Today I will be sharing THREE (easy and fun) games that will work for any "Virtual Christmas Party". Use your favorite video conferencing tool (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Facetime, etc.) to connect and celebrate with your family, friends or co-workers.
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My employer is considered "essential" so we have had a small staff in office for the entire Covid pandemic. I was approved to be "in office", so my time has been split (part-time work from home/part-time in office); however the majority of my co-workers have been at home entirely for the last nine months.
In hindsight, we were a little ahead of the curve when the small office staff hosted a virtual Cinco de Mayo party on May 5th. Everyone had a good time touching base, sharing a virtual cocktail, and playing a couple of easy games. At that time, we expected to be "back to normal" by mid-summer. We never dreamed that our pandemic office separation would last so long! We are now planning our virtual Christmas party, so I thought I would share some tips and games for you to consider playing.
Office Party Hints
For both events, we delivered a box of "goodies" to their homes a few days before the party. For Christmas, we added one of these headbands/glasses to the box to go along with the ugly sweater they've been asked to wear.
Since we won't be having a regular party, we are also enclosing the gifts they would have found on their desk in years past. In our case, delicious Abdallah Sea Salt Caramels and a bottle of wine/liquor.
Game #1 - Easy Family Feud for Christmas
This is one of my favorite party games ever (live or virtual)! I've created four or five different versions of this game for my co-workers over the years and without fail people come up to me after the party saying they had fun. (This is a pretty big deal, because I mainly work with very quiet, deep-thinking introverts.)
The basic idea is that everyone answers the same ten questions and tries to come up with the "number one" answer for each. Even dyed-in-the wool "game-haters" can tolerate (and even enjoy) this game. If you are sending a box, you could print the answer sheet and include it with a pen or they can just take a piece of paper and number it from one to ten on their own. I will link a Christmas and non-Christmas version for you.
Note: One of the party planners will need to be the game show host, and that person should keep the details/answers secret so everyone else can play the game.
Game #2 - Paper Plate Picture Game
We are going to play this game next week. In our box, we will be enclosing a couple of "thicker" paper plates and a Sharpie. As an example, our office buys plates in bulk from Office Depot Business that look like this:
There is a little coating and a pattern on the front, but we will be flipping them over and writing on the back. We are using a Sharpie because we think the pictures will show up better on camera.
The basic premise is to put the paper plate upside down on your head. The game show host will call out step-by-step instructions for the contestants to draw using a Sharpie (or a pen/pencil).
Note: If you play this game with children, just have them "lift" their writing instrument off the plate between instructions. To make if more difficult for adults, they should put their arm down by their side after each instruction. Test this out ahead of time and see how it goes...
Because my office has 15 "contestants", we plan to draw three names at a time and play five different "heats". We use Microsoft Teams, so after the pictures are completed, we will ask the three contestants to each hold their individual masterpiece up to the camera. (The office prize committee ended up choosing the winner.)
There will be three ugly sweater prize bags sitting on the table. The person with the "best" drawing gets first choice of the gift bags. Second place picks between the remaining two bags, and third place gets the final prize bag. Note: You will need a "Vanna" type person to excitably reveal the prizes after they've each chosen a bag.
Gifts: In our case, everyone will end up with an equal gift card (after the party they will get to choose between Amazon, Target and Home Depot; however they won't know that yet)!
For each set of three ugly sweater gift bags, we will rotate a fake $50 gift card to Amazon, a fake $25 gift card to Target and a gag gift.
There are tons of gag gift ideas on Pinterest, but I will share what we are doing for our five heats...
Gag Gift Ideas:
- Elf Snot (gross, but funny - attach tag over pickle relish label)
- Toilet Paper (in case you get CRAP for Christmas)
- Snowman Poop (fill a small bag with mini marshmallows)
- Candy Cane "Puzzle" (small bag with a broken candy cane inside)
- Root Beer/Beans (for a rootin' tootin' Christmas)
Here is the free printable for the Rootin' Tootin' gift tag that we used.
