The 12 Best Virtual Holiday Party Themes Your Team will Love in 2023
The year is coming to an end, your employees and team members are struggling to wrap up the projects they’ve been working on all year long while frantically drawing up plans for the next year. So this is where you pop up in their calendars with an invitation to an end-of-year party. To avoid the flood of “can’t attend” replies, we’ve created a list of the best holiday virtual party themes your team will not want to miss! Read on to find the best games to play with your teammates and what mistakes to avoid when organising a virtual holiday party!
Why organise a virtual holiday party?
During the end-of-year time crunch, you may think: why waste time on a holiday party when you have so many other things to do? Well, a holiday party is a great way to show appreciation for your team members and create wonderful memories. This applies to traditional offices, as well as remote ones. Virtual holiday parties have been shown to boost employee morale and help dispersed teams feel more connected. Plus, it’s a great way for your team to unwind after a year’s grind! So, to help you out with your holiday celebrations, here’s our list of the top 12 virtual holiday party themes to wow your team in 2023!
Delicious themes
The one thing that surely brings people together during the holiday season is a festive meal., There is no reason why you and your remote team cannot enjoy a meal together. Here are some foolproof ways to enjoy delicious food together even virtually.
1.Virtual Holiday Wine and Cheese Tasting
- Pricing: £70 pp
- Group size: 6-100
- Duration: 90 min
Led by a professional sommelier, this activity will allow you to discover the hidden secrets of pairing wine with cheese. The class is perfect for any occasion but will make this festive time extra fancy. So, prepare for your team to not only have a good (or should we say: gouda) time but to become the office’s top wine and cheese connoisseurs. Bottoms up!
2.Cocktails around the world
- Pricing: from £54/$63 pp
- Group size: 5-120
- Duration: 60 min
It’s virtual happy hour time! If you’re working in an international team, why not go on a virtual tour through the best drinks that can be found around the world? Each team member can learn how to shake up new drinks, as well as enjoy some fun games organised by the hosts. This activity is a fun way to help your team relax and let loose as the year comes to an end.
3.Gingerbread Baking Class
- Pricing: £16/$18 pp
- Group size: 10-200
- Duration: 120 min
Festive calories don’t count, right? We definitely think so, and this Gingerbread Baking Class is here to prove it. This class is more than just decorating gingerbread. You will learn how to prepare your own spice mix, bake and decorate the cookies, and even gift-wrap them as DIY gifts for friends and family.
DIY themes
This is a fun way to bring the magic of Christmas into your virtual holiday party. Let your remote employees set up Santa’s workshop at their desks and turn into his little helpers (don’t forget the iconic pointy hats!). While you work on the DIY projects, it’s a great opportunity to chat, share your favourite holiday traditions or just play a classic holiday playlist.
4.Virtual Christmas Wreath Making Workshop
- Pricing: £100/$116
- Group size: 2-1000
- Duration: 60 mins
This is an activity that will be loved both by a DIY master as well as somebody who just wants to enjoy a holiday activity. Let your imagination run wild! Will you make your wreath fitting for a Winter Wonderland? Or will it sit just well in a cosy mountain cabin? Whatever it is, we are sure you’re going to have the best time! If you’re eco-conscious, don’t worry: the kits were prepared with consideration for Mother Nature.
5.Holiday Decoration Making Virtual Workshop
- Pricing: £120/$130
- Group size: 2-1000
- Duration: 90 mins
The holidays are a time of year that many people look forward to with great anticipation and excitement. The decorations and festivities make it a truly magical time, and imagine how much more so if you’re the one making the magic happen! The struggle of working on something together also brings the team closer, so a class like this makes for a great team-building experience as well.
6.Candle Making Class
- Pricing: from £65/$90
- Group size: 12-150
- Duration: 60 mins
Lighting candles has long been a part of Christmas traditions. Well, thanks to this class, you and your team members will learn how to make your own candles! Once these full kits are delivered to their doorsteps, your team can just sit back and enjoy the class. Once the candles are ready, they can be used as part of your Christmas decorations or given away as gifts!
