have some way of messaging each other in your sub-groups (like Microsoft Teams, Slack, or a Whatsapp group).
3. Through the Keyhole - Christmas edition
Team size: 4 - 12
Time: 5 mins x number of team members
Prep effort: Low
What is it?
Have you ever watched Keith Lemon’s “Through the Keyhole”? It’s a terrible TV show where the presenter snoops around a celebrity’s house while the audience tries to guess who lives there. You can recreate the show with your colleagues and show off your Christmas decorations whilst you're at it.
Why do we recommend it?
A fun way to get to know your colleagues beyond their regular Zoom backdrop. Seeing your colleagues’ homes and decorations can go a long way towards creating a festive atmosphere of togetherness.
How does it work?
Ask each team member to share a short video or three photos of their home with you beforehand. These can include clues to make it easier or to confuse people, depending on how playful you’re feeling.
During your Zoom “party”, share the photos and get people to guess whose home it is. If you’d like to make it more competitive, ask everyone to write down their answers. Then reveal the answers at the end and count points.
4. Name that Tune
Team size: 4 - 12
Time: 60 mins
Prep effort: Medium. Everyone needs time to buy and send the present.
What is it?
You play the first few seconds of a Christmas song and ask the team to:
- Guess the artist (1 point)
- Guess the song title (1 point)
- Sing the song lyrics (2 points)
Why do we recommend it?
If this doesn’t get you in the festive spirit, I don’t know what will. It's the closest you'll get to Karaoke.
How does it work?
Make a playlist in advance with 20-30 of your favourite Christmas songs. Don't forget to include Mariah Carey's classic. This blog explains the rest.
5. Cocktail (and Mocktail) hour
Team size: Any
Time: 60 mins
Prep effort: Medium. Everyone needs the ingredients.
What is it?
An hour to make a festive cocktail together and enjoy it!
Why do we recommend it?
In my experience, this doesn’t feel as intense as other ways of socialising over Zoom because you’re busy in the kitchen, icing and shaking, rather than staring into a laptop screen.
How does it work?
Pick a Christmas cocktail and a matching mocktail. Make sure to communicate the non-alcoholic option so that you don’t accidentally alienate those who don’t drink!
Send the ingredient list out beforehand, allowing people plenty of time to shop for them. Then on the call, act as a mixologist… Teach the team to make the festive drink and enjoy it together.
Some ways to make it extra fun...
- Share interesting facts about cocktails
- Turn some of those facts into quiz-style questions
- Take a silly survey on what kind of cocktail matches your personality and share
- Get partners or house-mates involved
6. Secret Santa
Team size: Any
Time: 60 mins
Prep effort: Medium. Everyone needs time to buy and send the present.
What is it?
A Christmas Classic... Pick a colleagues name at random, buy them a gift, and keep the giver’s identity secret.
Why do we recommend it?
Unlike our other ideas, this doesn’t require a Zoom call. Your team can open their presents individually, on the date you’ve decided on, and share snaps over Slack or Microsoft Teams.
How does it work?
- Set a maximum budget (£10 or £15 should be enough) and a date to open the presents.
- Get your team’s consent to share their home addresses with their secret santa.
- Allocate names at random or use a Secret Santa tool to help you like this one.
- Then each person should buy one present and post it to them before the opening date.
For any of these, use a festive filter
If you can’t be bothered to put on a Christmas jumper or to do your make-up to celebrate with your team over Zoom … I can’t blame you. Snap Camera has thousands of fun filters that you can use for all of the activities above. Just remember to remove the filter before your next work call.
