34 virtual holiday party ideas that actually work — games with real instructions, free activities for work, themes, and large-group formats — plus planning data from 6,000+ hosted online holiday parties.
A virtual holiday party is the one event on the remote-work calendar that decides how your team remembers the whole year. We know the stakes: teambuilding.com has hosted 6,000+ virtual holiday parties for clients like Apple, Amazon, and Google as of August 2026, and December is by far our busiest month — one in three virtual events we run all year happens in those few weeks.
This guide collects 34 virtual holiday party ideas that actually work — games with real instructions, free activities, large-group formats, themes, and hosted events ranked by real survey data — plus the planning lessons we've learned from thousands of online holiday parties.
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Here is what we'll cover:
A virtual holiday party is an online celebration held over video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. These events combine holiday-themed games, icebreakers, and activities so remote and hybrid teams can celebrate the end of the year together. These celebrations are also called "virtual Christmas parties," "Zoom holiday parties," and "remote holiday parties," and they are the online equivalent of office Christmas parties.
A good virtual holiday party is also a recognition ritual, not just a fun hour. Gallup and Workhuman research finds employees who receive great recognition are 20 times as likely to be engaged as those who receive poor recognition — and the end-of-year party is the most visible moment on the calendar to deliver that recognition to the whole team at once.
These ideas pair well with virtual Christmas games and holiday team building ideas for remote teams.
Games are the difference between a party people attend and a party people talk about in January. Every game below has been tested on real video calls — here are the twelve we would actually run:
| # | Game | Group size | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virtual Holiday Bingo | Any | 15–30 min |
| 2 | Virtual Holiday Trivia | Any, in teams | 20–45 min |
| 3 | Gingerbread Showdown | 5–50 | 20–30 min |
| 4 | Name That Tune: Holiday Edition | Any | 15–25 min |
| 5 | Tradition or Not? | Any | 10–20 min |
| 6 | The Naughty List | 5–30 | 10–15 min |
| 7 | Holiday Rush Scavenger Hunt | Any | 10–20 min |
| 8 | Emoji Carol Decoder | Any | 10–15 min |
| 9 | Undercover Santa | 8–15 per room | 30–45 min |
| 10 | Blizzard: Truth or Dare | 5–25 | 15–25 min |
| 11 | Mystery Santa Sketch | 5–30 | 15–20 min |
| 12 | Holiday Conspiracy Theories | Teams of 3–6 | 15–25 min |
Virtual Holiday Bingo is the easiest game on this list to run, and one of the most reliable — the format is familiar, so no one needs a rules explanation, and it gets people talking to each other instead of at the screen.
Here is a card generator you can use for your game:
To play, share the card link with your guests, then let players mingle in the main room or breakout rooms to mark off squares — for example, by finding a coworker who fits a description or spotting festive items on camera. The first player to complete a row calls out "Bingo!" and wins a prize. For groups of 15 or more, divide participants into breakout rooms so everyone can actually talk.
Here is a standalone remote Holiday Bingo card you can bookmark for the event.
Best for: Any group — great as a party opener
Time: 15–30 minutes
Materials: Bingo cards (free, generator above)
Trivia is a staple of virtual holiday parties because it is competitive, easy to join, and works at any group size. We recommend team trivia, where small teams debate answers in breakout rooms and then submit one answer per round.
Strong categories include holiday music, movies, food, world traditions, winter weather, and "non-Christmas Christmas news." A few starter questions:
To make rounds livelier, mix in audio and picture rounds: play a five-second music clip, or show an ultra-zoomed-in photo of a holiday object and have teams guess it. Track scores in a shared doc or run the quiz through an app like Kahoot.
Here is a big list of Christmas trivia questions and a full guide to virtual trivia.
Best for: Any group, teams of 4–8
Time: 20–45 minutes
Materials: Question list, score sheet
Gingerbread Showdown is a fast decorating competition inspired by Gingerbread Games, one of our most popular hosted holiday events. Players need gingerbread people decorating kits, which you can ship in advance or reimburse participants to buy locally.
To play:
Gingerbread Showdown is technically competitive, but nobody really keeps score — the fun is in the reveal, and you get to eat the game pieces afterward.
Best for: Creative groups, 5–50 people
Time: 20–30 minutes
Materials: Gingerbread decorating kits (~$15 per person)
Name That Tune is a classic guessing game that themes perfectly for the holidays.
