Ultimate Guide to Virtual Christmas Team Building

When a Virtual Christmas Event Makes Sense

Christmas gets a little harder to organise when your team isn't all in the same place.

You might have people working from home, employees across several offices or an international team spread across different countries. Getting everyone together in person isn't always practical, but you still want to do something that includes the whole team.

That's where a virtual Christmas event can make sense.

We run them for fully remote teams, but also for companies with a mixture of office-based and remote employees. If people are joining from different countries, time zones are worth thinking about early. Sometimes one time works for everyone. If it doesn't, we can run separate sessions for different groups.

How Virtual Christmas Events Work

Most of the organising on the day sits with us.

We can set up the Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet or Webex meeting and send you the joining details to share with your employees. If your company needs to use its own meeting link, that's fine too.

Our host welcomes everyone, explains the activity and gets the group started. If the activity is team-based, you can give us the teams beforehand or we can create them on the day.

Once the event is underway, we manage the breakout rooms, scoring and technical side.

It means the person who organised the Christmas event can join in as well, rather than spending the whole thing managing breakout rooms or sorting out problems.

What Does Your Team Need?

For Christmas Crackers, Arctic Survival, Murder on the Slopes, Escape Festive Edition and Festive Around the World, participants use our award winning app alongside the video call.

They'll need a laptop or computer, a smartphone and an internet connection. We send the app instructions beforehand so you can pass them on to everyone taking part.

The game itself is played in teams. People talk through the questions and challenges together in their breakout room, with one Team Captain submitting the answers.

There's no equipment or event pack to ship for any of the activities in this guide, which is handy when you've got employees joining from different locations or countries.

Virtual Christmas Party Ideas for Work

Choosing an activity tends to be easier when you think about the people taking part rather than trying to find the "best" virtual Christmas event.

Some teams love puzzles. Some want music and a few laughs. Some will happily investigate a murder for two hours. And there are always a few people who become much more competitive once they realise there's a leaderboard.

Here are some of the virtual Christmas activities we run.

Disco Bingo Online

Disco Bingo is bingo with songs instead of numbers.

Everyone gets a digital bingo card with artists and song titles. Our DJ plays short clips and players mark off the songs they recognise. Complete the required line first, call Bingo and you've won.

There are quick games between rounds too, with the odd dance-off making an appearance.

Everyone plays individually, so there are no teams or breakout rooms. It's a good one to look at if you'd prefer to keep the whole group together for the event.

And there is nearly always someone who takes the Bingo far more seriously than expected.

Christmas Crackers

Christmas Crackers is a festive team competition with questions, photo challenges, videos and other tasks to work through.

Teams head into breakout rooms and start collecting points. Some challenges are scored automatically, while we score the photo and video entries ourselves.

This is where you tend to see people's personalities come out. Give a group of colleagues a camera, a strange Christmas challenge and points to play for and you'll usually get something worth showing everyone afterwards.

We bring the teams back together at the end, announce the winners and show some of our favourite submissions from the game.

Arctic Survival

Your team has been stranded in the Arctic and needs to figure out how to escape.

Teams work through puzzles and decisions together, collecting points as they make their way through the survival challenge.

There are no photo or video tasks in Arctic Survival. It's more about working out what's going on, discussing the options and agreeing on what to do next.

That makes it worth considering for a team that enjoys problem solving and would rather get stuck into a challenge than perform for the camera.

Fun Casino Night

Fun Casino Night goes in a completely different direction.

Live croupiers host games including Poker, Blackjack and Race Nights. They'll explain how everything works before you play, so it doesn't matter if some of your employees have never played before.

Everyone competes individually and tries to finish with as many chips as possible.

It feels more like a virtual Christmas night out than a team challenge.

It also doesn't take long for someone to start believing they've got Blackjack completely figured out.

Murder on the Slopes

Your team is snowed in at a luxury ski lodge and somebody has been murdered.

Teams head into their breakout rooms to examine the clues, question the suspects and work out who they think is responsible.

It's a two-hour activity, so there's enough time for people to get properly into the investigation. And they do. You'll usually get competing theories, suspicious colleagues and at least one person who decided who the murderer was very early and isn't changing their mind.