Guess who will be the game show host at our party? I will write out the step-by-step drawing instructions for our five heats so you get the idea. The steps are purposely mixed up to make it a little more difficult.
Remember, adults should drop their arm to at least shoulder level between steps. This is a fun, non-threatening game, because no one's "artwork" will actually look very good*. 😆
Heat #1: Let's draw a snowman!
"Draw a large circle for the base of your snowman." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a medium circle for the middle of your snowman." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a head on your snowman." (lift Sharpie)
"Put three coal buttons on his chest." (lift Sharpie)
"Your snowman is wearing a top hat." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw two eyes made out of coal." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a stick arm on each side of your snowman." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a carrot nose on your snowman." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw five pieces of coal for a smile on your snowman." (Done!)
Heat #2: Let's draw a Christmas tree!
"Draw a Christmas tree shape with branches." (lift Sharpie)
"Put a shining star on the top of your tree." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a trunk on the bottom of your tree." (lift Sharpie)
"Hang five round ornaments on your tree." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw three presents with bows under your tree." (lift Sharpie)
"Hang three small striped candy canes on your tree." (Done!)
Heat #3: Let's draw an Elf!
"Draw a round head for your elf." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw two pointy ears on the elf's head." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a little neck with a rectangle for the body." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a pointy collar at his neckline." (lift Sharpie)
"Attach two skinny legs with pointy elf shoes." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a pom-pom at the tip of each shoe." (life Sharpie)
"Draw two arms wearing mittens." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw two eyes with eyebrows on your elf." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a pointy hat with a pom-pom on your elf." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a nose and a smiling face on your Elf." (Done!)
Heat #4: Let's draw Santa!
"Draw a round head for Santa." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw two arms and a jacket on Santa." (lift Sharpie)
"Put a hand at the end of each arm." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw two legs with boots on Santa." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a belt with a large buckle under Santa's belly." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw two eyes with bushy eyebrows on his face." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a floppy Santa hat with a Pom-Pom on his head." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw hair and a beard on your Santa." (lift Sharpie)
"Add a round nose and a smiling mouth." (Done!)
Heat #5: Let's draw a Fireplace with Stockings!
"Draw a large fireplace with a square opening." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw bricks on your fireplace." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw a mantle on your fireplace." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw two stacked logs in your fireplace." (lift Sharpie)
"Add a fire with flames on top of the logs." (lift Sharpie)
"Draw some draped garland on your mantle." (lift Sharpie)
"Hang two stockings on your fireplace." (Done!)
*Post-party Note: We had one artistic "ringer" draw their paper plate picture ahead of time (the fireplace, only the two of us knew). During the game, he stacked an empty paper plate on top of his beautiful (already finished) picture. He actually did draw as the instructions were called out, BUT he held the pre-drawn plate up to the camera afterwards. There was an audible gasp at how good his picture was, until they started saying, "No way!" It was funny! Then he showed his two pics side by side for another laugh!
Game #3 - Bingo
If you choose this option, you will need to enclose a unique printed Bingo card in the boxes that are delivered ahead of time. We played this game at our virtual Cinco de Mayo party and it worked well.
Our version used pictures instead of letter/number combinations, so after I read the card, I also held the picture up to the camera. We only played one game, so they simply made an "X" on their card each time they had a match. However, if you want to play multiple games, enclose extra game cards OR include a couple of packages of Smarties candy for markers.
Etsy has inexpensive, darling Bingo games that you download and print yourself (for any occasion). I will link a couple of cute examples that would work for Christmas.
Note: The downloads typically come with Bingo markers that you can print and cut out; however buying a bag of candy is easier in my opinion.
It is my hope that these virtual games will help you "team build" with your co-workers or reconnect with your family and friends this holiday season!
Let me know if you have any questions. 💖 Karen
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