To play:
For a movie-buff variation, swap songs for ten-second audio clips from holiday films and have players name the movie, with bonus points for naming the actors. The team or player with the most points at the end wins bragging rights or a small prize.
Best for: Music and movie lovers, any group size
Time: 15–25 minutes
Materials: Song or movie clip playlist
Tradition or Not is a trivia-style bluffing game where players guess whether a description is a real holiday tradition from somewhere in the world or a made-up one. Share each prompt and have participants vote by hand signal or in the chat.
Starter prompts:
Ask players who celebrate different traditions to contribute prompts in advance — the best rounds usually come from your own team.
Best for: Any group — a natural conversation starter
Time: 10–20 minutes
Materials: Prompt list
The Naughty List is a holiday version of Never Have I Ever. Participants hold up five or ten fingers, the host reads prompts, and players put a finger down for each one that is true for them. When the prompts run out, players with all fingers down land on the Naughty List, and everyone else makes the Nice List.
Here are the prompts:
Write a few prompts of your own to work in inside jokes. Here are more Never Have I Ever questions for work.
Best for: Relaxed groups, 5–30 people
Time: 10–15 minutes
Materials: None
Holiday Rush is a fast-paced dash that gets everyone away from their desks. Give participants 90 seconds to grab nearby items that match the prompt, "things you need to survive the holidays."
When players return, read out a list like this — anyone holding a matching item scores a point:
Finish by inviting players to show one item that was not on the list, with bonus points for the best story behind it. Here are more holiday scavenger hunt templates.
Best for: High-energy groups, any size
Time: 10–20 minutes
Materials: Prompt list
Emoji Carol Decoder is a chat-based puzzle game that needs zero setup beyond a prompt list, which makes it a great filler between bigger activities.
To play, the host pastes a string of emoji into the chat that represents a holiday song or movie — for example, a bell plus a rock hand for "Jingle Bell Rock," or a house plus a lone face for "Home Alone." The first player to type the correct answer wins the round. After a few rounds, invite players to submit their own emoji puzzles by private message and read out the best ones.
This game plays especially well on calls with quieter groups, because typing an answer is lower pressure than unmuting.
Best for: Any group, including quieter teams
Time: 10–15 minutes
Materials: Prepared emoji puzzles
Undercover Santa follows Werewolf rules — a game of deception, deduction, and holiday joy.
To play:
For groups over 15, split into multiple breakout rooms with a moderator each.
Best for: Groups that love social deduction, 8–15 per room
Time: 30–45 minutes
Materials: None
Blizzard is a multiplayer, holiday-themed take on Truth or Dare with a built-in opt-out — cameras.
To play:
The camera mechanic is the point: participation stays visibly optional, so nobody gets put on the spot. Five or six rounds is the sweet spot.
Best for: Groups with big personalities, 5–25 people
Time: 15–25 minutes
Materials: Prompt list
Mystery Santa Sketch is a live drawing game with a twist: artists must draw holiday prompts with their eyes closed while teammates shout directions.
Using a digital whiteboard or a marker and paper, give each artist a prompt like "Santa stuck in a chimney" or "a reindeer on a video call." The artist closes their eyes and draws for 60 seconds while the team guides them — "bigger circle! antlers higher!" — then holds up the result. Award points for accuracy, or just for the biggest laugh, which is usually the same drawing.
Best for: Casual groups, 5–30 people
Time: 15–20 minutes
Materials: Whiteboard app or paper and markers
Holiday Conspiracy Theories is a debate game that reliably produces the hardest laughs of the party. Assign each breakout room a wacky theory to defend:
Teams get three minutes to build the most persuasive case for their theory, then return to the main room and present. The group votes for the most convincing argument — self-votes not allowed.
Best for: Quick-witted teams, groups of 3–6 per room
Time: 15–25 minutes
Materials: Theory list, breakout rooms
You do not need a budget to make a virtual holiday party feel like a party. Every idea in this section costs nothing beyond the video call you already pay for:
Open your party with a question that everyone can answer, like:
For small groups, go around the room one by one. For larger groups, send guests into breakout rooms of five to eight people to share answers. Here is an icebreaker generator for more questions:
We also have a list of hundreds of holiday icebreaker questions and a master list of icebreaker questions for work.
