Virtual team celebrations are a fun way of boosting morale and even employee engagement. With the holiday season creeping up on us, it’s smart to get ahead of some virtual team celebration ideas.
Below are some virtual team celebration ideas that spell out CELEBRATION. Literally. (You know me and acronyms.)
So get ready to roll out these virtual celebrations with your remote employees and have a blast in the next couple of months.
See Related: 4 Ways To Stay Calm Under Pressure At Work
Quick Glance
Take a look at these virtual team CELEBRATION ideas to inspire your next round of virtual events:
- Come together with a virtual cooking class
- Enjoy your team’s success by celebrating unexpected days
- Let your hair down with virtual happy hours
- Escape to a virtual retreat with your remote teams
- Bust a move at your virtual team dance party
- Reward team members with a virtual team award show
- Arrange a virtual gift exchange for a virtual celebration
- Try your hand at online games to make remote work more enjoyable
- Incorporate a group chat into the mix to keep the virtual events going
- Own your online parties with the right emcee to help you pull them off
- Now, let the virtual team celebration begin
Virtual Team CELEBRATION Ideas
With the right emcee leading your virtual events, you’ll have remote team members asking for these kinds of events year-round.
#1. Come together with a virtual cooking class
It’s not unusual for team members to share a meal, especially when coming together to celebrate. But when every team member is in a different location, sharing a meal can suddenly become very hard.
Rather than give up in defeat, instigate a video call and enroll your team members in an online cooking class. You can send out the ingredients to team members ahead of time.
That way, the whole virtual team will get to enjoy the same meal. Besides, it’ll give certain team members the chance to show off their culinary skills!
#2. Enjoy all types of special occasions
The holidays are among us. But you can have virtual team celebrations any time of the year. Simply choose from this list of unexpectedly real holidays:
World Penguin Day
World Penguin Day is coming up in April 2023. Hire an emcee to make your virtual meeting one that gets down to business and one that celebrates one of the most unique birds on the planet.
International Burger Day
Next up in May, we have International Burger Day. As America’s most iconic food, it’s only fitting it receives its own national holiday.
You can even use this as an opportunity to share some icebreakers with virtual team members. What ingredients do they like to put on their burgers?
What vegetarian options are out there that you haven’t thought of yet? Already, you can see just how animated the conversation can become from these simple questions.
World Animal Day
World Animal Day just passed us at the beginning of October. But with Halloween coming up, you can resurrect this day of animal awareness and encourage team members to show up to the meeting in costume!
World Art Day
World Art Day also occurs in April. But you can use this as a jumping-off point to ask coworkers about their favorite works of art or artists.
As you can see, these virtual team celebration ideas aren’t just about finding any holiday to celebrate. It’s about fostering connections with your team members.
And if you don’t have a corporate emcee to do just that, then these icebreakers will give you a headstart.
World Mental Health Day
Mental health is something we all need to prioritize in our lives. So why not introduce World Mental Health Day to your coworkers and set aside a day to practice some wellness activities?
This kind of bonding exercise is great for reminding your team members to care for themselves. After all, a team that’s mentally fit is the best kind to get things done.
#3. Let your hair down with a virtual happy hour
There are plenty of online tools out there to help you connect with your colleagues. But sometimes, sharing a cocktail or mocktail is the perfect way to unwind and celebrate.
celebrate your team members with A cocktail shake-up
To make the night a little more interactive, you can always plan a Cocktail Shake Up. This virtual game is simple.
Each team member receives a package full of ingredients. Then, team members get to enjoy a drink tutorial on the video call, shaking up their cocktail/mocktail kit to raise their glasses in a toast.
#4. Escape the daily grind with a virtual escape room
Virtual escape rooms offer an exciting way for team members to collaborate while indulging in a fun activity. Even if they’ve never done an escape room before, a virtual escape room is a great way to ease into it.
Virtual escape rooms foster collaboration and team building
Virtual celebrations aren’t just about fun and games. They can actually be about training team members in acquiring new skill sets.
An escape room is a great way to get team members to communicate and collaborate. Sure, it’s a fun game that takes you on an online trip to a spooky haunted mansion or a 1950s diner.
But that doesn’t mean your coworkers can’t still work on their team-building skills at the same time! Consider it two birds with one stone.
Bonus: 9 Things To Expect From Your Event Staff
#5. Break out the moves with a virtual dance party
When you’re working remotely, it can be difficult to find ways to stay active throughout the day. After all, you’re not running from one meeting room to another.
