Top Tips For Your Virtual Christmas Party

Is it Christmas already? Once the days start closing in and the end of the year approaches, it’s high time to start thinking about your company Christmas, winter or New Year’s party. Since 2020 and the start of the pandemic, many companies have faced an extra challenge: what are the options when you still want to celebrate, but don’t want to put anyone’s health at risk? One concept in particular has been gaining popularity: the virtual Christmas party. A digital solution is ideal, not only because of Coronavirus, but also because of the increasing number of people working from home.

Preparation is everything!

Early planning is crucial for making sure everything goes off without a hitch and what would a party be without guests? It’s a good idea to send out save the date cards as soon as you’ve picked a date. This means that your colleagues can put the date in their diaries early and more people are likely to be able to attend, because of course the run up to Christmas is a busy time for us all. If you can’t find a suitable date in December then you can also consider moving the party to the new year. In order to save money, the save the date cards don’t necessarily need to be sent by post and can instead be emailed to all members of staff. Depending on how many of the details are already arranged (video call link, time, theme, etc.), the save the date cards can be followed by a formal invitation later. Even if you’ve only decided the date, we would still recommend sharing this information with your staff and sending on extra information later. Of course, in order to be able to plan you also need to know how many people are coming, so it’s important to ask for a brief reply confirming whether guests can attend or not.

Planning on virtual Christmas party

Once the date of your event and the number of guests is sorted, you can start more specific planning. First, you need to calculate the budget available per staff member. The budget per person will have a big effect on the kind of virtual Christmas party you can throw and it’s best to build in a realistic buffer. Experience has shown that no matter how much planning you do, something unexpected can always happen, leading to a need for quick reactions or a slightly bigger budget.

Hosting

Technology is always the next thing to consider when hosting an online Christmas party. It’s self-explanatory that you should use the same video conference provider that you use for everyday business meetings. This means that your team is already very familiar with all the tools and functions of the software. No-one will be left searching for the right button or scouring the settings menu. Another factor that shouldn’t be underestimated in the group size for your online event. Depending on the size of your company it may be wise to create smaller groups of max. 10 people. These groups can be made up from people within one department or can be cross-department. If you have a large number of guests then it’s a good idea to appoint a moderator, but of course that doesn’t mean that one person will do all the talking. Rather, it means that you’ve got someone to guide the event, keep an eye on the time and remind people of communications rules where needed, for example using the chat or virtual hand-raising functions to avoid constant interruptions. Instead of having a decorated event location, you can offer your team one or more background images for the online party. It’s a quick and simple way of creating a Christmas atmosphere. If you’re planning a New Year’s party then you could for example use fireworks or the number of the new year as a background to create a festive feel. That brings us to a crucial point for any party: the programme. Boredom doesn’t belong in the virtual space and many organisations perhaps see this as a challenge. However, the digital realm gives you many opportunities to make your event unforgettable. The following ideas are sure to hit the spot:

Christmas quiz or team games: there’s a huge range of ideas online.
Guess the Christmas song from humming or gurgling.
Origami Christmas trees and other designs – for all craft fans!
Bad taste contest! Who’s got the cheesiest Christmas jumper?
Online karaoke: every voice counts!
Cookie tasting: each staff member gets a choice of biscuits in advance. During the party, people can try them and vote on which one tastes best.

Food

A successful evening also caters for the well-being of your team. Tummies can start to rumble, especially if the party starts immediately after work finishes for the day. Snack boxes can be provided to give your staff something to enjoy during the party, such as nuts, baked goods, tea bags, little bottles of mulled wine and so on. Such boxes can be sent out to every employee a few days before the party. It’s usually best to add a little message saying: “Not to be opened before the Christmas party!” Another good option is to send out vouchers for regional food delivery companies. This way, staff members can look at the menu beforehand and arrange for delivery any time before or during the online event.

Staff gifts

What would Christmas be without presents! We should of course show our staff how much they mean to us the whole year round, but the end of the year is always the perfect time to say a special thank you for everything that they do. From an organisational standpoint, the easiest option is to get every member of the team the same gift. If you’re doing this, then classic gift ideas that are suitable for everyone are ideal:

If you’ve got the resources, it’s always a nice touch to give gifts that are tailored to individuals or groups of people. Music lovers are bound to be delighted with headphones or a speaker in a Christmas bauble design. Our range also contains perfect gifts for those with a sweet tooth, such as the Lindt Christmas box. You can also browse our Christmas gift category to find something to bring a smile to both your customers and staff at the end of the year.

Theme & dress code

Last but not least, the organisers of your company virtual Christmas party also need to think about whether the event will have a special theme or dress code. Creativity knows no bounds here and these little touches will make your team even more excited for the upcoming event. However, the theme and dress code both need to be simple enough for people to achieve without too much effort. For example, the theme could be the 80s and 90s and the dress code could be black & white.

Summary

Regardless of what you do for your digital Christmas party, what really counts is that it suits your company and your team. An authentic event often doesn’t need a lot of fancy features. What’s most important is that it’s organised with love and that it shows your team how much you value them and that you’ve put thought into how to create an unforgettable event for them. One last tip: to be sure that your online Christmas party went well for all involved, it’s a good idea to send out a little survey afterwards asking people what they especially liked or for ideas for the next team event.