Best for: The first ten minutes of any party
Time: 5–15 minutes
Materials: None
The ugly sweater contest translates perfectly to video calls — every participant is already framed from the chest up. Invite guests to wear the ugliest holiday sweater they own, then award prizes across a few categories so more people win:
Run the vote with your platform's polling tool, or have guests type their pick in the chat. Keep it opt-in — teammates without a sweater can judge instead.
Best for: Any group
Time: 10–15 minutes
Materials: Sweaters people already own
This game asks participants to decide which item survives and which is destroyed forever: candy canes or candy corn? Once the group rules — by vote, chat storm, or shouted consensus — the winner faces a new challenger: gingerbread houses, eggnog, Mariah Carey, Grandma's mashed potatoes.
The game has no official end, but it gets delightfully existential once beloved foods start going up against the fate of humanity. It also works as a rapid poll between bigger activities. Here is a master list of This or That questions for more matchups.
Best for: Any group — perfect as a transition game
Time: 5–15 minutes
Materials: None
Most Likely To is a game of seasonal superlatives: the group votes on which teammate is most likely to do specific things during the holidays.
For example, who is most likely to:
Collect votes in the chat or with polls, and let the winners defend themselves. Keep prompts kind — the game should flatter, not roast. Here are more Most Likely To questions.
Best for: Teams that know each other, 5–30 people
Time: 10–20 minutes
Materials: Prompt list
No holiday party is complete without a photo op. Set a festive virtual background, turn on your platform's camera filters, and take a series of themed group screenshots — everyone in Santa hats, everyone mid-"cheers" with their mug, everyone doing their best surprised-by-snow face.
Share the results in your team channel afterward, and save one for the company's year-in-review. The screenshots become the party's souvenir — and next year's invitation art.
Best for: Any group
Time: 5–10 minutes
Materials: Free backgrounds and filters
Remote work means your teammates' holiday decorating skills go unseen — this activity fixes that. Invite volunteers to give a 60-second camera tour of their favorite holiday decoration: the tree, the menorah, the inflatable lawn dinosaur in a Santa hat.
The stories are the point. A hand-me-down ornament or a decades-old family tradition tells the team more about a person than a year of status meetings. Keep tours short, keep them voluntary, and cap the segment at six or seven tours so it stays a highlight.
Best for: Teams that want real connection, 5–25 people
Time: 10–15 minutes
Materials: Decorations people already have
Festive Pets brings your coworkers' animals into the holiday fun — reliably the most screenshotted segment of any party. Before the event, ask teammates to submit holiday-themed photos of their pets. Then, at the party, run the photos as a slideshow and play a guessing game: which pet belongs to which coworker?
You can also use a poll to crown "best dressed holiday pet" and send the winner a small pet-store gift card. Pets appearing live on camera counts as a bonus round.
Best for: Pet-loving teams, any size
Time: 10–15 minutes
Materials: Submitted photos, slideshow
This guessing game gives everyone a glimpse into their coworkers' lives outside of work. Each participant privately messages the host one obscure holiday memory or family tradition — the weirder, the better. The host reads each one aloud, and the group guesses which coworker it belongs to.
Expect at least one revelation that changes how the team sees someone forever, in the best way. Works equally well as an async warm-up: collect the memories a day early and open the party with them.
Best for: Teams of 5–20 who want to know each other better
Time: 10–20 minutes
Materials: None
Past about 15 people, a virtual party needs structure: breakout rooms, team formats, and games where everyone plays at once instead of taking turns. These formats are built for big calls:
Turn breakout rooms into a "virtual sleigh ride." Each room is a stop on the tour with a different mini-activity — holiday trivia in one, an icebreaker round in another, a speed round of Emoji Carol Decoder in a third. Every ten to fifteen minutes, bring everyone back to the main room, then re-randomize the breakouts so guests hit new stops with new people.
This format solves the biggest large-party problem — 80 people can't have one conversation — by never asking them to. Assign a volunteer conductor to each room to keep the activity moving.
Best for: Parties of 30–150 people
Time: 45–60 minutes
Materials: Breakout rooms, one activity per room
Holiday Feud is a survey-says game show for big groups. Before the party, survey your company with questions like "name something people burn during the holidays" or "name a food that divides families every December." Tally the top five answers per question.
At the party, split into two teams and have captains face off to guess the most popular answers, family-feud style. Because the answers came from your own coworkers, every reveal doubles as a company inside joke. We also run a fully hosted version — Holiday Feud is one of our top-scoring holiday events in the ranked table below.