Holiday Themes to die for
It’s time for your annual holiday party. You gather up the team to have a great time. The halls are decked, the drinks are ready, and the dead body is found. Wait, what? Together with your teammates, find out who’s not so merry and bright this season.
7.A Christmas Murder at Skellington Hall
- Pricing: from £349/$475
- Group size: 6-50
- Duration: 60 min
Ho-ho-ho-horror strikes! Get together to figure out the shady past of Lord Skellington and why he was murdered at his own party. Since the players have to work together and brainstorm to figure out who’s the killer, this activity, although it’s a murder case, will help revive your team’s spirit. The story is set in 1946, so dress-up is encouraged for some additional fun!
8.Christmas Cruel
- Pricing: £795/$888
- Group size: 6-80
- Duration: 90-120 mins
Together with your teammates, and with the help of a detective played by a live actor, figure out the killer in this picturesque Christmas London mystery. To do this, you need to look closely at all the evidence and find any clues that may lead you to the culprit. It is a classic game of deduction, but with a Christmas twist.
9.Arctic Express
- Pricing: £29/$36 pp
- Group size: 5-100
- Duration: 60 mins
If you would like your team to solve a riddle but in a less eerie way, then perhaps an online escape room would be just the right activity for your virtual holiday party. And trust us, your team is going to love this one – it’s a company outing gone wrong! You and your team are on the Arctic Express on your way to an unknown destination. If you want to make it to tomorrow’s stand-up, you have to find a way to escape! Hurry up – it’s an express, after all!
Free themes
You already know that parties that help build camaraderie among team members are one of the most important investments you can make. But we understand that sometimes you just might not have a budget for anything big. Worry not, there are still some great ways in which you can celebrate the season without breaking the bank.
10.Holiday Movie Marathon
- Pricing: the cost of renting a movie
- Group size: 1-100
- Duration: 90-120 mins (depending on the movie)
Even if you say you don’t like cheesy Christmas movies, we think there aren’t many things that can beat watching a classic story unfold while wrapped in warm blankets with a cup of hot chocolate. Why not make it a virtual holiday party for your office? Choose a movie, and stream it through websites like WatchParty. For some extra fun, you can play a holiday movie bingo to mark all those classic scenes we love Christmas films for.
Check out the complete list of new holiday movies to look forward to this year!
11.Ugly Christmas Sweater Competition
Show off your Christmas spirit with a matching sweater during a virtual party!
- Pricing: free
- Group size: 5-100
- Duration: 90 mins
An ugly sweater is a holiday staple that can help you celebrate the holidays even in an online environment. Let the remote team wear their best holiday sweaters (or t-shirts, if they’re enjoying the season somewhere warm), and organise a competition to decide whose attire is the ugliest (this is the only time of the year when such a contest will not land you in HR!). For some extra fun, you can play holiday games using services like Kahoot, or create your own holiday trivia via TriviaMaker.
Check out our list of ugly Christmas sweater party ideas for more inspiration!
12.Christmas Carol-oke
Who will be the Mariah Carey of your office this year?
- Pricing: free
- Group size: 5-20
- Duration: 90-120 mins
Singing together has been proven to be a great team-building activity. It’s a simple yet very effective way of reducing stress, which is what your team might just need during the busy time of closing up the year. Since many holiday songs are not religious but rather focus on the spirit of the season, holiday karaoke is an inclusive activity that many teams will enjoy.
Our favourite Spotify Christmas playlists include:
The don’ts of a virtual holiday party
For the jolliest of holiday celebrations, here are five things you should avoid when organising a virtual holiday party:
#1 Don’t plan it during time off. If you value your team members, and we guess you do, since you’re organising a party for them, you must value their personal time as well. And in this festive time when perhaps they would rather spend their weekends or evenings with their friends and family and not in front of their screens, make sure you organise the party during work hours.
