It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Everyone wants to be home, enjoying the company of their families and friends. Sometimes distance or circumstances keep us apart, though. While we want to host an amazing Christmas party, a virtual Christmas party might be the next best thing to have fun while being remote.
A Virtual Christmas party is a gathering held over video conferencing platforms including Facetime, Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, and/or WebEx. These allow you to have fun remotely, improving your relationships with one another, plus, it doesn’t take as much effort to show up from the comfort of your own home.
What does it take to achieve a successful virtual Christmas party.? Listed below are the tips and tricks:
Invitations
What’s a party without an invitation? Since you’re handling this party virtually, the invites could also be virtual. Sites like greenvelope.com allow you to send out online invitations and conduct RSVP tracking. This way, you can track how many people are joining so that you could set up the activities accordingly. If you’d rather send traditional invitations to your virtual party (and maybe include a special treat inside!), you can always inquire with Hitch Studio and we’ll design an invitation special for you.
Dress Code
Whether you’re going for an all-Christmas theme or 80’s rock theme, you should encourage everyone to wear something that matches the theme. I’m thinking Hawaiian could be fun! You could also have the team vote for the best-dressed attendee and give virtual awards and gifts! You could give them gift codes to an online store or have the gift shipped to their homes. This will encourage everyone to go for maximum effort in trying to look best with their costume.
Themed Music
A party is lifeless without great music! If there’s a way for you to share music with everyone’s earphones, that would be great. However, if that’s not possible, have the host to play background music so that it could still be festive while being remote at the same time. This will allow you to clear any dead air (if there is any!)
Meal
When there’s a party, there’s food! While sharing the same food cannot be done physically, you can get to enjoy sharing your food virtually. You can set up a virtual venue and allow everyone to collaborate. Everyone can share their real meals via call and have it themed as much as possible. You all could eat at the same time to still have that feeling of being together, even virtually. Remember those themes? Have fun incorporating the food too!
Secret Santa
Just because you’re holding a virtual Christmas party, doesn’t mean that you can’t exchange gifts! Gift exchange is the life of a Christmas party and a holiday celebration will not be complete without it. You can make this happen by using an app that has a secret Santa feature or you can simply pick random names one at a time before the party. Each guest can hold up what they got in the mail from their Secret Santa and try to guess who it was! Set a price range and have fun!
Share Stories
It’s pretty standard that when you’re at a party, you’re likely to mingle with your colleagues. With a virtual Christmas party, it’s kind of difficult to talk to a single person at a party without having to involve everyone.
What you can do as an alternative is to allow everyone to share their stories. Just a simple story of how they’re spending the holidays, their favorite holiday activities and meals, or anything that they want to share.
Virtual Cocoa Break
To honor the holiday season, it’s a great idea to turn your coffee breaks into cocoa breaks. You can easily send out packets to everyone as it fits perfectly in any standard mailing envelope. If you’re in for a bigger treat, you could add in fixings like marshmallows, cookies, and chocolate shavings. You can also have them pull out their whipped cream and create their delicious drink instead. I’d personally reach for the Bailey’s Irish Cream. 🙂
Games
What’s a party without a little game? Yes, even with virtual Christmas parties, you can still host fun games! There are a ton of virtual games that you could do. You can play short collaborative online games that allow everyone to participate. You can also play online bingo which has been
widely popular during these times. If you want true interaction, you can play a trivia game that allows all participants to play and answer trivia questions. Just don’t forget about their prizes! Everyone likes to play with a little gift. It may take extra coordination, but it can be done.
Goodie Bags
If you have enough budget, you could send out goodie bags for everyone. Since you’ve already saved a ton by reducing the cost of the party venue and food, maybe a goodie bag would do. You can fill it with a cocoa pack, mug, holiday treats, and anything that you could think of that fits your theme as well. This will allow everyone to have something to remember after the party’s over. Plus, they would highly appreciate the effort you’ve given to give them great gifts.
Hosting virtual Christmas parties can be tough and different than what we’re used to. But with the right tools and people, you can get to enjoy this party similar to the ones you’ve always had. Just make sure to keep work out of it and just let it be pure Christmas fun! It’s always nice to keep the Christmas spirit alive even when you’re all not together. You can
keep the holiday vibe by playing a Christmas playlist, wearing costumes, and even designing your space with Christmas decor. When you want a great set-up for your virtual party, make sure that you decorate your holiday party venue for a more festive mood!
Although we’d love to decorate for your holiday party, we understand if it’s gone virtual this year. Keep Hitch Studio in mind for your decorating next year!