Best for: Competitive companies, 20–200 people
Time: 30–45 minutes
Materials: Pre-party survey, score sheet
A short awards segment turns a party into a recognition event. Create lighthearted, flattering categories — "Best Zoom Background of the Year," "Most Likely to Answer at Midnight," "The Human Wikipedia" — plus a few sincere ones for real contributions, and present them with dramatic game-show energy.
Rules we've learned to keep it fun: every award is positive (never a roast), spread awards across departments, and keep each presentation under a minute. For a large company, run nominations in advance with a simple form so the shout-outs come from peers, not just managers.
Best for: End-of-year all-hands parties, any size
Time: 15–30 minutes
Materials: Nomination form, slide deck
Mail is the secret weapon of remote celebrations — a package on the doorstep makes an online party feel physical. These ideas put something in your teammates' hands:
Secret Santa works remotely with two adjustments: draw names with an online generator, and ship gifts ahead of the party.
Here is how:
The live unboxing round is consistently one of the loudest segments of any virtual party — schedule it near the end so the energy carries through.
Best for: Teams of 6–40
Time: 15–30 minutes at the party
Materials: Gift budget, shipping lead time
White Elephant is the chaotic cousin of Secret Santa: gifts are funny or weird rather than thoughtful, and stealing is encouraged. Online, have everyone ship a wrapped gag gift to one assigned teammate in advance, but open them by White Elephant rules — each player in turn either opens their box on camera or steals an already-opened gift, which sends the stolen-from player to open the next box.
Cap the budget low ($15–20) so the stakes stay silly. Here is a full guide to running White Elephant online.
Best for: Playful teams of 8–25
Time: 20–40 minutes
Materials: One gag gift per person
Set aside fifteen minutes of the party for the team to write holiday cards for nursing home residents, hospitalized kids, or deployed troops through an organized card drive. Give teammates a small stipend for cards and stamps, play carols in the background, and keep the conversation going while everyone writes.
A giving segment changes the temperature of the whole event — it pairs especially well before a loud game, and it gives the party a purpose beyond itself.
Best for: Purpose-driven teams, any size
Time: 15–20 minutes
Materials: Cards, stamps, a card-drive organization
Shipping everyone the same treat creates the closest thing a video call has to a shared table: the whole team sipping the same cocoa at the same time. DIY it by mailing hot cocoa packets, gourmet marshmallows, and a cookie assortment, then taste and rank them together on the call like a wine flight — with scorecards.
If you would rather have it handled, we run a fully hosted Hot Cocoa Tasting with artisanal kits shipped to each participant, domestic US shipping included. For more culinary formats, see these online group cooking classes.
Best for: Cozy parties, 5–100 people
Time: 20–30 minutes
Materials: Shipped tasting kits (~$25–35 per person)
A theme does half your planning for you — it picks the dress code, the backgrounds, the food, and even which games fit. These four work especially well on camera:
| Theme | Vibe | Pairs well with |
|---|---|---|
| Pajama Party | Cozy, low-effort | Cocoa tasting, movie trivia, morning parties |
| Christmas Around the World | Cultural, food-forward | Tradition or Not, recipe swaps, trivia |
| Winter Wonderland | Elegant, holiday-neutral | Photo booth, awards, Name That Tune |
| Not-Quite-New-Years | Inclusive, celebratory | Year-end awards, countdown, toasts |
The best part of the holidays is being comfortable at home — and a virtual party is the one office event where pajamas are logistically possible. Encourage seasonal PJs or the fuzziest set people own, award a prize for best dressed, and lean into breakfast energy: seasonal coffee, cocoa, and a mid-morning time slot instead of end-of-day.
This theme works especially well for teams spread across time zones, where "evening party" means 4 a.m. for someone.
This theme celebrates how different cultures mark the season — a natural fit for distributed teams that are already global. Invite teammates to show or share a tradition from their family or region, set the trivia and Tradition or Not rounds to international prompts, and encourage everyone to bring a holiday snack from their own tradition to eat on camera.
Keep homages authentic and let people speak for their own traditions rather than assigning countries — the goal is showing off the team's real range, not a costume party.
