Christmas is our favourite time of the year in the Dee is for Digital office.  Any excuse to put up the fairy lights, dust off the Christmas crackers and have Michael Bublé playing on repeat – we are Santa’s biggest fans.  Now whilst there has been some internal debate as to who should be on the naughty or nice list (yet to be decided) – we all agree that this year we must make an effort to celebrate in style.

We appreciate it’s difficult after 10 months of remote working to think of ways to make the Zoom Christmas knees-up a success (ironically when teams need the cheer more than ever).

So we’ve come to the rescue with 8 wonderful ways to make your virtual Christmas party a success. And look on the bright side. At least this year you can’t kiss someone inappropriate under the mistletoe, get ridiculously drunk and insult your boss (thank you mute button!) and you won’t even need to spend a fortune on a new outfit. You can just invest in a nice top and wear your PJs on the bottom!

RESULT!

So with all the festive cheer we could muster (and fuelled by some yummy egg-nog) here is our little list of Christmas happiness which will help ensure an otherwise year-from-hell goes out with a bang!

1.Festive Scavenger Hunt – This one requires no props and can be a real laugh. All you need to do is come up with a list of items you’re going to ask staff to hunt for in their homes. From the worst/best Christmas present they ever received, to their favourite socks, most prized possession, most embarrassing CD, childhood teddy bear?? The list goes on, and so will the laughs, so send a fun e-invite made on Canva, get the Zoom/Microsoft Teams/Google Meet link sent and you’re off!

2. Christmas Carol Karaoke – Cheesy we know, but come on! How can we let a Christmas slide without a virtual Karaoke session? Get people to sing their favourites, drum-up the fun by making others hum and everyone else has to guess the tune. We’re not reinventing the wheel on this one but it’s a brilliant opportunity for staff to let their hair down, relax, and have a really good time. You could even make it a family event by scheduling it early in the evening and encouraging teams to bring along their kids, other halves, even their pets.

3. Virtual Wine/Gin/Beer Tasting – Something a little different and, if the budget is there, why not really spoil your staff by sending out a goodie box which everyone then goes through virtually together with a connoisseur host. This is also a GREAT way to support struggling local businesses and a simple Google search will tell you who’s doing it in your area.

4. Cocktail Making – Another alcohol-fuelled suggestion, but we think your teams deserve it after the year they’ve all had! And again, it’s a lovely way to support local bars and restaurants who are offering cocktail-making kits and ingredients on delivery. And make sure to include Mocktails for those who don’t want alcohol. After the hard work is done, you can all sit back and try out the Christmas Karaoke or even a virtual quiz!

5. Christmas Decoration Making – This is a great idea for a more casual Christmas activity. You could send out a little starter kits to staff with instructions on what to do or make it really interesting by giving them a list of old bits and bobs to collect from outside/in the house, and give free rein to create whatever their imagination dreams up! Everyone can chit chat and compare notes as they craft, then show off the finished product and enjoy a coffee or a mulled wine and a few funny stories from the year gone by.

6. Christmas Movie Charades – We’re going to be biased here but mix this one with the cocktail-making and you’ve got our dream virtual Christmas party right there! Charades is one of the best ice-breaker, team-building games, and it’ll be even funnier on screen with people scattered around the country/world shouting at their laptops in their living rooms. There are only two rules: every movie has to be a Christmas one and everyone has to dress up in a silly Christmas outfit.

7. A Christmas Team Dinner – Just because we can’t physically sit together as a team, doesn’t mean we can’t sit down and eat together. It’s just about being creative. A great idea for a virtual staff Christmas party would be sending a dine-out delivery meal to all the team to enjoy together, virtually of course. Granted, this one will take a lot of co-ordination and would be better suited to smaller teams. But if this year has taught us anything, it’s that ANYTHING is possible. And it’s nice to incorporate struggling local businesses into your plans.

8. Postal Secret Santa – The office secret Santa is something a lot of people look forward to, so why leave it out this year? All you need is someone in HR coordinating the names of who gets who, emailing them out, and supplying home addresses for posting (with permission) or another pre-agreed pick-up point. Keep the budget small, insist that the gift is handmade or locally bought, then have everyone open them and guess who they’re from live on the video call.

However you decide to celebrate with your team we want to take this opportunity to wish you and your team a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.   Enjoy your Christmas celebrations, take some screenshots of your festivities to share with us and don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!

Written by Alana Fearon

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