You’re just clicking an Invite link to open up Zoom. But a dance party can offer remote employees the chance to let their hair down (metaphorically speaking).
And if your office isn’t full of a bunch of movers and shakers, there are plenty of creative ways to get everyone involved. Remember those dancing Elf eCards everyone used to send around?
Get your coworkers to paste their faces on a dancing elf and they can join in on the fun!
#6. Recognize achievements among your virtual team with a virtual awards show
It’s important to take stock of the milestones you’ve crossed as a company. Even if those milestones are small, celebrating them gives the whole team a morale boost.
You can even make up fun awards like, “Best Microsoft Teams Coordinator,” or even a “Per My Last Email” to shake things up a bit. This can give folks a good laugh while also reminding them that their efforts are continually appreciated.
While the holidays offer a time of reflection, this kind of recognition can happen year-round. In fact, it should!
Studies show that employee recognition benefits not only those who are awarded as the best performers. But even the potential of receiving a reward increases all workers’ performance ability.
#7. Arrange a virtual gift exchange
A gift exchange is a staple of any office during the holiday season. But just because your office has gone virtual doesn’t mean you can’t partake in the gift-giving process.
Assign each team member another team member to anonymously gift to. And these gifts don’t need to be expensive – they can even be sent electronically!
Then, as the virtual team celebration rolls out, have folks open up their anonymous gifts on the call. You can even make it fun, having team members guess who gifted what to who.
#8. Take your virtual party on the road with a virtual trip
It sure would be nice to treat the office to an outing. Well, you still can with a virtual trip!
Take your coworkers on a tour of a museum or even a holiday destination to make it all the more festive. If you have team members who are already working across the world from each other, consider asking each member to show off something unique about their locale.
These kinds of virtual tours can build a sense of community among your virtual teams. Besides, that’s what these virtual team celebrations are all about.
#9. Indulge in party games galore with a board game night
You’d be surprised at how many online versions of board games there are. Games like Clue, Codenames, and Do You Know Me can easily be found with any Google search.
All you have to do is organize your team around a time and get to playing!
#10. Online celebrations need online emcees too
If these kinds of celebrations aren’t quite your speed, you can always reach out for help. Virtual emcees know just how to keep everyone engaged while keeping the event moving along.
Whether it’s a corporate holiday party or simply a chance to get to know your remote employees better, a good emcee can surely help your cause.
I like to meet with clients before the virtual event itself to make sure I know their event goals. This way, my emcee style can be uniquely catered to their specific group.
Good emcees will follow suit. So as you look around for hired emcees, make sure they’re going to put in the right amount of effort to make your virtual team celebrations unforgettable!
#11. Now, keep the virtual team CELEBRATION ideas going!
A sign of a successful event is when coworkers can’t stop talking about it. So keep the celebrations going with these virtual ideas!
GIVE Social media shout-outs to each team member
Create a group chat if you haven’t already for your virtual team and highlight individual members for their efforts. These small recognitions can boost morale along the way and remind folks that communicating their gratitude is an important part of your office culture.
Create a highlight reel for your remote team
Thanks to TikTok, reels are all the rage. So why not compile your team’s highlights into a reel to share with folks throughout the year?
This is a creative way of capturing your team’s success, reminding them to take stock of all that they’ve accomplished.
Make a team timeline
If you want to make the above option a little more collaborative, opt for a team timeline. Use group-sharing programs like Adobe Spark for folks to commemorate the history of their team throughout the year.
Look back on this timeline to see just how far you’ve come. And enjoy all of the small celebrations that folks add for a little burst of personality from each team member.
I can guarantee you that you’ll look at this timeline time and time again (no pun intended). When it comes to community-building, this kind of virtual database can inspire folks to see just how much they’re capable of doing, even when working with folks remotely.
Final thoughts
There are plenty of ways to put the CELEBRATION into your virtual team activities. These ideas merely skim the surface.
But with the right emcee by your side, any of the ideas above will be an absolute hit. Coworkers may even ask for these types of events to happen more often!
So give the office what it wants and infuse the spirit of CELEBRATION into your office culture year-round.
Keep Reading: 13 Tips For Designing An Event-Planning Agenda
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Adam Christing has been called “The Tom Brady of emcees.” He has hosted more than 1,000 company meetings, special events, gala celebrations, and more. He is the author of several books and founder of CleanComedians.com. For more event tips, follow Adam Christing on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