Winter Wonderland celebrates the season itself rather than any one holiday, which makes it the theme to reach for when your team spans many traditions. Standardize on snowy virtual backgrounds in white, silver, and ice blue; serve white hot chocolate at the DIY cocoa tasting; and run holiday-neutral games like Winter Trivia and the snowman-drawing round of Mystery Santa Sketch.
Because nothing on screen says "Christmas," this theme pairs perfectly with end-of-year awards.
Instead of a holiday party, throw a year-end party: champagne flutes (or sparkling cider), toasts to the year's wins, resolutions for the next one, and a faux midnight countdown at the end of the call. This framing is inclusive of teammates who do not celebrate Christmas and doubles as a symbolic close to the work year.
Here are ideas for virtual New Year's Eve parties and remote end-of-year celebrations.
If you would rather celebrate with your team than emcee for them, bring in a professional host. We rank our own hosted events with our Team Building Score, which combines confirmed bookings, verified reviews, ratings, and post-event survey outcomes — in post-event surveys of 18,000+ virtual team building participants, 98% said the event made them happier and 91% felt more connected to their teammates. Here are our top holiday events by that score:
| # | Event | Score | Rating | Happier | Connected | NPS | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
Virtual Holiday Party
Best for: Teams seeking light competition
More about this eventThe world's #1 virtual holiday party since 2020.
Perfect for: Teams seeking light competition, Remote holiday celebrations, Fast-paced team bonding |
216 | ★ | 98% | 91% | 80 | $40 pp |
| 2 | 
Holiday Feud
Best for: Virtual holiday parties
More about this eventPut your team's festive spirit to the test with this event based on the nostalgic game show favorite. Available now!
Perfect for: Virtual holiday parties, Teams seeking festive fun, Boosting team morale |
211 | ★ | 99% | 92% | 85 | $30 pp |
| 3 | 
Winter Trivia: Individual vs Individual (45 min)
Best for: Competitive teams seeking fun
More about this eventCelebrate the end of the year with our inclusive winter trivia!
Perfect for: Competitive teams seeking fun, Winter-themed celebrations, Teams who love trivia |
204 | ★ | 96% | 77% | 82 | $30 pp |
| 4 | 
Escape Everest: Quest for the Yeti
Best for: Teams seeking a thrilling challenge
More about this eventCan your team find the yeti and escape Everest?
Perfect for: Teams seeking a thrilling challenge, Virtual team-building events, Groups interested in folklore |
204 | ★ | 96% | 89% | 74 | $40 pp |
| 5 | 
Ultimate Holiday Game Show
Best for: Teams seeking festive fun
More about this eventYour favorite game show but with a holiday spin.
Perfect for: Teams seeking festive fun, Holiday celebrations with colleagues, Groups craving friendly competition |
197 | ★ | 98% | 92% | 83 | $40 pp |
| 6 | 
Winter Trivia: Team vs Team
Best for: Virtual happy hours
More about this eventCompete to test your team's knowledge of the coldest time of year! Inclusive, fun, and high energy.
Perfect for: Virtual happy hours, Seasonal team events, Conference entertainment |
196 | ★ | 97% | 88% | 82 | $30 pp |
| 7 | 
Holiday Jeoparty!
Best for: Teams seeking holiday fun
More about this eventA festive spin on a game show staple.
Perfect for: Teams seeking holiday fun, Remote teams wanting to bond, Office holiday celebrations |
166 | ★ | 99% | 91% | 84 | $30 pp |
| 8 | 
Holiday Bingo
Best for: Teams celebrating the holidays
More about this eventMingle merrily with your remote teammates.
Perfect for: Teams celebrating the holidays, Remote teams seeking connection, New teams building rapport |
159 | ★ | 99% | 94% | 80 | $30 pp |
| 9 | 
Build Your Own Virtual Holiday Party (Large Groups)
Best for: Large remote teams celebrating together
More about this eventThe best virtual large-group holiday party around.
Perfect for: Large remote teams celebrating together, Customizable holiday parties, Teams wanting festive fun |
151 | ★ | 94% | 80% | 73 | $40 pp |
| 10 | 
Build Your Own Holiday Game Show
Best for: Remote teams seeking holiday fun
More about this eventCraft your team's perfect holiday game show by choosing your games.
