2020 has been a whirlwind of a year and everyone – especially your employees – need a breather. With work from home arrangements and social distancing becoming more common, the traditional office holiday party is being shelved in favour of something safer, such as virtual events. Holiday parties remain an important tool for engaging employees and retaining them for the long haul.
The good news is that you can still create an engaging New Year’s Eve party that relieves stress, boosts employee morale, and fosters team bonding regardless of proximity.
We’ve narrowed down 8 tips that can make your virtual New Year party more exciting and less boring.
1. Create Something
Creating something over a Zoom call can be a fun way of entertaining employees and connecting virtually. One way to do this is to send employees something to make during the virtual event. The most trending idea in 2020 is to send employees tools for a gingerbread house that everyone assembles together. At the end of the session, give a gift to whoever made the best one.
Alternatively, you can send them ingredients (or funds to procure them) to make something delicious. Better yet, hire a chef to team them how to cook the recipe. These exercises have a hands-on component to them that can have various benefits, including improved morale and mindfulness.
2. White Elephant Gift Exchange (virtual)
While the last idea focused on creating something for virtual partygoers, a White Elephant gift exchange is about trying to recreate your holiday gift traditions in a virtual format. Consider sending all employees a gift (or cash) to demonstrate your gratitude for their hard work. These presents can be mailed just in time for the virtual event.
There are many tools and services that let you do this. One way is to ask a team member to pair employees with each other, or use an online generator that makes random pairs so that everyone can participate. Ask all employees to mail their wrapped gift to their team member one week prior to the party and consider footing the bill for the gift exchange.
This works best if the participants open their gifts during the virtual party, and not a day before. If everyone sent their gifts anonymously, ask each teammate to guess the person behind their gift. The element of surprise and suspense can keep the event exciting.
3. Corporate Talent Show
Celebrate your employees’ achievements and strengths planning a corporate talent show. You can consider any themed event for the New Year, such as a lip-sync contest or karaoke, or keep it open-ended to invite opinions from everyone.
Another fun idea is to host a costume contest or a pet talent show. This is a light-hearted way for your teammates to show off their skills and get to know each other while having fun.
Another good idea is to ask guests to submit their shoutouts for their teams in advance. You can also create your own nominations and awards programs. This can include awarding fun titles such as “Maestro of Mayhem” or “The Voice of Reason”. Make sure to highlight the strengths of your employees and expressing gratitude for their efforts so they feel appreciated. You can share awards via presentations, official trophies, emails, and even just a verbal mention.
4. Game Night
Make the virtual event more exciting planning a friendly competition through a series of virtual games. You can participate in many team building activities including bingo, trivia, escape rooms, charades, murder mystery, scavenger hunts, and more. Use event planning services like Seven Events to put together the perfect virtual New Year’s Eve holiday party where your participants can compete and interact with each other.
Our favourite activities are to use online multiplayer games to create a fun, engaging experience for your team, even if gaming isn’t their hob. A good idea is to use a virtual escape game room that your team can play together. Winners get a memorable prize.
5. Hire Talent from Outside
Hire an entertainer from outside who can to put together a virtual show for your team to enjoy and relax. DJs, musicians, comedians, and caricaturists are some examples of talented interactive artists who are available for your virtual holiday party.
In the same vein, you can also hire an expert to teach a fun new skill to your employees, something light-hearted and fun such as cooking or drawing. Make sure there aren’t any serious rules to follow so that everyone can take part without feeling pressured.
6. Include the Whole Family
Work-from-home arrangements mean that family may end up becoming a part of your virtual party. So try planning an activity that can everyone involved, such as a movie night. Your company can purchase tickets for everyone to watch a movie together. If the company is large, you can create breakout rooms on Zoom for different movies.
Another good idea is to send employees funds to spend on dinner and drinks with their family. Then ask your employees to send their photos or videos of how they spent the funds on their friends and family. Next, put together a collage of pictures and videos to present after the holiday.
7. Give an Experience Instead of a Gift
Swap gift-giving for something more impactful and memorable such as giving your employees an interesting experience. Some good ideas are arts and crafts, movie tickets, museum passes, national park passes, and other adventures events. You could also gift a membership to a streaming platform to help your team enter the new year with renewed vigour and enthusiasm.
8. Virtual Voluntering for a Social Cause
Many people are stretched thin for resources and are really struggling to make ends meet. You can make a difference collectively donating money and food to help those in need. Give everyone a day off from work so they can volunteer with local food banks, shelters, or soup kitchens. Alternatively, you could organize a wrapping party to wrap all the gifts in a pretty package before drop off.
You could also do some career counselling to aspiring professionals who want to enter your line of work.
Wrapping Up
Whatever you and your company decide to do, it is clear that holding a holiday party, even a virtual one, gives you an opportunity to connect with your employees, increase team morale, and make sure everyone has a good time. The virtual New Year party will be a great opportunity for everyone to reflect on the past year and prepare for the new year to come.
Author Bio
Sarah Hill is a content writer at Seven Events Ltd, leading conference organiser in Birmingham offering virtual events, corporate event management and venue finding services. She started her career in the events industry almost a decade ago as time progressed she became an avid event blogger sharing her insight on corporate event planning.