#2 Don’t organise it before a deadline. Chances are if your teammates are fixated on finishing that one last project they would probably rather not disturb their workflow with some silly games. That’s why it’s important to try and schedule the party after the big projects are wrapped up. Of course, it will probably not be possible to match everyone’s calendar, but do try your best at that!
#3 Don’t just wing it. The end of the year is hectic for many reasons, and if you plan your party wrongly, your team members will be even more stressed and angry that they wasted their time. Put your mind to the organisation, and make sure that it’s a joyous celebration and not a not-so-merry chase.
#4 Don’t make it obligatory. If you want the party to be fun, and for people to truly enjoy it, invite and encourage people to come, but don’t make them do it. Some of your teammates may not want to participate for reasons they don’t want to share, so give everyone the choice of not showing up. Try to think of other ways of encouraging people to show up. That’s where the good planning, fun activities and unexpected gifts come in.
#5 Don’t leave it to the last minute. With all the reasons listed above, you can see why it’s important to plan your holiday party ahead of time. You may think it’s only a virtual one, but if you don’t want it to be just another (boring) meeting, then you need time to make sure it’s well-planned.
Key takeaways
A holiday virtual party is an event that some will wait all year long for, while others will dig up all the excuses they can think of to avoid it. But you should consider it an essential part of wrapping up the year for you and your team. The holiday virtual party is an opportunity to have some fun, celebrate your team’s accomplishments, and get pumped up for the next year. We hope that our virtual holiday party themes will help you have the most wonderful time of the year!
Need more inspiration? Check out our other articles:
- 24 Fun Online Christmas Games
- The 28 Best Ideas for a Virtual Holiday Party in the Office in 2023
- 17 Ways to Make your Virtual Holiday Happy Hour Memorable
FAQS: Virtual Holiday Party Themes
How much does a virtual holiday party cost?
The pricing of the virtual holiday parties will depend on the number of participants and whether there will be any tool kits or gift hampers sent to them. For the most affordable options, you can expect prices to start at as low as £12.5/$17 pp. For more complex events, the price can go up to £80/ $100 per person. However, if you decide to organise the party on your own, you can have it at almost no cost.
How do you organise a virtual holiday party?
You may think that to organise a virtual holiday party, you just need to set up a meeting in a calendar and invite everyone. But there’s more to that! First, pick a time and date for your virtual party so that most of your team can attend. Make sure to choose the platform that can host the number of people you’re planning to invite to your virtual party. Set a theme, and encourage participants to dress up and bring their favourite holiday snacks. Now, you can send out the invitations. To bring out the holiday spirit, you can choose a festive background for your email or include a link to a holiday playlist. In the next step, select games and activities for everyone to enjoy at your virtual holiday party. If you have a budget for that, it’s worth considering sending out holiday gift hampers to the participants.
How can I make a virtual holiday party fun?
There are many ways in which you can make your virtual holiday party fun. Firstly, come up with a catchy name for your event to draw attention and encourage people to participate. The name can become a hashtag for your event so people can use it in posts about the event on social media. Select a theme, and encourage participants to dress up accordingly or to change their call backgrounds to match it. Organise games and activities, so the party is interactive, or find a service which can host the games for you. Lastly, have a holly jolly time!
Can I host a virtual holiday party for a big team?
Yes, it’s absolutely possible to have a virtual holiday party for a big group! Murder mystery or escape rooms can be enjoyed even in groups of 200 people, while DIY workshop-type of classes can be enjoyed even by up to 500 people at the same time! The crucial thing about virtual parties for big groups is to select a platform that can host a big number of participants and ask the host which activity will fit the group best.
What are the best themes for a virtual holiday party?
The best themes for virtual parties include holiday-themed murder mysteries, a virtual Secret Santa, holiday food cooking workshops, holiday movie marathons, and holiday-themed bingo or trivia games.