Perfect for: Remote teams seeking holiday fun, Hybrid teams building camaraderie, Teams celebrating festive occasions |
124 | ★ | 97% | 94% | 75 | $40 pp |
Ranked by our Team Building Score — a running points total earned through confirmed bookings, verified reviews, ratings, and listing quality, recalculated nightly. Every event shown also has at least 30 post-event survey responses per question; the happier, connected, and NPS columns are computed from the 5,429+ survey responses collected for the 10 events listed here — a subset of all post-event surveys across our catalog. Updated August 2026.
Browse all bookable virtual events. Three holiday favorites from the catalog:
The world's #1 virtual holiday party since 2020.
Virtual Holiday Party is our flagship holiday experience and the top-scoring virtual holiday event on our platform, with 1,100+ reviews. An expert host leads 90 minutes of holiday-themed games and activities that we redesign every year, tested and iterated across the season's parties.
A few things to know:
Start planning your Virtual Holiday Party.
Compete to test your team's knowledge of the coldest time of year! Inclusive, fun, and high energy.
Winter Trivia: Team vs Team is a high-energy, 60-minute quiz competition built around winter itself rather than any one holiday — which makes it an easy pick for teams with many traditions. Teams face off through rounds of general-knowledge winter questions with a host keeping score and the energy up.
Learn more about Winter Trivia: Team vs Team.
Can your team find the yeti and escape Everest?
Escape Everest is a 90-minute puzzle adventure through the Himalayas — teams race the clock and each other to piece together clues and solve ultra-complex puzzles, with abominable snowman lore along the way. It is the winter pick for teams that would rather solve something together than sing something together.
Learn more about Escape Everest: Quest for the Yeti.
A virtual holiday party needs three decisions: a date and duration, an itinerary, and the games to fill it. Here is the short version of each.
Plan for 60 to 120 minutes:
88% of the virtual events we run are 60 to 90 minutes long, and that consensus exists for a reason: under an hour, the party ends right as quieter teammates warm up, and past two hours it is very difficult to keep a screen full of guests engaged.
For the date, schedule during regular work hours — ideally late afternoon so guests can sign off after the celebration — and give at least two weeks' notice. Early-to-mid December fills fastest, but January parties are a great move for teams whose December is already packed; we hold our own internal party after the December rush for exactly that reason.
Here is the itinerary skeleton we use, adapted from thousands of hosted parties:
| Duration | Segment | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 10 min | Welcome buffer | Music on, guests arrive, casual chat. |
| 5 min | Opening remarks | Welcome, appreciation, agenda — keep it short. |
| 10 min | Icebreaker | Try Holiday Icebreaker Questions or The Naughty List. |
| 20 min | Game #1 | Try Virtual Holiday Trivia. |
| 20 min | Game #2 | Try Gingerbread Showdown. |
| 10 min | Closing segment | Awards, toasts, or the Secret Santa unboxing. |
| 15 min | Ending buffer | Photos, goodbyes, and overflow time. |
For a 60-minute party, drop one game and halve the buffers; for 120 minutes, add a third game and a longer social close. Choose games that contrast — one loud, one thoughtful — rather than three of the same energy.
For invitations, a simple email with the date, time, duration, and one line of hype is all you need — ask for RSVPs so you can plan kits and breakout rooms. Here are holiday message templates you can adapt for the invite.
Holiday parties are our peak season, and the patterns across thousands of them are remarkably consistent. Here is what the data says:
Book early — October is the deadline that matters. Teams lock in their December events a median of 23 days ahead, and 62% of December bookings are placed in October or November. Teams that start planning after Thanksgiving choose from what's left — of vendors, of hosts, and of their own calendar.
Thursday afternoon is the sweet spot. Thursday is the most popular day for team building events across our platform — 28% of all events — and December celebrations follow the same pattern, most often landing on Thursdays with start times between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time. Friday parties compete with personal plans; Thursday parties get better attendance and still feel like a treat.
Competition is the engine. When we mine our reviews for what participants actually loved, friendly competition comes up again and again — points, buzzers, leaderboards, and team names give a party energy and a reason to stay engaged, while the stakes stay as low as bragging rights.
Shared food earns its shipping cost. In a Cornell study of a large city fire department, Kniffin and colleagues found that firefighter platoons that ate meals together more often received higher supervisor ratings of work-group performance than platoons that rarely shared food. Eating together is the oldest team ritual there is — shipped cocoa and cookie kits are how a distributed team gets its version.
The party becomes a tradition. 928 companies have come back to book virtual team building events in three or more separate years, and 160 have booked across five or more — for many remote teams, the annual virtual holiday party is now simply what December looks like.
