Christmas is here and everyone is busy shopping for their holiday gifts and preparing for their annual Christmas parties. The only difference now is that instead of decorating the office with your colleagues, you will all be celebrating the holidays with them virtually. We’ve listed down fun ideas on how you can host a fun virtual Christmas party this 2021!
Ever since the pandemic hit, both work and seasonal celebrations have moved online. But that should not dampen your spirit, considering that there are still various ways to celebrate and spend time with friends and colleagues before the office closes for the holiday season.
Worry not because you can still throw a fun and unforgettable virtual Christmas party, get into the holiday spirit, and end the year on a high.
Holiday celebrations are a great way to bring your office together and show appreciation for each other. When everyone is feeling exhausted working remotely for such a long time, a virtual holiday party is the best way to unwind yourself and reconnect with coworkers over fun game and activities.
We have lined up some virtual holiday party ideas for fun team-building activities that will make the holiday celebration with your team memorable for everyone.
1. Holiday costume dress-up
Who doesn’t like dressing up? Wearing holiday sweaters, Santa hats, or reindeer antlers has become an unspoken tradition of Christmas parties. It is always nice and entertaining to see everyone in the team in Christmas-themed wardrobes.
You can make this more fun and exciting by holding a holiday costume dress-up competition that will surely spark laughter among the group. All there is left is to decide who has the best outfit based on your criteria!
You can drum up the excitement by sending virtual christmas party invitations designed on your chosen Christmas-related theme and asking your teammates to dress up in their best costume for the party. Tell everyone to get creative with their costumes, better if they can do some DIY and design by themselves.
You can also set a Christmas tree, Santa’s workplace, or a fireplace as a background to give your virtual office party the Christmas vibe. Try to create categories and choose winners who get the most votes in these categories. Don’t forget to take a group photo with funny faces to share on social media!
2. Holiday trivia quiz
There’s nothing like a bit of competition to bring people together. Make your virtual office Christmas party more exciting with virtual Christmas games such as holiday trivia contests. Test your friends’ or team members’ knowledge.
There are plenty of virtual holiday party games and ready-made quizzes that you can find online like the ones on Kahoot!.
Or you can also prepare a list of questions that you want. These can be based on Christmas traditions, movies, songs or items.
3. Create a holiday playlist
Every party needs music. Do you agree?
Typically, parties have a DJ, but with virtual parties, everyone can chip in. On your online Christmas party, create a holiday playlist on Spotify and ask everyone to add their favorite songs.
You can play this during the party so everyone can hear the same music playing in the background.
4. Organize an online Christmas caroling
Who says you cannot keep the Christmas music tradition alive in your virtual holiday event? Make your celebration more festive with online Christmas caroling.
All your officemates can decide and come up with a list of Christmas carols that they want to sing during the party. They can also create their own version of Christmas Carol and perform it together.
5. Use different rooms for your party
If you want to have a virtual house party, you can have different breakout rooms, each with different themes. All employees can drop in and out of each room depending on what mood they are in. You can have a room for dancing and partying, a room for games or a room for casual chatting and drinks.
6. Virtual secret Santa
Have ever tried doing Secret Santa? Luckily, it can also be done virtually. Virtual secret santa is another idea we can give you so that you can host a fun virtual Christmas party. It’s as simple as picking names with an online gift exchange generator, and then sending the presents home to each other.
Once everyone has received their gifts, you can open them together at the virtual Christmas party.
7. Festive baking competition
Aside from the caroling competition, you can also do a bake-off and cookie decorating contest and take them to your virtual Christmas parties.
Everyone can decorate the goodies together and share their creations on screen. If you don’t want to do it during the party, you can ask everyone to decorate their cookies beforehand and upload the pictures to a group or a shared photo album. You can also hold an online poll where everyone can vote and choose the winner and announce it at the party later on.
8. Virtual Christmas dance party
Of course, our 8th on the list of virtual Christmas party ideas is for you to show your moves and let your workmates dance to the groove, virtually. Let loose and groove to your favorite music to leave all the worries behind and welcome the new year with a bang.
Make it fun by setting up and playing upbeat party music. You can choose to mix your own or use an online playlist that everyone enjoys. If someone has prepared a special performance for the night, don’t forget to put them in the spotlight so everyone can see their moves.
Make sure that everyone can see the performance so that they can be part of the fun even if they opt-out of the actual dancing!
9. Awards ceremony
A great way of throwing an awards ceremony is to have a combination of formal and informal awards. The formal awards can highlight one’s achievements and good spirits while the informal awards are more into humor.
Whichever makes it easy for you to spread joy and celebrate the holidays, do try it. In this digital era, you can easily invite everyone to your virtual party and celebrate the holidays together fast and easy.
