25 Virtual Christmas Games for your Office Holiday Party
Embracing the holiday spirit shouldn’t be limited to your home life. With remote and hybrid work environments growing increasingly common, many workers have resigned themselves to an unenthusiastic, holiday spirit-less Christmas celebration at work.
While you might not be able to indulge in the traditional Christmas office party, your workplace doesn’t have to be dull during the holiday season. There are plenty of virtual Christmas games you can consider for you and your team to have fun and celebrate the holidays with a virtual Christmas party!
With the plethora of virtual games available to throw the best at-home office party, you might get overwhelmed trying to choose one. To simplify the process, we’ve compiled a list of the top 25 virtual Christmas games to play this year at your virtual holiday party. Let’s get started!
Check out White Elephant Online for your next holiday party
Why Use Virtual Christmas Games for Your Office Holiday Party?
So why should you consider fun virtual Christmas games to make your holiday office party exciting and engaging? A fun virtual holiday game is the perfect option for your Christmas party for plenty of reasons. Consider the following:
Virtual games are perfect team-building activities and can bring employees closer together. With the increase in remote and hybrid workplace environments, employees often don’t have the chance to foster relationships that can improve their work ethic. These games encourage teamwork and bring your workplace closer together!
Virtual holiday games enhance your team members’ creativity because so many of these games require out-of-the-box thinking. Encouraging people to engage in creative activities helps stimulate innovative thinking that employees can bring to the workplace.
These games foster inclusivity between team members, ensuring everyone is involved in the Christmas celebration. Inclusivity can often be overlooked in the modern remote/hybrid workplace–games are the perfect opportunity to make everyone feel heard and valued.
Playing virtual Christmas games is an excellent icebreaker for your holiday party. Because many employees might not be familiar with one another given the nature of remote/hybrid work, having a way for everyone to get to know each other in a relaxed, fun environment is essential to make your holiday party a success.
Virtual Christmas games boost workplace morale, bringing people together and highlighting the value of teamwork. They also get employees in an excited and festive mood to bring holiday cheer to the workplace and improve overall work ethic.
Now let’s get into the 25 virtual christmas game ideas for your next virtual office holiday party!
1. White Elephant Online
White elephant is easily one of the most well-known, popular Christmas games. Used to an in-office party setting? You don’t have to sacrifice your favorite game–White Elephant Online has transformed your favorite in-person game into a completely virtual experience.
But how does this game translate into an online platform? At White Elephant Online, we start the process with a free signup, where you can purchase a game like the classic white elephant and invite your coworkers. When you play the game, one participant shares their screen, and White Elephant Online takes your team step by step through the game process.
From assigning numbers to monitoring the game’s rules as you switch, steal, open, and exchange gifts, White Elephant Online ensures a process as close to the real thing as possible. When the game is finished, participants can ship their gifts to the winner–and the rest is up to you! No matter where you are, you can experience this classic game’s delight from the comfort of your home.
2. Virtual Christmas Bingo
Bingo is a timeless classic–and entirely practical for a virtual holiday party on Zoom. A fun game of Jingle Mingle Bingo can bring excitement to your holiday party, whether at work or online. It’s easy to create and personalize virtual Bingo cards through tools like Bingo Baker, and just as easy to play the game over Zoom.
Have a list of prizes for winners, such as gift cards they can redeem online. You can split workers into remote teams, separate them into breakout rooms to make the game easier, and have one person in each room win. With Jingle Mingle Bingo, the player can only mark a square when determining another player who fits the card’s description. Or you can keep things traditional and play a simple game of Bingo with holiday prizes–whatever you and your team prefer!
3. Christmas Scavenger Hunt
You read it right–you can have a scavenger hunt at your virtual Christmas party! These scavenger hunts are exciting and guaranteed to get the party started. You can have your Zoom holiday party and list items that participants can find throughout their homes or offices, or give players a list and reward whoever finds the most items in a specific period. This activity is short and simple but perfect to set the mood and get participants involved in your virtual holiday party.
4. Santa’s Workshop
If you’re looking for a hilarious game to play for your virtual Christmas party–or you’re simply a big fan of Shark Tank–Santa’s Workshop is the game for you. In this game, you and your coworkers pitch a product to Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the head elf, pretending to be entrepreneurial elves.
Remote and hybrid teams can pitch a holiday toy idea, and the judges decide whether the Christmas toy is good enough to be made. Whichever team has the best toy idea wins the game and gets a special prize!
5. Name the Christmas Song
Let’s be honest: our favorite Christmas songs get us in the holiday spirit more than anything else. This activity is incredibly easy to organize–just set up a playlist of Christmas tunes, play small snippets of each song, and have team members see who can guess the name or artist. Whoever guesses the most correct answers wins a holiday-themed prize! It’s the perfect way to have fun while setting the mood with classic Christmas songs.
