4 Tips to Hold an Awesome Virtual Christmas Party

I think we can all agree Christmas won’t be the same this year, even if lockdown restrictions are lifted, it is likely your school staff Christmas party has not been booked and you will probably exceed group number restrictions for a restaurant meal. To ensure you still have fun with your work colleagues and celebrate the festive season, a virtual Christmas party is the way forward; you will be in good company, even Santa is visiting children virtually this year!

You will be able to use a range of apps and software to have a Christmas party such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Skype to meet with your colleagues. 

Here are 5 ways to have an amazing Christmas party virtually:

1) Christmas Bingo

Bingo is a classic team building activity played in many offices throughout the land, it is a firm favourite with the Kent-Teach team! We have played virtual bingo throughout the first lockdown over our team meetings, there was even a chocolate prize for the winner to make it even more fun! Why not include Christmas bingo in your staff Christmas party this year, there are plenty of templates to be found online but these templates from Noella Christmas Designs are ultra-festive! You can print the templates or save a copy and email to each party guest before the meet up, you can even use these for your class too.

2) Holiday Gift Boxes from the SLT

This one takes a little preparation, but as a thank you for your hard work this year Senior Leadership Team could create a holiday gift box and post out to staff prior to the party. Here are some suggestions of what to send out in the holiday gift box to your school staff. 

• Hot chocolate sachet 
• A Christmas mug
• Chocolate, sweets, or other snacks
• Holiday activities such as puzzles and games
• Christmas themed photo props for the virtual party!
• Stationary – because we all know how much teachers love stationary!

3) Christmas Party Dressing Up

It wouldn’t be a Christmas party without the opportunity to dress up. So, grab your most sequinned dress or cringiest Christmas novelty tie and get ready to party! Santa hats optional. 

4) Virtual Party Games

Virtual party games are a great way to help everyone relax and get into the Christmas spirit and will make your virtual Christmas party much more fun. Here are some ideas of games to play:

• Guess the Christmas Song – the party organiser should play a short clip of popular Christmas songs for the guests to guess. 
• Christmas quizzes – so you may be feeling totally quizzed out this year by all the online quizzes you have probably attended but this list would not be complete without a Christmas quiz! Here are some free templates for a great Christmas virtual quiz. 
• 10 Questions – get to know your work colleagues better by asking them 10 questions about themselves, they can be as serious or as silly as you like but don’t forget they need to be work appropriate! Here are some ideas to get you started: What is the worst Christmas present you have ever received? If money were no object where would you go on your dream holiday? If you could have any job what would it be? If you didn’t need to sleep what would you spend this time doing? Which fashion trend do you hope comes back into style? What gift are you hoping to receive this Christmas?

Whatever you decide to do on your virtual Christmas party then make sure you relax and have fun. It has been a difficult year for everyone and the stresses of coronavirus and day to day life can take their toll. So, pour yourself a glass of something delicious, open up the shortbread and get in full Christmas mode, you deserve it.

Want to know what is happening in your local area this Christmas? Then check out our list of virtual Christmas events in Kent.