Teams earn points as they work through the case, with identifying the murderer contributing to the final result.

Escape Festive Edition

Santa has misplaced his naughty and nice list, and your team needs to get it back.

Teams work through five interactive rooms, solving codes and festive brainteasers before time runs out.

This one is more focused on puzzles and problem solving, without photo or video challenges. Teams compete against each other and the final scores decide the winner.

Escape Festive Edition can also be run in person or as a hybrid event.

Festive Around the World

Festive Around the World is particularly worth looking at if your employees are based in different countries.

Teams make their way through different countries and celebrations, answering questions and taking on creative challenges along the way. In Thailand, for example, there's a video challenge connected to the Full Moon Party.

There are photo and video tasks in the game too, and we show some of the best submissions when everyone comes back together.

If there are countries or cultures that are particularly relevant to your employees, we can also customise the activity to include them for an additional charge.

Explore our full range of Virtual Christmas Team Building activities.

What Do We Manage?

Once the event starts, you shouldn't need to run it alongside us.

Our host manages the group, breakout rooms, scores and technical issues. For activities with photo and video challenges, we're also reviewing the entries while the teams are playing.

If someone has trouble getting into the game or something isn't working as expected, we're there to help.

Then we bring everyone back together for the results and finish the event as one group.

It's a fairly important distinction if you're the person organising it. You can be one of the participants rather than the unofficial IT department for the Christmas party.

What About Hybrid Teams?

Not every company fits neatly into "remote" or "office-based".

You might have 30 people together in Dublin, another group in Cork and employees joining individually from home. Or most of the team might be in an office with a handful of people joining remotely.

Many of our virtual activities can be adapted for that kind of setup.

We'll normally keep onsite and remote participants in separate teams rather than trying to have half a team talking across a meeting-room laptop. It tends to work better for everyone involved.

If that's closer to how your company works, you can also look at our Remote and Hybrid Team Building options.

Choosing the Right Virtual Christmas Activity

You don't need to go through every activity on the website before getting in touch.

Start with a few practical things: how many people you have, where they're based and how much time you've got.

Then think about your team.

If music and entertainment are more their thing, Disco Bingo is worth a look. If they're happy to get involved in photo and video challenges, Christmas Crackers gives them plenty to do. Arctic Survival and Escape Festive Edition are more puzzle-focused, while Murder on the Slopes gives people a longer investigation to get into.

Fun Casino Night is different again, with everyone playing individually with live croupiers.

For an international group, Festive Around the World gives you the option to bring different countries and celebrations into the event.

You know your colleagues better than we do. Tell us what they're like and what you're trying to organise, and we can help narrow it down from there.

Virtual Christmas Party FAQs

How long does a virtual Christmas party last?

Most of our virtual Christmas activities run for around 60 to 90 minutes, although it depends on the activity. Murder on the Slopes, for example, runs for around two hours.

If you've only got a particular window in everyone's calendars, tell us and we can recommend activities that fit.

Can employees join from different countries?

Yes. We run virtual events for teams joining from different countries and time zones.

If there isn't one sensible time for everyone, we can run separate sessions for different groups.

What do employees need for a virtual Christmas event?

For activities using our app, each person needs a laptop or computer for the video meeting, a smartphone with the app installed and an internet connection.

Disco Bingo Online and Fun Casino Night don't use the app.

We'll send you the relevant instructions before the event.

Can we use Microsoft Teams or Zoom?

Yes. We can run virtual events through Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet or Webex.

We normally create the meeting and provide the link, although we can use your company's meeting setup if required.

Do we have to manage the breakout rooms?

No. We manage the breakout rooms as part of the event.

Our host also handles the activity, scoring and technical support, so the organiser can take part with everyone else.

Can you run a virtual Christmas event for a hybrid team?

Yes. Many of these activities can be adapted for companies with a mixture of onsite and remote employees.

Tell us where people will be joining from and we'll work out the most practical setup.

Planning a Virtual Christmas Event?

If you're trying to organise Christmas for a remote, hybrid or international team, send us your approximate numbers, preferred date and where everyone is based.

If you know which activity you want, great. If you're still deciding, tell us a bit about the team and we'll help you narrow down the options.