10. Virtual Card Exchange
This holiday season, why not make your party sustainable by sending e-cards to relay your holiday greetings to each other without wasting paper. With virtual holiday card exchange, you and your teammates can also prevent paper waste. This fun virtual Christmas party idea is just as fun as the usual but more sustainable!
You can be creative and design your own holiday greetings cards for your coworkers using apps or you can also download ready-made cards.
With only a few weeks left before Christmas, we know this year’s Christmas celebrations will look a little different (and challenging to plan!) but with restrictions easing across most areas, there are still plenty of ways to get your team together in a COVID-safe way.
How to make health and safety your priority this holiday season
This holiday season, brighten your days by making your health and safety a priority. It is important to take the necessary steps to keep you and your loved ones safe and healthy and ready to enjoy the holidays.
We have listed some of the ways you can ensure safety this holiday season.
1. Wash Your Hands
Washing your hands is one of the easiest and most important things you can do to stay healthy. It is also one way to stop the spread of bacteria and viruses such as colds and flu and COVID-19.
Wash hands often to help prevent the spread of germs. It’s flu season. Wash your hands with soap and clean running water for at least 20 seconds. Remember to wash your hands properly by following the techniques such as wetting your hands with clean running water, lathering up with soap and rubbing your hands together for at least 20 seconds (you can silently “sing” the birthday song twice as a guide for the duration). Don’t forget to wash your wrists, the back of your hands, between your fingers and under your fingernails.
Rinse your hands well under running water, turn off the water with your elbow, dry your hands with a clean towel or air dry them. If you used a towel to dry your hands, use the same towel to open the bathroom door to leave the room. Discard the towel in a wastebasket.
2. Bundle up to stay dry and warm.
Make sure to wear appropriate outdoor clothing such as light, warm layers, gloves, hats, scarves, and waterproof boots.
3. Manage stress.
Don’t forget to give yourself a break if you feel stressed out, overwhelmed, and out of control. Some of the best ways to manage stress are to find support, connect with others, and rest
4. The holidays are here.
This year they may look a little different, but one thing remains the same, celebrations across the country will include alcohol. So, be responsible. Remember to not drink and drive.
5. You should visit your health care provider from time to time.
Don’t forget to schedule your exams and screenings. Ask your health care provider what exams you need and when to get them. You have to remember to update your personal and family history regularly.
6. Immunization
one of the best ways you can protect yourself, your children and future generations from infectious diseases. If you vaccinate, you will help wipe out disease that could spread now and into the future. So, it is best to get your vaccinations. As it helps prevent diseases and save lives.
7. Monitor children.
This season of gift-giving, ensure your children’s safety by keeping potentially dangerous toys, food, drinks, household items, and other objects out of their reach. Protect them also from drowning, burns, falls, and other potential accidents especially during family parties and celebrations.
8. Practice fire safety.
Most residential fires occur during summer and the holiday season, so don’t leave fireplaces, space heaters, food cooking on stoves, Christmas lights or candles unattended. Have an emergency plan and practice it regularly.
9. Prepare food safely.
When preparing food and dining with your family and friends, remember these simple steps: wash hands and surfaces often, avoid cross-contamination, cook foods to proper temperatures and refrigerate foods promptly.
10. Eat healthy, stay active.
You don’t have to wait for the New Year to begin your resolution. Eat fruits and vegetables which pack nutrients and help lower the risk for certain diseases. Limit your portion sizes and foods high in fat, salt, and sugar. Also, be active for several hours a week and help kids to be active for at least 1 hour a day.
We all know that it’s supposed to be the happiest time of the year, with many of us hunkered down at home, some having lost jobs, others having lost friends and family members to COVID-19 or other illnesses, it’s tempting to give this holiday season a miss.
But we should always remember to find joy and meaning in the midst of the challenges we are in, and carrying on with our favorite holiday traditions can help. We hope our holiday ideas would help you enjoy this season safely with family and friends.
Affordable House and Lots at Bria Homes
BRIA Homes is a subsidiary of GOLDEN MV Holdings, Inc., one of the largest real estate companies in the country.
BRIA Homes is primed to bring quality and affordable house and lot packages and condominium units closer to ordinary Filipino families. This is the goal that drives every single employee in the company, for which the ultimate fulfillment is seeing a client happily moving into BRIA’s homes.
At BRIA Homes, residents can sleep easy knowing that their communities have 24/7 CCTV coverage, guarded entrances and exits, perimeter fences, and powerful solar lighting to illuminate the streets at night.
Every country has its own set of traditions to follow for the Yuletide season, but Filipinos do it best. BRIA Homes is one with the Filipinos in celebrating a safe and happy Christmas with Pilipinas Pasko Na, which gives out tips on how to get-together and celebrate Christmas like no other in a COVID-safe way.
Written bu Cheska Castro
