Planning a virtual holiday party? In this guide, you’ll find fun virtual festive party games to enjoy with your team!
From scavenger hunts and friendly competitions, to game-show inspired challenges and activities to unleash your team’s creativity – there’s something for everyone in this post!
A few of our favorite virtual holiday party games:
- Compete for the title of “best holiday decorator”
- Test holiday music knowledge with “guess that tune”
- Play “Minute to Win It”
- Host a Gingerbread House competition
- Crown a holiday unwrapping champion
In this guide, you’ll find:
- Holiday party games for remote teams
- Ideas and activities to liven up holiday-season meetings
- Icebreakers and friendly competitions to boost team connection
- Virtual seasonal activities for large and small teams
Book a guided virtual holiday party experience!
Let Unexpected Virtual Tours host your group for a festive virtual holiday party. Keep your work shindig simple yet celebratory with this NYE-inspired romp that your whole team will enjoy – combining games with NYC live stream stops, all within a Jeopardy-themed atmosphere!
Pop off the fun with champagne-infused treats, cookie crafts, and “ugly sweater” fun with a fantastic Treat Box to match (if requested ahead of time before booking). Learn more by watching the video below! Then, book your session here.
Virtual Team-Building Holiday Games
Test Your Holiday Vocabulary
Looking for an activity that is engaging and tests your team’s quick thinking abilities? Bring the group together with a holiday version of the alphabet game!
For this game, provide employees with a printable page listing each letter of the alphabet. To play, each person fills in a festive word that starts with each letter. Great for all group sizes, teams can opt to play individually or form groups to encourage collaboration.
Furthermore, you can create competition by setting a timer. Once lists are complete, encourage team members to share their festive alphabet list. Then, award prizes for categories like most creative answers!
By the end, your team is sure to be refreshed on all things festive.
Compete for Best Holiday Decorator
The holidays aren’t complete without decorations. Though you and your crew might not have a collective office to decorate, you can still enjoy decorating your home offices together virtually!
Even better, gamify this seasonal pastime by hosting a decorating contest! Encourage team members to show up on a video call ready with their own seasonal items. On “Go,” let the decorating begin! Once decorations are placed, have each employee show off their festive spaces and take a vote for the winning design.
Plus, this activity is a fantastic way to hear about employees’ decorating traditions and favorite, festive items. Together, the teams’ offices will be transformed with holiday spirit to be displayed all season long!
Get Ready to Guess Who
After countless team video calls, you could probably spot each other out of a crowd. But, could you recognize your fellow office mate in a childhood photo?
To organize a game of “Guess Who,” create a shared photo album with your team. Teammates can then upload photos of themself as a child during the holidays. This is especially fun for teams with a variety of generations!
On a video chat, have the meeting host share each picture submitted to the entire team one by one. Then, everyone shares who they think is on screen. The employee with the most correct guesses is the winner!
Connect with one another while seeing your coworkers – and boss! – in festive holiday attire in their younger days.
Play a Festive Version of “This or That”
Do you have a team full of strong opinions? Whether you answered yes or no, this holiday themed game is sure to pull them out!
To play, ask players to choose between two related, but opposite options. On a video call, team members can drop their answers in the chat or share verbally. You might be surprised how strongly your staff feel about their choices!
Here are some This or That prompts to get your game started:
- Gloves or mittens
- Travel or home for the holidays
- Snow or no snow
- Die Hard is a Christmas movie or Die Hard is not a Christmas movie
Add this as an icebreaker or use it as the main game for your holiday party!
Go Bonkers for Bingo – Book a Holiday Bonanza!
If your staff are fans of engaging games like this, our newest holiday virtual event Bingo Bonanza Holiday Party could be right up your alley! Turn out your trivia and team knowledge – compete and collaborate with others while whizzing through NYC streets on a live stream tour.
Stop at historic sites between rounds of classic Bingo, a Scavenger Hunt, and more in one fast-paced hour full of fun! Don’t forget to request a treat box to enhance the entire experience.
Compete in “Minute to Win It” Challenges
“Minute to Win It” games bring a punchy good time to any office party! This activity encourages virtual teams to get out from behind the desk and enjoy quick, silly games together.
These physical challenges must be completed in sixty seconds or less.
A few festive “Minute to Win It” challenges include:
- Cookie Face: place a gingerbread cookie on your forehead and without using your hands, move the cookie into your mouth.
- Snowball Shake: Tape a tissue box to your lower back and fill it with ping pong balls. On the mark, try to shake all of the balls out of the box.
- Candy Cane Magnet: Try to hang as many candy canes as possible on your body in sixty seconds.
Compete individually or team-style to make the most of the crazy, challenging fun. By the end, the entire team will have memories to last all season long!
