Home > Holiday Team Building > Virtual Christmas Games

Updated : December 22, 2023

16 Fun Virtual Christmas Games

Virtual Christmas games are challenges and exercises that can spread the festive spirit remotely with families and friends. Examples include Blind Hot Chocolate Tasting, Christmas Movie Trivia, and Two Truth and One Lie. Playing these games is a great way to stay connected with your remote team during the holiday season.

These activities are similar to virtual holiday games for large groups and holiday Zoom games. You can play these games at virtual Christmas parties.

This list includes:

free virtual Christmas games
remote Christmas games
virtual Christmas games for work
online team Christmas games
Zoom Christmas games for families

So, here we go!

List of virtual Christmas games

From scavenger hunts to Christmas tunes, here are fun games to play at your virtual Christmas party.

1. Festive Scavenger Hunt

A Festive Scavenger Hunt is one of the most fun online team Christmas games. In the activity, players will search around their homes to find requested holiday objects before time expires. Usually, the host will determine if a particular item meets up with the description. To make your hunt stand out, you should instruct players to search for Christmas-centric items.

Examples of such items include:

Fuzzy red or green socks
Jingle bell
An ugly sweater
Tinsel
An elf on the shelf

There are a few different ways to structure the hunt. For example, you can play lightning scavenger hunt style and call out objects one at a time. The first player to show the object onscreen wins points for that round.

On the other hand, you can give each player a list of all the items to find at once. Once the time is up, the hunters will come together to present the items found. Then the player who manages to gather the most items wins the game.

You could also do a blind hunt where participants gather objects they think the host might request. Once the scavenging period ends, players cannot move and must use the items at hand to fulfill the host’s demands.

2. Holly Jolly Presentation

Holly Jolly Presentation is one of the best virtual Christmas work games. This activity requires you and your colleagues to give a presentation on a Christmas-related topic. You can choose any Christmas topic you like, whether funny or gross.

Here are fun presentation topics to fill your gathering with laughter and joy:

Children on the naughty list should not get presents
How to decorate a Christmas tree faster
How eggnog and cookies are taking over hot chocolate
Best ways to evade Santa’s naughty list
Why everyone needs an ugly sweater

Participants can present in teams or individually. Be sure to give participants enough time before your meeting to prepare their presentations. The presenter can prepare slides to give visual illustrations while sharing their screen. At the end of the meeting, you can award prizes to the best presenters. Aside from celebrating the festive season, this game can boost your teammates’ communication skills.

3. Put a Finger Down Christmas Edition

Put a Finger Down Christmas Edition is one of the most fun virtual Christmas games for work. The game begins with all players raising their hands. Next, the host will call out several actions, starting with the word “put a finger down if.”

For instance, put a finger down if:

You built a snowman this holiday
You participated in a snowball fight
You decorated a gingerbread house
You made a snow angel
You attended a winter-themed festival
You watched “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
You already finished your holiday shopping
You lost a glove, scarf, or winter hat
You hosted a holiday party
You took a picture for a family Christmas card
You are already sick of Christmas carols

A player will put down one finger for every action personally experienced. The first player to bring all their fingers down wins the game. You can also opt for the variation where the player with the most fingers still up wins. This game is a great icebreaker and works great for almost any virtual celebration, including Christmas parties.

4. Christmas Costume Contest

The Christmas period is a perfect season to play dress-up with your friends. Whether you host an elaborate Christmas party or casually meet with colleagues, you can host a costume contest to create a memorable experience.

First, you should decide how to determine the winner. You can let attendees vote for the winners using the polling feature, or recruit judges. Rather than having an overall winner, you can select the best dressed in different categories, like the most creative, funniest, and festive costumes. Also, you can create a virtual photo booth to capture your group members’ outstanding outfits.

Check out more Christmas contest ideas.

5. Virtual Secret Santa

Virtual Secret Santa is one of the best remote Christmas games. This is a fun activity where players exchange gifts anonymously.

To play Virtual Secret Santa:

Ask your group members if they have an interest in the activity
Each participant will send their name alongside their wishlist to the host
Also, set a price limit on gifts included in participants’ wishlists. This step will make the activity convenient for everyone in your group
Encourage participants to describe their gifts properly and include relevant information like sizes, allergies, and colors
Pick a date for the gift exchange and create a meeting on your preferred web conferencing tool
Use an online app like Elfster, Sneaky Santa, and DrawNames for participants to randomly draw names
Alternatively, the host can privately assign a name and wishlist to each participant
After drawing names, have the gifts mailed to the recipients
On the selected day, you and your colleagues can meet virtually to unwrap the gifts together
Then each player will try to guess who their secret Santa was

To help the secret Santas stay undercover, you can ask the gifters to write the host’s address on the package’s return label. Therefore, the host can send gifts back to the recipient when returned. Or, teammates can order from online retailers and write “from Secret Santa” on the gift note.