6. Holiday Would You Rather
Would you rather? is one of the funniest games out there, and with a few tweaks, you can make it the perfect icebreaker for your virtual Christmas party. Set the mood for a fun party by asking some holiday-themed would you rather questions. For example:
Would you rather get one massive Christmas present or several smaller presents?
Would you rather help Santa deliver gifts on Christmas Eve or stay at the North Pole making gifts with the elves?
Would you rather only be able to listen to Christmas music during December or only be allowed to watch Christmas movies during the month?
Would you rather have a pet reindeer or be able to talk to the elves?
Would you rather ride a sleigh with Santa and fly reindeer or ice skating with your favorite fictional Christmas characters?
7. Christmas Song Scramble
Another holiday game that’s easy to play on Zoom is a Christmas song scramble. Choose different popular Christmas songs and scramble the letters. Share your screen to show the scrambled letters and have employees send their answers in the chat.
Whoever gets the song right first wins a point, and once the game is finished, the person with the most points wins and gets a special gift. You don’t have to stick to Christmas songs if you want more variety–if the answer is holiday-themed, you’re in for a good time!
8. Guess the Christmas Baby
Christmas-themed guessing games are always a riot, and a classic “guess the baby” game will excite your coworkers and get them to engage in your holiday party. Have employees send baby pictures (ideally, Christmas-themed ones) and share the photos on your screen. Employees can guess whose baby picture is being shown, and the person who guesses the most correctly wins the game and a Christmas gift!
9. Virtual Christmas Charades
A fun game of charades is the perfect choice for your workplace holiday celebration, and easy to play on Zoom! Choose from plenty of Christmas-themed topics–such as acting out Christmas objects and decorations or scenes from Christmas movies–and dive right in!
Depending on your company size, you can divide people into teams or have breakout rooms. Use Zoom’s spotlight feature to focus on specific players while team members get to guess the answer. Reward the winning individual or team with e-gift cards or holiday-themed surprises that can be shipped to them!
10. Christmas Movie Trivia
While you can technically do Christmas trivia for anything Christmas-related, we love fun, movie-centered trivia! Describe a scene from a movie or share a quote from a classic holiday film and have coworkers or teams guess the movie. If you want to add to this game, incorporate Christmas songs, television specials, and more! Players who guess correctly get a point, and whoever has the most points at the end is the winner and gets a Christmas-themed surprise.
11. Christmas Pictionary
Who doesn’t love a classic–and hilarious–game of Pictionary? Use Zoom’s whiteboard feature and allow a team member to draw something based on a Christmas-themed prompt. From Christmas trees to Santa, reindeer, and eggnog, there are plenty of prompts you can give your coworkers that will make for long-lasting holiday memories.
12. Virtual Secret Santa
As another traditional gift-exchange game, you don’t have to limit Secret Santa to the physical workplace. Virtual Secret Santa is the perfect idea for getting employees into the holiday spirit and sharing Christmas love.
You can use services like Elfster to make Secret Santa a virtual tradition. This platform will pair gift-givers with a specific coworker, their name, and address to ensure that gifts are sent on time. Have coworkers make a wish list of potential gifts under a certain budget and organize the game so gifts arrive before the virtual Christmas party. During the celebration, have participants open the gifts on camera and guess who their Secret Santa is.
13. Christmas Plot or Not
A Christmas-themed game of “Plot or Not?” is an excellent way to get in the holiday spirit and get your team laughing. Have one player read a synopsis for a Christmas movie (be sure to keep everything vague). Then, have the rest of the players decide whether or not the movie actually exists or not!
14. Christmas Costume Competition
One thing is for sure: costume competitions are always creative and fun. Before your holiday party, plan a virtual costume contest where employees get to dress up as classic Christmas icons, characters, or even objects–the more variety, the better!
When your holiday party starts, have everyone show off and explain their costumes. Employees can vote on whose costume they like the most, and the person who gets the most votes wins the competition and a special prize. This contest is the perfect way to get employees excited about the party and invested before it begins!
15. Holiday Paint ‘n’ Sips
A paint-and-sip game is the perfect fun activity for your virtual holiday party. This game involves one person leading a tutorial on painting a scene while participants sip on their beverage of choice. This game requires you to send your coworkers basic painting supplies in advance, like small canvases, paints, and brushes.
Participants can also paint a Christmas-themed scene of their choice instead of having a guided session where everyone paints the same thing. No matter what you choose, this game gets people invested and focused on the party. Have everyone share their masterpieces to honor the Christmas spirit once the game ends!
16. Gingerbread House-Building Workshop
Virtual Christmas games are best when you can get coworkers to create something or work together. A gingerbread house-building workshop is a fun, lighthearted activity that everyone can participate in–and taste afterward! Make sure everyone on the team has access to the right materials to ensure that everyone can share the experience and make lasting memories.
17. Virtual Movie Theater
Watching a classic Christmas movie is the perfect way to get yourself in the holiday spirit, and why not share that spirit with your coworkers at your virtual Christmas party? Ask employees for their favorite holiday movies, and at your virtual holiday party, play whichever movie–or movies–gets the most responses.