Tell a Seasonal Story
How well does your team know a holiday story? Test your skills in this all things storytelling game!
To play, pair your employees into groups. Next, prompt one team at a time to tell the summary of a holiday story or movie with individual players saying one word at a time. Moreover, words cannot be repeated. As a result, each player must pay attention to every response.
Then, have all other teams take a guess at what story is being told! This activity is a great way to get your large team together and get everyone energized and communicating.
The larger the group, the harder the game gets! This story-based game is sure to bring laughs among your group, especially if team members are not telling the same story!
Go “On Holiday” In Europe With Your Team!
Hop across the pond for some wondrous Euro-style vibes and celebration! Go “on holiday” with your team for our European Holiday virtual tour around Prague and Rome.
Enjoy the sights and treats along the way – soak up culture and historic locations while nibbling cookies, or get creative with the pasta and espresso goodies featured in each treat box paired with the event (if requested ahead of time)!
Name that Holiday Tune
Is anything more festive than holiday music? Incorporate festive songs of the season into a virtual version of “name that tune.”
To organize this game, prepare a list of holiday songs. We recommend having team members submit their favorites! Once the playlist is selected, play the first few seconds of each song to the entire group. After each song segment, encourage team members to name the tune!
Determine the difficulty of each round by the number of seconds players hear each song. The shorter the audio clip, the harder the guess.
Warning, you might get a song or two stuck in your head from this game!
Host a Holiday Game of “Never Have I Ever”
Never Have I Ever is a popular icebreaker game that encourages players to be truthful to past actions. Enjoy this crowd-favorite party game with your virtual team incorporating a holiday twist!
Start the game with players holding up ten fingers on screen for all to see. Then, each team member will take a turn making a statement that starts with “never have I ever….” Players who have done the act stated must lower one finger.
The last player with fingers held up is the winner!
Here are some Holiday “Never Have I Ever” prompts to get your group started:
- Enjoyed fruit cake
- Missed a holiday because I got stuck in an airport
- Regifted a present
- Watched “Home Alone” more than 5 times in one month
Pro tip: encourage players to rest their elbows on a table during the game. Holding your hands up for a long time can get tiring!
Sing the Holiday “Doos”
Challenge your virtual team to a doo off! This musical game will test your team’s ability to not only sing on pitch, but guess hit holiday songs.
To organize this game, have players join a video call with two or three holiday songs in mind. Then, one by one, team members have to “doo” their way through a holiday song to the entire group, with the goal of having the tune named. But beware, singers must only use the word “doo” to belt their hit!
Rotate singers and guessers to give everyone a chance in the spotlight. The team member who receives the most correct guesses by the end of the game is the doo champion.
Laughs guaranteed, this activity will bring your team together with ample festive spirit!
Decipher Together in “Who Am I?”
From movies to music, there are countless endeared holiday characters. Favorites may include Frosty the Snowman or even The Grinch.
Enjoy the classic game of “Who Am I?” full of clever guesses and descriptions with a festive twist. To prep, brainstorm a list of holiday characters to be randomly assigned to team members. Furthermore, determine the level of difficulty you want by your selection of characters.
Then, join a video call together and assign one “guesser” at a time. In the chat, share with everyone but the guesser their assigned character. Next, the guesser is to ask “yes” or “no” questions about themselves to the entire group. (Ex: Am I in a movie?)
Once the team member correctly guesses who they are, spread a little holiday cheer for their hard work and select a new guesser. This is a great bonding and creative thinking activity for teams of all sizes!
Race for the Unwrapping Champion Title
The holidays are full of sweet treats. This challenge will test your team’s ability to dive into candies, but with a twist!
Each player will need just two things: a pair of fluffy, winter gloves and a bag of Hershey’s Kisses. If your team doesn’t live in a climate in need of winter gloves, consider providing a pair to each player ahead of time.
To play, instruct competitors to put on the gloves and set a timer. On “go,” each player races to unwrap as many Hershey’s Kisses as they can before the timer runs out. Be sure to have all participants’ hands visible to ensure no cheating!
Bonus activity: team up and create a relay version of the game to encourage team bonding.
Test How Well You Know Your Team
The Newlywed Game took game show television by storm in the 1960s. Famous for its partner style guessing, this game is the perfect addition to your virtual team’s activities this holiday season.
To prepare, collectively create a selection of holiday-related questions. For instance – what’s the most stressful part of the holidays? Then, pair your team off to join forces with a co-worker.
To play, the game host asks questions to all the partners like, “What’s partner A’s favorite holiday character?” Both partners individually write down their answer. Then, partners reveal their guess to see if their answers match. Matching answers win points and the team with the most points at the end of the game is crowned the winner!