Check out this guide to virtual gift exchanges.

6. Name That Christmas Song

Name That Christmas Song is one of the most fun games to play virtually with colleagues and friends online.

To play:

Prepare a list of favorite classic carols and holiday songs
List out important keywords from each song or download a short audio clip
Appoint a group member to act as the game host
The host will give a hint to a particular carol, either by mentioning a few keywords or playing an excerpted tune without lyrics
Players will try guessing the name of the carol. The first player to make a correct guess wins a point

You can also award points for correctly guessing the songwriter, album, and artist name. In the end of the game, add the points and crown the participant with the highest score as the winner.

7. Christmas Movie Trivia

Christmas Movie Trivia is one of the most fun virtual Christmas games to play with your remote team and families. The game involves a host asking questions relating to a Christmas Movie. You would want to craft the questions from favorite holiday movies your group members are familiar with.

For example:

What does Ralphie call his dad in “A Christmas Story?” The old man
In “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” what is the Grinch’s dog’s name? Max
In what movie did Santa appear in court to defend himself as to whether or not he is truly Santa? Miracle on the 34th Street
The protagonist in “The Polar Express” received what kind of gift from Santa? A bell
What is the first rule of The Code of Elves in the movie “Elf?” Treat every day like Christmas

You can let participants play individually or in teams, particularly if you have a larger group. Then the first person to type or say the correct answer wins a point. When the game ends, sum up all points. The player with the highest score wins.

Kahoot! is another easy way to facilitate trivia online.

Here are Christmas trivia questions.

8. Christmas Typing Speed Race

Typing Speed Race is a game where you and your colleagues compete in typing the highest number of words within a set time. You can challenge your colleagues to a typing race on a free typing test website. You can even play the typing race as a relay by dividing participants into groups. Each group can create a Christmas-centric team name, like Fastest Elves, Team Rudolph, and Noel It All.

After taking the test, participants can post their results through email or on your company’s message board. Then add up the cumulative scores to figure out the winning group. Christmas Typing Speed Race is one of the best virtual Christmas games for work. You can play the game during a coffee break or a casual gathering with your team. The activity can help improve your typing skills.

Pro tip: To make this activity more Christmas-y, challenge participants to type out Christmas carol lyrics or holiday stories.

9. Cookie Decorating Contest

You and your colleagues can have a great time virtually while competing to decorate the most festive cookies. This friendly competition is a fun team-building activity to get your colleagues into a festive spirit.

You can follow these steps to host an exciting cookie decorating contest:

Pick a theme for the competition to help you select the right cookie cutter and edible decorations
Send a cookie recipe to participants ahead of your event
Also, you can surprise your guests with a gift box containing cookies and a decoration kit
Decide on the video conferencing platform to use, including the date for the contest
Have fun with your colleagues decorating the cookies over your favorite wine or hot chocolate

You and your colleagues can vote for the participant with the best-decorated cookie. Also, give attendees a chance to show off their cookies before eating.

10. Ugly Sweater Competition

Ugly sweaters are almost inseparable from Christmas. By hosting an ugly sweater contest, you can get your families and friends in the holiday spirit. The competition can run as a stand-alone event or as a part of your virtual party. You should first decide on the video conferencing software to use. Zoom, WebEx, and Microsoft Teams are great options. Also, ensure you explain the contest’s requirements to attendees while sending invites.

In addition, be sure to lay down the procedures for determining the ugliest sweater. Before announcing the winner, you can give attendees a chance to say a few words about their ugly sweaters. This short discussion will be an excellent icebreaker for the event. Furthermore, you can create an online photo booth to take festive pictures with your colleagues.

You can also make the game more spontaneous and challenge players to create ugly sweaters by decorating regular sweaters with lights, bows, felt, garland, and other random objects during the call. You can even turn the game into a race and call out prompts like “snowman sweater!” or “tree sweater!”

11. Virtual Christmas Pictionary

Virtual Christmas Pictionary is one of the exciting Zoom Christmas games for families. To play this game, you will need a digital whiteboard accessible to all participants. If you host your meeting on Zoom, then you can use the built-in whiteboard feature on the software. Also, show your teammates a tutorial on using whichever digital whiteboard you choose. You can appoint a neutral team member to be the moderator and keep score.

Furthermore, you can use a word generator to get random words for the game. The first team to play will present a volunteer who will attempt to draw out a randomly selected word on the digital whiteboard. Then other players on the same team will try guessing the word before time runs out. If the players make a correct guess, then the team wins a point. When the game ends, the team with the most points emerges as the winner.

