Virtual Holiday Ideas

Virtual Holiday Ideas For You & Your Team

We understand that 2020 has not been a walk in the park so we thought it would be nice to help you close out the year on a positive note with the resources that most helped you get through these tough times, your employees! We put our heads together, did some research and of course, asked our valued clients and came up with a list of ideas on how you can promote holiday cheer, demonstrate employee appreciation, and show a continued commitment to employee engagement.

Virtual Shoutouts

Take a moment this holiday season to let your people know how much you appreciate them by using virtual shoutouts:

• Best Wishes Holiday Shoutouts to Staff and Clients celebrating all festive holidays
  • For example, a religiously inclusive email blast to all staff wishing them a “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Hanukkah”, “Happy Kwanzaa” and “Happy Las Posadas” on appropriate days throughout the holiday season demonstrates appreciation for cultural diversity within your Company.
• Virtual Shoutouts for Individual Employee and Team 2020 Accomplishments
  • A team email or virtual meeting can be a great place to remind your employees of all 2020 team achievements and give individual shoutouts.

Virtual Charity Team Building Activities

The holiday season is a great time to exercise corporate social responsibility and show your charitable side by doing one of these virtual charity team building activities:

• Virtual Food Drive/Fundraising Webpage
  • Use your Company website, or a pre-existing charity’s webpage to virtually collect money instead of physical food items to be donated to a local Food Bank.
  • Charities in the GTA with fundraising pages include: Second Harvest, Daily Bread, North York Harvest Food Bank
  • Need more Food Bank ideas? Click here: https://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2020/04/food-banks-toronto/
  • You can also check out Charitable Impact and create your own fundraising account!
• Virtual Auction
  • Companies can utilize a range of Charity Auction Software Sites to host a virtual auction by following the steps provided in this link: https://snowballfundraising.com/virtual-auctions/
• Shoeboxes for Children through Operation Christmas Child
  • You can encourage your employees to participate in Operation Christmas Child and fill a shoebox with toys, hygiene items, and school supplies to be sent to children in developing countries.
• Random Act of Kindness (E.g., encourage your team to go out into their local community and do a good deed – while still physically distancing!)

Gift Ideas

Even though we can’t exchange gifts in person this holiday season, you can still be creative and send a token of appreciation from the comfort of your home:

• Uber eats/Skip the Dishes Gift-cards
• Amazon Gift-cards
• Credit to a professional development training session of choice
• Holiday Gift Boxes
  • Suggested things to include:
    • Hot chocolate mix
    • Cookies and candies
    • Holiday accessories
    • Photo props for a virtual “photo booth” shoot
    • Adult Colouring Book (Mandala)
    • Drink Mix Ingredients
  • Wellness Package (e.g. Massage, Spa, Bed Bath and Beyond gift card so employees can “get something relaxing for the holiday season”)
  • Holiday Card Exchange:
    • Jib Jab Digital Cards
    • E-cards on Canva or Pinup boards

Virtual Holiday Party

Social gathering limits have restricted the ability to have traditional holiday parties, but this doesn’t mean the celebrations can’t continue on a video conferencing platform! Here are some virtual party ideas:

• Festive Games: (for more information on these activities and alternative ideas please visit https://teambuilding.com/blog/virtual-holiday-party)
  • Holiday Scavenger Hunt
  • Holiday Taboo
  • Holiday Trivia
  • Gingerbread Wars (Before the event send each participant a gingerbread kit in the mail that includes gingerbread people frosting, candies and more.)
  • Virtual Holiday Bingo
  • Tradition or Not? (Get team members to guess which holiday traditions are real or fake)
  • Name that Holiday Tune
  • Holiday Charades
  • Virtual Paint Night
  • Movie Night – play a classic holiday movie (e.g., It’s A Wonderful Life)
  • Virtual Zumba/Yoga/Salsa/Guided meditation
  • Virtual Karaoke
  • Holiday Photobooth
• Ugly Sweater Contest
• Virtual Secret Santa
• Holiday Playlist
  • Invite your staff to add favourite Christmas/holiday carols to the roster
  • Mad-libs lyrics – have staff make their own lyrics to holiday songs
• Mini-concert – invite a local band to join your virtual platform and perform a mini-concert for your team.
• Virtual Mixologist Night
• Virtual Cooking Night
• Virtual Talent Competitions
• Comical Employee Recognition Awards Event
  • Remember the show The Office? You can be Michael Scott for an afternoon and host your office Dundies Award Ceremony. You could give a “Duct Tape Award” for the employee who knows how to fix anything, or the “Human Wikipedia Award” for the employee who has all the answers to everything.

Reach out to MaxPeople if you need assistance implementing employee engagement initiatives for your organization.