Christmas is one of the most anticipated holiday activities every year. But with the never ending lockdowns due to COVID19 across the globe, traditional office Christmas parties won’t be possible this 2020, only but the decoration of the Christmas tree at home. However, it should not be the reason why companies should skip a vital activity that encourages team building, communication, and branding inside and outside the company.
If you’re thinking of ways in celebrating the holiday despite the pandemic, a virtual Christmas party is the most highly recommended concept for employees working from home. Here’s how you can do it.
What is a Virtual Office Christmas Party?
A virtual office Christmas party is a holiday celebration idea that companies can conduct online using video conferencing software, particularly Zoom and Skype as well as in platforms like Google Meet and WebEx. Holiday celebrations are also possible with gamification platforms like Cluehub, which offer not only voice and video conferencing features but also a digital escape game experience.
What to Consider when Hosting a Virtual Christmas Party?
Before considering a virtual Christmas party for your company, there are things that you have to think through to make the party a success. These are:
- The number of attendees
- The speed of the internet connection
- Available activities applicable to the virtual Christmas party
- Person of interest who will handle the technicalities of the virtual Christmas party.
What are the Advantages of Virtual Christmas Parties?
With limited resources due to short-staffing and long days of little to no operations with the lockdown, a virtual Christmas party is still a great way to celebrate Christmas with your employees for the following reasons:
- No food, travel, and venue costs. This will help the company save for other expenses and extra treats for employees this holiday season.
- Minimal cost in cleaning and maintenance of the office. No need to pay extra for decorations and after-party cleanups.
- Employees won’t need to spend much on costumes.
- Safety from the virus is guaranteed because everyone will be at the comforts of their home.
- The party is more interactive than the traditional Christmas party because everyone will be involved and none will be in the corner hiding.
- Planning is less stressful because there are services that you can avail of to organize virtual Christmas parties. They’ll do all the setup needed, and all you need is to attend the party.
- It boosts the morale of remote employees and helps them get reconnected with their employee-buddies through virtual Christmas parties.
What are the Disadvantages of a Virtual Christmas Party?
Given that a virtual office Christmas Party has tremendous help in preventing the spread of COVID19, it still poses some setbacks that are worth considering. These are:
- Intermittent internet connection.
- Undetermined customer and investor brand association
- Limited networking and interaction
- The short attention span of attendees for online vents
- Preparing a DIY online Christmas party can be overwhelming.
How do you host a Virtual Christmas Party?
Hosting a virtual office Christmas party can be done in two ways: do-it-yourself if you know how to operate the needed software to host the event or hire a platform specialist that offers services not only video call but also customizations on the virtual space where the party will be held, and virtual activities such as escape rooms, puzzle activities, etc. are included.
cluehub is a great partner to host your virtual office Christmas party. Get your individual offer.
Once you prepare the technical setup for your virtual Christmas party, send your guest the invitation meeting link where they’ll be logging in. You can design festive Christmas invitation e-cards using programs like Canva to set a festive atmosphere for your attendees.
Virtual Christmas Party Activities to Try
If you’re looking for virtual Christmas party ideas for a memorable one, here are some of the highly recommended virtual holiday party games your company can try.
Online Team Building Games
An exciting virtual team building game to try for a digital Christmas party is “The Pegasus Project” by cluehub. This customizable, ready-to-play game allows participants to become secret agents with a mission to stop a classified research company from creating havoc around the world and stop its world domination plans.
Participants can play in competitive and collaborative remote teams. The gameplay involves finding clues, infiltrating the research facility, and dealing with different scenarios. The game is played by 2 to 5 players per team. It runs 60 to 120 minutes depending on the customizations made as per your request.
Online Bingo
Online Bingo is another Christmas party game that you can play online. All you need is to prepare a bingo template to be used in the game with randomized items included. The rule of the game is whoever gets to mark five squares in a row wins prizes like Amazon gift cards or electronic cash gifts.
Virtual Christmas Trivia Quiz
Test how knowledgeable your attendees about holiday trivia with your trivia quiz. This can also be played by teams in a format of winning teams takes all. Participants of the game can answer through chat, polls, or audibly through the video conference. Other options are raising hand reactions in place of the makeshift buzzer.
Virtual Christmas Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts increase your online Christmas attendees’ engagement and excitement. This game can run for about 15 minutes or so, depending on the number of participants. You can add a twist to this game by encouraging attendees to show and tell about the items hunted. Scavenger hunt items could be the first item they bought with their first salary in the company, favorite shirt to wear in the office and the list goes on.
Virtual Charades
Participants can act out Christmas song titles, movie flicks, or books for their teammates to guess. It can be team gameplay where the team with the most guesses wins, while the team with the least guesses will have to perform in the virtual Christmas party as an ice breaker.
These are some of the virtual holiday party ideas that you can also try with your friends and family.
Conclusion
Companies around the world have expressed their intention of skipping the Christmas parties this year due to COVID19. Understandably, it’s for the safety of everyone.
However, there are other ways that a company can do to not cancel the Christmas party plans because they can opt for a virtual office Christmas party. Not only that it’s the cheapest way to get your employees, business partners, and potential investors to get together and reconnected, it also helps businesses strengthen their brand awareness while keeping in touch with their valuable stakeholders.
Let us support you organizing your digital office Christmas party!