You can play the game for as many rounds as you would love before deciding on the winner.

12. Christmas Two Truths and One Lie

Two Truths and One Lie is a popular icebreaker game you can also play with a Christmas theme. In this game, a player will mention three experiences related to Christmas or the holiday. However, the player only experienced two of these experiences, while the third one never happened.

You and your colleagues can take turns guessing which statement is true and which is false. Then the players who guess correctly win a point. You can also play the game in a “two lies and one truth” variation. Regardless of the variation you play, you and your group members will have a fun experience and hilarious moments to share.

13. Spin the Wheel

Spin the Wheel is among the free virtual Christmas games. This game allows you to take your Christmas activities that involve icebreaker questions to another level. You can use an online spinner wheel creator tool to fill in all players’ names on a wheel for free.

Then prepare a list of Christmas icebreaker questions or requests like:

What does your favorite ugly sweater look like?
You have 15 seconds to mention ten Christmas movies
Make another player tell a short Christmas story
What is your favorite part of Christmas?

When you spin the wheel and the arrow lands on a player’s name, that player must answer the question. Be sure to include prompts your colleagues are comfortable with.

14. Virtual Christmas Charades

Virtual Christmas Charades is one of the best virtual Christmas games that can add great fun to your remote events. In this game, you will try to guess words that your friends are acting out. However, the words that your friends gesture will have a Christmas theme. Prompt categories might include Christmas movie characters, carols, or Christmas food.

You and your friends should take turns acting and guessing the words behind your gestures. Be sure to spotlight the “mime” so that this player appears large on center screen, rather than being a small box in gallery view. You can decide to play Christmas Charades with no winner at the end. But if you plan to have a winner, then you can award points for each correct guess.

15. Christmas Emoji Quiz

Christmas Emoji Quiz is a fun game you can play online without using a video conferencing platform. The game’s rules are pretty straightforward.

To play:

Create a group chat on any platform and add your group members
Explain the rules of the games to participants
Let participants play in order of the first letters of their names
The first player will describe a Christmas-related idea using emojis
You cannot use words in place of any emoji, except if you decide to waive this rule
Each player has three chances to guess the correct word
The first player to guess correctly emerges as the winner

You can choose a particular idea to focus on to make the game easier. For instance, 🔥 🍫 hot chocolate and 🎄🍪🍪 Christmas cookies. You can use emojis to describe a Christmas movie’s title, a movie character, or even a Christmas song.

16. Blind Hot Cocoa Tasting

Doing a Blind Hot Cocoa Tasting is one of the best remote Christmas games. This game will surely excite participants, especially if your group members are hot chocolate fans. Before your scheduled virtual gathering, you can ship various hot chocolate flavors to your group members in unlabelled packages. For easy identification, label the hot chocolate mixes with sequential numbers.

During your virtual meeting, you and your colleagues can start by preparing the chocolate mixes together. You would want to prepare different mixes in separate mugs. Also, you can label the cups with the exact numbers of the hot chocolate mixes added inside. Then each participant will taste the same chocolate mix and guess the beverage’s flavor or brand. The host will take note of everyone’s guesses. In the end, you can award a gift to the participants who made most of the correct guesses.

Conclusion

Christmas is a time of joy and festive cheer. Many folks use this season to stay connected with families and coworkers. If you have a remote team, then you can get your colleagues into the Christmas spirit by playing fun Christmas games. These games are an excellent add-on to your virtual Christmas parties or end-of-year meetings. Also, you can play the games during a coffee break or any random meeting with employees. You should pick a game that aligns with your group’s interests. But if your colleagues are open to trying new things, then there is no harm in trying as many Christmas games as possible.

Learn about more holiday team building ideas.

FAQ: Virtual Christmas games

Here are answers to questions about virtual Christmas games.

What are virtual Christmas games?

Virtual games are activities, exercises, and challenges you can do on a remote platform. Depending on your selected game, you can use video conferencing software or even a group chat on a social media platform. These games are great for improving communication at work and spending quality time with families.

What are some good Zoom Christmas games to play at work?

Zoom provides an opportunity to play different Christmas games at work. Examples include Holly Jolly Presentation, Name That Christmas Song, Christmas Typing Speed Race, Christmas Movie Trivia, Christmas Costume Contest, and Virtual Christmas Pictionary.

What are the best online games for families?

The best online games for families are Festive Scavenger Hunt, Christmas Emoji Quiz, Blind Hot Cocoa Tasting, Cookie Decorating Contest, Name That Christmas Song, Christmas Charades, and Virtual Christmas Pictionary.