The holiday season brings a unique opportunity to strengthen team bonds, celebrate achievements, and spread joy—even when your team is scattered across different time zones. With remote work becoming the new normal, virtual holiday team building has evolved from a necessity to an art form that can create memories just as meaningful as traditional office parties.
This comprehensive guide offers 25 engaging activities for your remote team that are inclusive and tremendously fun.
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Why Virtual Holiday Team Building Matters More Than Ever
The holidays are a time to give back, connect with colleagues, and celebrate the year’s achievements together. For remote teams, these celebrations serve a crucial purpose beyond just fun—they help combat isolation, reinforce company culture, and create shared experiences that bind distributed workers together.
Virtual holiday get-togethers provide opportunities to make new kinds of memories in new kinds of ways, offering unique advantages that in-person events simply can’t match: global participation regardless of location, cost-effective celebrations, and the comfort of celebrating from home.
Planning Your Virtual Holiday Celebration: 6 Essential Steps
Before diving into activities, successful virtual holiday parties require thoughtful planning:
1. Define Your Goals
Think about what you want to get out of your event. Do you want it to be completely social and all about having fun? Or do you want there to be some aspects of virtual team building or training and development to it?
2. Choose the Right Time
Since many remote teams operate in different time zones, make sure to pick a time that works conveniently for everyone, regardless of their geographical location.
3. Select Your Platform
You’ll need to decide what virtual platform you’d like to use to host your event. This can include things like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Hangouts, but can also include some more specialized platforms as well.
4. Create a Clear Agenda
Create an agenda for your event that maps out everything that’s going to happen during the event. This way, everyone will know when to join, how things will kick off, and what to expect.
5. Communicate Details Early
Send calendar invites with all key information: date, time, login links, and the event agenda.
6. Survey Your Team
It might be a good idea to shortlist some ideas, circulate them to your team using a simple survey tool, and find out what people are most interested in.
25 Virtual Holiday Team Building Activities That Actually Work
🎮 Interactive Games & Competitions
1. Virtual Holiday Trivia
Host holiday and winter-themed trivia questions, earning points for each one answered correctly. Include a round of holiday icebreaker questions to help colleagues become better acquainted.
How to execute: Use platforms like Kahoot! or AhaSlides to create engaging trivia with questions about holiday traditions, movies, and music from around the world.
2. Holiday Buzzwords Bingo
Create a list of holiday-themed words and circulate it to your team. Each team member picks one word and, every time they hear it, they need to do a specific thing—such as take a sip of their drink or wave their hands in the air.
Holiday buzzwords to include:
- Carol, Snowman, Elf, Snow, Miracle
- Chimney, Dreidel, Eggnog, Gingerbread, Grinch
3. Virtual Scavenger Hunt
Give the team a list of common household items to find within their workspace. First person to return with all items wins. Items might include “something red,” “a coffee mug,” or “a book with more than 300 pages.”
4. Holiday Movie Pictionary
Divide the group into teams with designated artists who draw scenes from holiday movies while team members guess the film. Give each team 30 seconds to one minute per round.
5. Virtual Escape Room: Holiday Edition
Teams collaborate to solve holiday-themed puzzles, such as finding hidden presents or cracking Christmas codes, all while racing against the clock.
🎨 Creative & Crafty Activities
6. Virtual Gingerbread House Contest
Send each participant a gingerbread house kit with plain sugar cookies, icing, and festive decorations. During the party, everyone decorates their houses in real-time while interacting on camera.
Contest categories: Most Creative, Best Use of Candy, Most Likely to Collapse
7. DIY Holiday Ornament Workshop
Send participants a DIY ornament-making kit filled with plain ornaments, paint, glitter, and other decorating tools. Host a guided crafting session where everyone decorates their own ornaments.
8. Virtual Snow Globe Making Class
Each participant receives a DIY snow globe kit with clear jars, mini holiday figurines, glitter, and snow globe solution. An instructor guides everyone through the snow globe-making process.
9. Holiday Cookie Decorating Contest
Participants receive cookie decorating kits in advance, including sugar cookies, frosting in holiday colors, and festive toppings like sprinkles and edible glitter.
Voting categories: Most Creative, Funniest Cookie, Most Festive
🍽️ Food & Beverage Experiences
10. Virtual Hot Chocolate Tasting Party
Select different hot chocolate flavors, such as peppermint, white chocolate, hazelnut, caramel, French vanilla, raspberry, or spicy hot. Send out recipes or make packaged hot chocolate suggestions.
11. Holiday Cocktail Making Class
Host a holiday-themed virtual happy hour and encourage everyone to make their best festive cocktail with classics like Boozy Green Punch, White Christmas Margaritas, or Christmosas.
12. Virtual Wine Tasting
Select three to four wines for your virtual tasting party or have an expert Sommelier do it for you. Guests can make purchases of wines based on the list you send them prior to the party.
13. Holiday Cooking Challenge
Pick a few recipes like cookies, tarts, or roasted nuts, and circulate them to your team. Send everyone the ingredients list and cook together while socializing.
