17 Fun Zoom Holiday Party Ideas

Zoom holiday party ideas are virtual experiences you can enjoy via the web conferencing platform during seasonal gatherings. Examples include virtual holiday happy hour, holiday Bingo, and cookie decorating party. Zoom’s user-friendly features make the program one of the top options for your virtual gatherings.

These events are similar to virtual Christmas party activities and are online versions of office holiday parties.

This list includes:

  • Zoom office holiday party ideas
  • Zoom holiday party games
  • Zoom holiday office activities
  • Zoom holiday party ice breakers

So let’s get started!

List of Zoom holiday party ideas

From Gingerbread Wars to a virtual holiday happy hour, here are ways to celebrate your work holiday party on Zoom.

1. Gingerbread Games

Gingerbread Games is a fully hosted event available during the holiday season. During this 90-minute experience, you and your colleagues will engage in a super fun gingerbread decorating contest. The host can accommodate remote teams from different parts of the world. However, the host can only ship gingerbread kits within the United States. You can also have cocktail kits shipped to impress your guests.

You and your colleagues will have a lot of fun decorating cookies and playing trivia. Gingerbread Games does not focus on a specific holiday event and is inclusive of all kinds of celebrations.

Learn more about Gingerbread Games.

2. Holiday Bingo

Holiday Bingo is one of the most fun Zoom holiday party games. Bingo remains a popular choice for holiday activities because the game facilitates communication and engagement. To play Bingo on Zoom, prepare a Bingo card and send a printed copy to your group before your party.

Fun holiday Bingo card prompts include:

In most cases, the winner is usually the player that first marks the board horizontally, vertically, diagonally, or completely.

Here is another Christmas Bingo.

3. Virtual Holiday Gift Pack

Giving your guests a holiday gift pack is one of the best ways to get your employees in the holiday spirit. Sending a gift pack ahead of your event will make attendees feel appreciated. The gift you decide to send over is up to you and your guests’ preference. Excellent gift ideas include:

  1. Cookies
  2. Mugs
  3. Hot cocoa mixes
  4. Chocolate
  5. Customized stationery
  6. Desk organizers
  7. Holiday-themed picture frames

You can make the gift box contents align with your event. For instance, if you plan to host a virtual mixology class, then you can send attendees a cocktail kit. In addition, you can send your party’s agenda with the gift box.

Check out holiday care package ideas.

4. Cook-Along Party

Having a Cook-Along Party is one of the best Zoom holiday party ideas to impress your guests. A Cook-Along Party is a session where participants can prepare a meal following a chef’s instructions. You can book a session with a chef in a local catering company or via Airbnb. It would help if you informed guests about the event’s date and time to ensure that participants have enough time to prepare the needed equipment. In most cases, the online catering service will forward a list of ingredients and instructions to attendees ahead of the class.

You might want to set up a poll to determine the meals attendees prefer to make. You can go for festive meals that will ignite the holiday spirit, like mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and green bean casserole. After cooking, you and your colleagues will have enough time to enjoy your meal together virtually. You can run the session as a BYOB or ship your guests’ favorite beverages before your booked session.

5. Virtual Murder Mystery

A Virtual Murder Mystery game is a theatrical activity where guests play various roles in figuring out the character playing the murderer. You can take your time to create an original murder mystery story. However, if you find this task a hassle, then you can download a free script online or use the service of an online game provider.

You can take your time to create an original murder mystery story with a Christmas theme. Here is a great plot: You decided to spend Christmas at your grandfather’s manor, and an elaborate party took place. Families and guests dressed up in their favorite festive outfits. However, news came to you that a special guest went missing after leaving the main venue for the restroom. Later, a worker found the guest’s body covered in blood in the basement. Amidst the chaos and suspicion, your team must find clues to figure out the murderer before time runs out.

However, if you find this task a hassle, then you can download a free script online or use the service of an online game provider.

You should encourage attendees to read over the script before the party, particularly if you plan to run your murder mystery party. You can arrange a virtual host to lead you through the experience and keep players engaged. Also, make sure players turn on their mics so you can hear the characters’ comments and reactions as the plot unfolds. Finally, although optional, you can ask your team members to come dressed up in costumes that befit their character.

Check out holiday murder mysteries.

6. Virtual Chocolate Tasting

A virtual chocolate tasting experience is one of the most fun Zoom holiday office activities. This experience can double as a gift, as employees indulge in tasty truffles and chocolatey treats.

Chocolate tasting experiences often include chocolate-making. Therefore, you and your guests can expect to get hands-on during the session. Even if you do not hire an expert, you can still organize a DIY chocolate tasting session with your colleagues. You must send chocolate tasting kits to guests, create a meeting on Zoom, and share your opinions while you taste the sweet treats. You can host a hot chocolate tasting if you prefer to sip your chocolate.