Learn and connect with your team through this get-to-know-you festive game.
Decode the Emoji Message – Holiday Edition!
This colorful activity will test your team’s picture and word association skills with holiday emojis!
To get started, select who on your team will create the holiday-themed coded messages for the group to guess. The messages must be communicated entirely via emojis!
For example, if the category is ‘characters’ you could write this to the group: 🔴👃🦌 The answer? Rudolph! Players earn points by guessing the message correctly and quickly. This is sure to be a blast for your group!
Play Corporate Kringle Catchphrase
Catchphrase is a game full of making decisions under pressure. Tap into the online, seasonal spin of the game, Corporate Kringle Catchprase led by Let’s Roam.
This gaming experience challenges players to communicate quickly and effectively with teammates. Players must get coworkers to say festive words like “chestnuts” or “snowflakes” before the buzzer.
Led by a spirited host, your crew will only have to focus on the competition of the timed face-off. Furthermore, an interactive leaderboard will keep track of game points for you. Test your wits in this exhilarating experience for teams of all sizes!
Compete in a Cookie Eating Contest
The season can bring out one’s sweet tooth. Embrace this with a game all about holiday cookies!
To set up this game, team members will need a few items to get started – string, duct tape, and your favorite holiday cookies! Next, instruct all players to string their cookies along their twine and hang the string from their ceiling with duct tape.
Once the cookies are in place, each competitor must place their hands behind their back, as using hands is off limits. On “go,” start a 90 second timer and let the eating begin. Whoever can eat the most dangling cookies before the timer chimes, wins!
This quick, race-style game will get the competition flowing for your virtual team! Those who don’t want to participate can cheer others along on-screen and in the chat box.
Test Your Team with a Seasonal Spelling Bee
Not all games can be won with brawn. This one is for the word-masters in the group!
All that’s needed for a holiday-themed spelling bee is a list of holiday vocab, with a gradient of easy to hard to spell words. The rules are simple. Ask each player to spell a word on their turn, and if spelled incorrectly, the player is eliminated.
We suggest starting the game with easy words like eggnog and Blitzen. Then, escalate to challenging words like toboggan and Poinsettia!
This game will test your team’s wordsmith abilities and holiday vocabulary all in one!
Compete in a Gingerbread House Build-Off
A good old-fashioned gingerbread house competition is in order for any holiday party! This party game is great for virtual teams looking for a tangible activity during the winter season.
To prep your competition, supply staff with all materials needed to build a delicious display. Shipping pre-made kits like this Mini Village make providing materials to your team easy.
Then, encourage everyone to show up on a video call ready to compete live. Once houses are finished, have everyone hold up their creation for the entire group to view. Allow each person a few minutes to explain their decorating choices and design. Then, using the voting tools built into many video call systems, have a vote on whose house is the winner!
Pro tip: use tablecloths under your building station for easy cleanup!
Play “How Many Minutes To . . . . ?”
“How Many Minutes To . . . . ?” is a fun virtual take on the usual scavenger hunt. Here are the rules:
First, pick one person to start the game. That person will ask a question that starts with “how many minutes.” For example, one possibility might be “How many minutes will it take the entire team to grab a can of soda?”
Second, the entire team should give their guesses as to how many minutes it will take.
Third, the entire team should go and grab a soda, while the questioner times them. The questioner will then announce how long it took and the person who got the closest time guess will be the next questioner.
For the holidays, you can focus on holiday items, such as cinnamon, Santa figurines, or candles. This game gets everyone involved and laughing.
Play a Virtual Elf on the Shelf Game
Before you start groaning, stick with us here! Yes, the Elf on the Shelf is a super annoying task to get your kids interested in the “magic of Christmas.” But, what if the Elf on the Shelf was a competition between adults?
Assign one day of the holiday season to be each team member’s Elf on the Shelf day. On that one day, the team member should post either a picture of an Elf on the Shelf doing something, or any other doll or toy doing something holiday-like. While many adults may not have Elf on the Shelf, they’ll certainly have some toy.
For this event, we recommend setting some ground rules. A good rule of thumb is that their Elf on the Shelf pictures should be grandma-friendly.
Chef in the Kitchen Holiday Game
Rely on the skills and strengths of your own team for this fun holiday game. Ask your teammates to step up and share their hidden chef skills.
Perhaps one of your team members is a master pickler. Or, maybe you have a skilled baker on your team. Give multiple people on your team the opportunity to share their cooking skills.
You can host a series of cooking demos – and award prizes at the end! Categories can include Most Versatile Recipe, Best Teacher, Most Entertaining Presentation, and more!
Looking for more holiday fun? Browse our blog: 30+ Festive Virtual Holiday Party Ideas!
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