To enhance the experience, encourage coworkers to bring their favorite Christmas-themed movie snacks. This idea is relaxed but still fun and engaging, especially when you choose a movie that your team loves.
18. Christmas Naughty List
This game is a fun, Christmas-themed twist on the classic game of Never Have I Ever. To play Christmas Naughty List, have everyone on your team hold up five fingers. Have members take turns saying things they haven’t done, and if they’re on the naughty list, they have to put a finger down. Whoever is left standing at the end wins the game–and a prize!
Some examples of this game to give you a better idea include:
You’re on the naughty list if you’ve pretended to like a present you hated
You’re on the naughty list if you’ve regifted a present
You’re on the naughty list if you’re too embarrassed to wear an ugly Christmas sweater
You’re on the naughty list if you’ve never written a letter to Santa
You’re on the naughty list if you’ve ever waited until the last minute to buy your presents
You’re on the naughty list if you’ve ever forgotten to buy Christmas presents
19. Holiday Karaoke
What’s more fun than belting out your favorite Christmas songs? Host an online karaoke night for your virtual holiday party and give coworkers a list of Christmas songs to choose from. Use Zoom and share songs that are available with karaoke versions on YouTube. Consider rewarding the person who performs best to encourage people to participate.
20. DIY Ornament Making
Provide employees with the crafting supplies they need to make their own fun holiday ornament to hang on the Christmas tree! During your Zoom holiday party, have everyone open their supplies and create a stunning, homemade Christmas ornament. This activity builds amazing memories and is fun to get people in the Christmas spirit.
If you want to make this activity more of a game, you can have everyone show off their ornaments at the end and vote for who has their favorite. Whoever gets the most votes can earn a prize of their choice. It’s the perfect option for a laidback party that’s still engaging and fun!
21. Design a Holiday Card
Another fun option to get people involved in creating something during your virtual holiday party is to provide employees with the supplies they need to make a fun holiday card. While this is a traditional way to do this activity, plenty of variations exist on the classic card-making tradition.
For instance, consider playing a “best” or “worst” Christmas card game, where employees go into breakout rooms and use the virtual whiteboard to make the best or worst Christmas card possible. You can also have teams crate cards based on a specific theme and see how well they do.
Give teams a time limit to create their holiday card, then bring everyone back to the main Zoom room and go through the cards. Whoever meets the objective best wins the game and gets a Christmas prize for their efforts!
22. Holiday-Themed Make a Story
Want to write a funny–and absurd–holiday-themed story? You can with this virtual game! Choose a story theme. Participants write a short, two-sentence piece based on the theme you give. Have everyone go one by one and read what they wrote to create a hilarious story.
Additionally, you can do a similar Christmas-themed game by assigning everyone a number and going in order to add a sentence. For example, you start with a sentence, then the next person elaborates on what you said, and so on. As the story gets more ridiculous, the game gets merrier and more exciting!
23. Guess the Gift
Guess the Gift is a fun game that can easily be played virtually. Start the round off by having a team member think of a present. Once they have their idea ready, go around the virtual room and ask questions one by one to get more ideas on what the present is. This 20-questions style game is exciting and full of joy and laughs as you ask serious or impractical questions to narrow it down.
If you want to add more flair to this game, you can lead the round and have people guess for a real gift you’ll send to the winner. Adding this makes the game all the more thrilling, ensuring that everyone will want to participate!
24. Holiday Last Letter Game
This virtual holiday game is easy to play and highly engaging to get everyone involved in the celebration. The last letter game begins with one person giving a holiday theme–for instance, “presents,” “holiday decorations,” “Christmas songs,” or anything similar to these options.
Once the individual states a category, the first player says something that fits into that category. If the theme was “holiday decorations,” the person might respond, “Christmas tree,” the next participant would have to think of another decoration based on the last letter of the first player’s response. In this case, the other person might respond “Elf on the Shelf” or something similar–as long as it fits the theme and keeps the game going!
25. Christmas Recipe Exchange
Why not make your virtual Christmas party into a fun baking workshop? Before your party, have everyone exchange a Christmas recipe with someone else. Ensure that you do this in advance so everyone has time to get the ingredients and equipment needed to make the recipe.
During your virtual holiday party, you can have everyone make the recipe they were given. Once your baking session is over, you can kick back and watch a classic Christmas movie with your coworkers for a relaxing party filled with the holiday spirit.
Love Your Virtual Christmas Party With White Elephant Online
There’s no need to be worried about making your virtual Christmas party fun and engaging. You can ensure everyone is involved in the celebration with the right ideas for fun virtual Christmas games.
You can guarantee your Christmas party is successful by enjoying White Elephant Online for your upcoming celebration. White Elephant Online is the perfect way to boost the holiday spirit at work and enjoy the classic holiday tradition from the comfort of your home. Register with White Elephant Online today to get started!