7. Virtual Dance Party

Organizing a Virtual Dance Party is one of the most fun and budget-friendly ways to keep your guest entertained. To set the mood for your party, you can ask attendees to wear festive gear and have as much disco light as possible in the background. Then, before your party, ask employees to create a playlist of favorite festive songs for the celebration.

Also, you can hire a DJ to live stream music so the group can listen to the songs together. On the other hand, you can ask a team member to volunteer as the host and share their screen with party guests. Zoom has a feature that allows you to share “Music or Computer Sound Only.” Therefore, you can conveniently hear songs played by the host from your own device. You and your colleagues can feel connected even from a distance by hosting a virtual dance party during the holiday.

8. Virtual Holiday Trivia

You can plan a Virtual Holiday Trivia as a part of your party on Zoom. You must plan out the trivia questions and determine the difficulty level. Depending on your celebration, you can ask holiday-related questions like:

  • What do people call the chocolate coin given to children in Hanukkah? Gelt
  • Was the famous song “Jingle Bells” written explicitly for Christmas? No
  • The original St. Nicholas hailed from which country? Turkey
  • What are the three colors peculiar to Kwanzaa? Black, red, and green
  • Does Hanukkah fall on the same day every year? No

You can let the participants play individually or in teams. In the latter case, divide the participants into breakout rooms so that teammates can discuss the questions and answers privately.

Here are Christmas trivia questions.

9. Virtual Holiday Happy Hour

Hosting a Virtual Holiday Happy Hour is among the most exciting Zoom office holiday party ideas. However, happy hour is not complete without drinks. Therefore, you should plan to cover the drinks for your event. First, be sure to confirm if you can ship alcohol to your team member’s geographical location. Also, for your team members who do not take alcohol, you can arrange alternatives like mocktails, hot chocolate mixes, and soda.

You can take your gathering to another level with fun happy hour activities such as virtual this or that, holiday Bingo, and name that tune contest.

10. Cookie Decorating Party

A Cookie Decorating Party is a wonderful tradition that keeps folks together during the holidays. Whether you plan to celebrate Christmas or other holidays, you and your colleagues can have a great time decorating cookies together. Before your event, you can send a gift box to attendees containing cookie decoration essentials, like gingerbread sugar cookies, festive sprinkles, and silicon decorating bottles.

Alongside the gift box, you can also send a guide on how to decorate cookies. During your party, you can let your employees explore their creativity and decorate the cookies in their preferred way. You and your colleagues can show off your creations in the end.

11. Virtual Holiday This or That

Virtual This or That is among the most fun Zoom holiday party ice breakers. In this activity, a designated caller will read out two different options. Then each guest gets to choose an option and discuss their choice. To play Virtual Holiday This or That, you should prepare a list of this or that prompts, such as:

  • Cocoa or cider
  • Real tree or faux tree
  • Snowboarding or ice skating
  • Holiday cookies or gingerbread house
  • White lights or multicolored lights
  • Holiday movies or holiday songs
  • Home for the holidays or travel

You can let guests take turns choosing an option and giving reasons for their choice. Playing this or that is a great way to start your virtual holiday party on Zoom. The activity will certainly break the ice and make attendees more comfortable.

Check out Christmas this or that questions.

12. Name That Tune Contest

Since music heightens the fun during virtual gatherings, you can take your next holiday party to another level with a Name That Tune Contest. In this game, participants have to guess the correct title of a song just either by listening to a short tune or using keywords from the songs. Then the participants will guess the song title, the artist, or the band that produced the song.

To successfully host a Name That Tune Contest:

  1. Prepare a playlist of holiday songs
  2. Curate questions relating to the holiday songs and number the list
  3. After, set the rules for the contest. You can let the first team that raises a hand answer the question
  4. Alternatively, you can let each player or team take turns picking a random number, depending on how many questions you have on your list. Therefore, the question you ask a team will depend on the selected number on your list
  5. Depending on your game rules, you can read out a few keywords from the song
  6. You can share your screen with guests and play an excerpt from the music video without the sound on
  7. The player or team that correctly guesses the most of the title wins the game

You can use holiday-themed songs and melodies to make the experience more fun.

13. Virtual Holiday Scavenger Hunt

Virtual Holiday Scavenger Hunts are one of the most fun Zoom holiday party games. You will need to prepare a holiday hunt template containing items to search for, like:

  • Socks
  • Candy canes
  • An elf on the shelf
  • A wreath
  • An ugly sweater
  • Tinsel
  • Santa Hat
  • Wrapping paper
  • Something that has red and white colors
  • Something that says “let it snow”

The idea is to create a list of items guests can easily find around their homes.