🎭 Entertainment & Performance
14. Virtual Ugly Sweater Fashion Show
Participants are encouraged to wear their gaudiest or funniest holiday sweaters. Each person has a moment to “walk the runway” on camera, showing off their sweater to the group.
Prize categories: Ugliest Sweater, Most Festive Sweater, Best DIY Sweater
15. Holiday Talent Show
Each person on your team picks a secret talent that pertains to the season and shows it off to the group. This could be anything from wrapping a gift really fast to memorizing every word to a certain holiday song.
16. Virtual Holiday Karaoke
Host a virtual holiday karaoke session where people can sing their favorite holiday songs together. Use breakout rooms for small groups to sing different songs.
17. Holiday Carol Remix Challenge
Instruct team members to write their own versions of classic carols. Assign specific songs to individuals or small groups to avoid repetition.
Some holiday remix examples that my team had made in the past👇
Check your emails every morning
Deck the halls
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Slack notifications keep on coming
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Don we now our business casual
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
Mute yourself when kids are loud
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
WiFi night, stable night
Silent night
All is calm, connection’s bright
‘Round the screen we gather here
No more lag, the signal’s clear
Sleep in heavenly peace
Work from home with ease
🎁 Gift Exchange & Giving Back
18. Virtual Secret Santa
Set a budget per person, get everyone’s wish list, and use a tool like Elfster to pick Secret Santa partners. Participants can send physical packages or virtual presents like online gift cards.
19. Virtual Do-Good Games
Transform friendly competition into charitable donations. Teams compete in challenges while raising money for causes, combining team building with giving back to those in need.
20. Holiday Card Exchange
Team members create fun cards for each other using Photoshop or free sites like Canva, then give awards to cards in categories like most creative or funniest.
🌍 Cultural & Personal Sharing
21. Celebrate Holidays from Around the World
Have each virtual holiday party guest share something about the holidays they celebrate. Ask people to talk about what that holiday means to them, how they celebrate, and favorite holiday traditions or memories.
22. Holiday Family Tradition Sharing
Each team member shares one family tradition they do during the holiday season. It could be images, videos, or even objects over a video call.
23. Virtual Holiday Storytelling Night
Host a Holiday Storytelling and Traditions Night where participants share personal holiday stories, family traditions, or unique seasonal recipes. Include prompts like “Favorite Holiday Surprise” or “Funniest Holiday Mishap.”
24. Show Off Your Holiday Decorations
Whether it’s decorations around the house or the fully decked-out Christmas tree, have each person show off their holiday setup and share what’s special about different ornaments.
25. Virtual Holiday Pet Parade
Invite team members to dress up their pets in festive costumes and show them off during the virtual call. Create categories like “Cutest Pet,” “Best Dressed,” and “Best Trick.”
Making Your Virtual Holiday Party Inclusive
Embrace All Celebrations
It’s important to remember that there are many different holidays celebrated by people all around the world. Try not to focus just on one single holiday. Instead, celebrate them all.
Consider Global Participants
When everyone is virtual and distributed across many parts of the world, people observe different holidays. You can celebrate this by including every culture that everyone’s living in at that time.
Offer Multiple Participation Options
Not everyone may be comfortable with certain activities. Always make participation optional and provide alternative ways for team members to engage.
Pro Tips for Virtual Holiday Success
Logistics That Matter
- Send materials in advance: For craft activities, mail supplies 1-2 weeks early
- Test technology beforehand: Ensure all participants can access the platform
- Have a backup plan: Technical difficulties happen—be prepared
- Keep it interactive: Avoid long presentations; engagement is key
Creating Festive Atmosphere
- Encourage themed backgrounds: Holiday Zoom backgrounds add instant cheer
- Play holiday music: Create a collaborative playlist beforehand
- Use breakout rooms: Small group interactions feel more personal
- Take screenshots: Capture moments for team memories
Timing Considerations
- Respect work-life balance: Don’t extend beyond reasonable hours
- Account for time zones: Find times that work for global teams
- Keep it concise: 60-90 minutes is usually optimal
- Plan for drop-ins: Some people may need to leave early
What Makes a Great Virtual Holiday Party
A successful virtual holiday celebration should leave your team feeling:
- More connected to their colleagues
- Appreciated for their contributions
- Energized about the upcoming year
- Proud to be part of the team culture
Virtual holiday parties allow companies to include remote employees in the festivities and overall company culture, creating lasting memories that strengthen team bonds throughout the year.
Getting Started: Your Next Steps
- Survey your team about their preferred activities and availability
- Choose 2-3 activities that match your team’s personality and size
- Set a date and send invitations at least 2 weeks in advance
- Prepare materials and logistics with plenty of lead time
- Follow up afterward with photos and feedback surveys
The Bottom Line
Virtual holiday team building isn’t about replacing traditional office parties—it’s about creating new traditions that work for distributed teams. The activities in this guide have been proven to engage remote workers, build stronger relationships, and create the shared experiences that make teams truly cohesive.
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