Hosts are what people remember. Roughly one in five published reviews of our virtual events mention the host by name — participants remember who ran the show, not the software. If you self-host, that means the emcee role matters more than the game list: assign your most energetic teammate, and let them prepare.
Some party classics simply do not survive the trip through a webcam. Having watched thousands of virtual events, here is what we would skip:
| Idea | Why skip it | Do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual karaoke | Latency breaks group singing — the audio physically cannot sync. | Name That Tune keeps the music, loses the lag. |
| Charades on camera | Acting inside a small camera frame drains the energy that makes charades work in person. | Mystery Santa Sketch — drawing survives the frame. |
| Talent shows and dance parties | Solo performance under a camera spotlight creates anxiety, not cheer. | Opt-in formats like Blizzard, where cameras-off means "pass." |
| Holiday movie screenings | Watching a film together on a call is too passive to build any connection. | Movie-clip rounds inside trivia — the nostalgia without the runtime. |
| Open-ended "happy hour" with no agenda | Unstructured calls stall into small talk among the three loudest people. | Anchor with one or two games, then let the social time happen around them. |
| Mandatory fun on personal time | An evening party announced as required attendance reads as a demand, not a gift. | Schedule during work hours and keep attendance genuinely optional. |
Your team will attend a lot of video calls this year — the holiday party should be the one they remember. The formula from thousands of December events is simple: book by mid-October, plan 90 structured minutes, anchor the party with one or two real games, mail something tasty, and make every spotlight optional. Do that, and a grid of webcams genuinely turns into a party.
And if you would rather be a guest at your own party, our hosts will happily take the emcee job — it is the busiest thing we do all year.
Next, check out our lists of virtual team building activities, Christmas team building ideas, and virtual party games for work.
Answers based on platform data from 6,000+ hosted virtual holiday parties for teams like Apple, Amazon, and Google.
A virtual holiday party is an online celebration held over video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. These events combine holiday-themed games, icebreakers, and activities so remote and hybrid teams can celebrate the end of the year together. They are also called virtual Christmas parties, Zoom holiday parties, and remote holiday parties.
The best virtual holiday parties anchor on one or two structured games — like Virtual Holiday Bingo, holiday trivia, or a Gingerbread Showdown — then mix in free activities like icebreaker questions, an ugly sweater contest, and a festive pet slideshow. Shipped kits, such as cocoa tastings or Secret Santa gifts opened live on camera, make the online party feel physical.
Plan for 60 to 90 minutes. 88% of the virtual events we run fall in that window: under an hour, the party ends right as quieter teammates warm up, and past two hours it is very difficult to keep guests on a screen engaged. A 90-minute party fits an icebreaker, two games, and a closing celebration.
Book early: teams lock in December events a median of 23 days ahead, and 62% of December bookings are placed in October or November. Thursday is the most popular day for team events on our platform, with start times typically between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time so guests can sign off after the party.
Reliable virtual holiday party games include Holiday Bingo, team trivia, Name That Tune, Tradition or Not, The Naughty List, gingerbread decorating showdowns, and social deduction games like Undercover Santa. For groups over 15 people, use breakout rooms and team-based formats so everyone plays at once instead of taking turns.
The constant PC language: "Snow person"? "Holiday party"? is over the top. (Anyone offended by 'Snowman' needs to grow up frankly. All the same some good ideas here.
Haha, agreed. I just saw gingerbread people the other day and had to shake my head....
Seems like you are the one that should grow up, as you are the one outraged by the use of synonyms
Inspiration for virtual holiday fun! thank you
We have hosted our high school class holiday party for the last 5 years. (Class of 1978) Of course this year it is not possible to have a dinner & dance party at a club. We so want to still connect with our classmates. Can you help me put a virtual party together? We would definitely need music, & I would ask guests to dress up for the party. i like the idea of having a host to coordinate, the holiday drink idea and maybe the best xmas cookies idea. Would like to discuss options and ideas and find out costs.
Hi Velina! Please fill out the form on our home page, and one of our team members will be happy to assist :- )
Could you sent me prices and such for a virtual christmas party? And of course on info on what it would look like.
We are located in Canada
Hi Kim! Please fill out the form on this page and our team will be happy to support: https://teambuilding.com/originals/virtual-holiday-party
This list is fabulous! Thank you all so much for sharing!