After distributing the template to attendees, divide participants into teams and start the game. When the set time runs out, the team with the most items found wins the game. After an exhilarating scavenger hunt, you can further extend the party to include engaging activities like virtual chocolate, Bingo, or icebreakers.

14. Virtual Carol Karaoke

Planning Virtual Carol Karaoke is one of the exciting Zoom holiday office party ideas. First, run YouTube or karaoke instrumental software on your device. Then share your screen with other participants so the latter can hear the music on their devices. After singing your heart out, you can stop sharing your screen and allow other participants to share theirs and sing.

When a colleague starts singing, ensure other guests mute their microphones. However, when the time to duet or sing as a group comes, then everyone can put on their microphones and share their screens with the lyric video. To make your event fun, you can plan various award categories like the best singer, the funniest singer, and most likely to receive a Grammy.

15. Paint and Sip

A Paint and Sip is one of the most fun Zoom holiday office activities. You and your colleagues can explore your creativity together irrespective of distance. Before the paint and sip session, you can send out a gift package to attendees containing painting supplies like brushes, canvases, and paints.

Next, decide how you want to go about the painting experience. For example, you can partner with an artist or ask an experienced colleague to guide your team through the session. On the other hand, you can follow a step-by-step instructional video displayed on the screen during your Zoom meeting. Also, you would want to decide on the painting to create. The image can be any design that highlights the festive celebration, like your pet wearing a Santa hat, a Christmas tree, or a Hanukkah candle holder painting.

A paint and sip party is incomplete without beverages. Therefore, you can run the event as a BYOB or send a gift pack of your employees’ favorite drinks, from hot chocolate mix to festive wines.

16. Wine Tasting

The holiday season is a perfect time to share wine with team members. However, you can upgrade your experience with a virtual wine tasting rather than merely sipping wine and sharing small talk. During a wine tasting session, you can expand your palette with different wine samples and compare the options. In addition, you can hire an expert sommelier to guide you and your group.

You can also book several virtual wine tasting experiences online. For example, before your scheduled meeting on Zoom, you will likely receive a testing kit containing the wines you will taste. For an extra special touch, send participants branded wine glasses.

17. Virtual Comedy Night

Hosting a virtual comedy night is one of the best Zoom holiday party ideas. You can make the comedy show the focus of your party or as a part of the entertainment. First, you should determine the comedian who will perform at your virtual events. Then, you can check with a local comedy club to find out if the company offers virtual services.

Also, you should understand the kind of comedy your guests will enjoy better, whether musical comedy or clean comedy.

You can also host the virtual comedy night as an open mic. You and your colleagues can have fun channeling your inner comedians and testing if you are funny. You should know the number of guests willing to participate in the open mic. Depending on your event duration, simply allot a time limit for each participant to perform.

Conclusion

The perfect holiday party requires planning and good video conferencing software to be a success. Zoom is one of the most popular choices for virtual holiday parties. You and your colleagues can create beautiful memories from the comfort of your homes. You can taste wine, paint, and sing to celebrate the festive season. You can also plan fun games and icebreakers to get all attendees out of their shells. Of course, the experience you choose to share with your group virtually is up to you. Nevertheless, you can consider these ideas to make your next Zoom holiday party an unforgettable event for attendees.

For more fun, check out holiday Zoom games and virtual holiday games.

FAQ: Zoom holiday party ideas

Here are answers to questions about Zoom holiday party ideas.

What are some good ideas for Zoom holiday parties?

Great ideas for Zoom holiday parties include a cookie decorating party, virtual chocolate tasting, virtual happy hour, holiday Bingo, virtual holiday gift pack, wine tasting, virtual comedy night, paint and sip, virtual dance party, and virtual murder mysteries.

How do you throw a Zoom Christmas party?

To throw a party on Zoom, ensure that you and your guests have the software installed on your devices. Also, consider your event duration. For example, your Christmas party will only last about 40 minutes if you use the free plan offered by Zoom. If you have a longer event, then you can end the minute after 40 minutes and have another participant host the event again. Alternatively, you can use the paid plan to enjoy uninterrupted access for as long as you want. Next, decide on the kinds of experiences, games, and activities to do during your event. After setting a convenient date and time, you can create a meeting and invite your party guests to join. Guests will receive a meeting ID for joining the event on the set date.

How do you make Zoom holiday parties fun?

You would want to ensure you plan the party at a time convenient for all attendees. Also, start your meeting with icebreaker games and questions to make guests comfortable and boost engagement. Then you can introduce fun experiences, ranging from comedy shows to cooking sessions. In addition, if you have a tradition you repeat every Zoom holiday party, then you can try switching things up and introducing new experiences to take your event to another level.

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Author: Carly Hill

Arguably the #1 Christmas fan. I believe it’s never too early to get started decorating your next tree!

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