12 Creative Ways to Celebrate the Holidays with a Remote Team
When your team is spread across different cities or time zones, celebrating together takes extra creativity. In this article, we share ideas on how to celebrate Christmas with your colleagues remotely.
Whether your team is fully remote or hybrid, these ideas will help you share cheer, strengthen bonds, and make everyone feel included, no matter where they’re logging in from.
Fun & Engaging Game Ideas
A 2022 study in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that virtual team games increase fellowship by 40%. Engaging in a non-work, cooperative, or lightly competitive activity creates a "shared emotional experience."
Remote work often makes communication strongly work-oriented: employees talk only about tasks and deadlines. Virtual games and parties break this pattern, allowing colleagues to interact with each other on a new level.
1. Virtual Holiday Trivia Night
Christmas trivia is a shared experience that breaks the monotony of daily work and allows colleagues to see each other's playful sides, strengthening team bonds. Here is how you can organize it.
What Games to Play
Trivia is flexible for different kinds of teams. You can structure the night in several engaging ways:
- Classic individual quiz: A host reads out questions, and colleagues type answers in a chat. It’s perfect for small teams.
- Team-based competition: Use breakout rooms to divide the team into smaller groups. They can collaborate to answer questions together, which is excellent for fostering cross-departmental interaction.
- Rapid-fire rounds: Mix up the pace with quick, 10-second answer rounds on topics like "Name Santa's Reindeer" to keep energy levels high.
- Multimedia rounds: Include holiday songs or screenshots from famous Christmas movies to make the game more dynamic.
What Topics to Try
Ideas for topics are endless and might be connected to your team's culture. Start with something simple and recognizable:
- Christmas movies & TV specials: "What is the name of the narrator in ‘A Christmas Story?’"
- Holiday music: "Which artist recorded ‘Santa Baby’ in 1953?"
- Company-specific fun: "What was the title of our first holiday blog post?" or "How many countries are our team members celebrating from?"
What Platforms to Use
Planning ensures the event is accessible and enjoyable for all. You'll likely need to combine a video call platform with a dedicated trivia tool for the best experience.
- Video call platforms: Zoom or Microsoft Teams are ideal for using breakout rooms for team-based play. Their screen-sharing is perfect for the host to show questions.
- Trivia & game platforms:
✔ Kahoot!: A classic, highly interactive platform where players answer on their smartphones. It’s visually engaging and easy to set up.
✔ Slido: Excellent for building quizzes. It integrates smoothly with Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
✔ QuizBreaker: A fun option that can send quiz questions via email on a schedule.
What Digital Trophies to Award
The prizes should be ridiculous, memorable, and celebrate participation, not just victory. They create inside jokes and provide a tangible token of achievement.
Search for "certificate" or "award" templates on Canva. Customize them with the employee's name, a hilarious award title, and a goofy image. During the ceremony, share your screen and present each one like the Oscars. Create a simple slide for each award. Use dramatic transitions and sound effects for maximum comedic effect.
The Golden Fruitcake Trophy: "Awarded for being incredibly dense with knowledge yet still somehow beloved."
2. Play Secret Santa
Secret Santa provides shared joy, fosters vulnerability, and creates lasting inside jokes. For a remote team, the logistics of a gift exchange are a challenge. Use MySanta — it makes a fun and stress-free event possible.
Step-by-Step Guide to Organizing with MySanta:
1. The organizer sets up the event: A team lead or volunteer creates a new event on the MySanta website or app. They name it, set the budget and establish the deadlines for joining the game and sending gifts.
2. Invite the team: The organizer sends out the unique invitation link to the entire team.
3. Participants join and create profiles: Team members click the link, sign up, and fill out their wishlists with helpful details for their Secret Santa.
4. The draw: On the specified date, the platform automatically performs the random draw and sends each person a message revealing the name of the person they are buying for, along with their wishlist and address.
5. Shopping and shipping: Participants buy and ship their gifts directly to their giftees.
6. The grand reveal: The process culminates in a virtual unwrapping party.
"Best $10 Gift" challenges participants to find the most clever, useful, or hilarious gift within a strict budget.
3. Remote Decorating Contest
This activity transforms solitary holiday preparation into a joyful spectacle. It fosters creativity, encourages vulnerability in a fun and safe way, and provides a sense of shared experience and community in your team.
What to Decorate?
Cookies: A classic and accessible option. You can mail kits with cookies, icing, and sprinkles to employees beforehand.
Christmas Trees: Everyone can show their tree-decorating style.
Workspaces: Decorate your home office or a small corner of your room.
Gingerbread Houses: A more advanced but highly entertaining option.
Digital Backgrounds: For a meta-option, have a contest for the best festive virtual background created in PowerPoint or Canva.
Heartwarming Ways to Connect
Research from the MIT Sloan School of Management shows that employees who feel a sense of social connection at work are more productive, collaborative, and resilient to stress. A shared emotional experience, like the collective joy of a playlist or the shared purpose in volunteering, releases oxytocin, the “bonding hormone”, which builds trust on a biological level.
4. Gratitude & Wins Sharing Session
To reflect on the successes and milestones of the year, conduct a meeting with your colleagues about their professional and personal wins and highlights. It’s important to make it free to participate, so everyone can feel comfortable to share.
This two-part prompt helps to capture the full spectrum of a team member's year.
The professional win: This allows colleagues to showcase their hard work and contributions in a supportive setting. It reinforces their value to the team and the organization.
Examples:
- "I'm proud of finally launching the X project after months of hard work."
- "My win was successfully mentoring our new intern and watching them grow."
- "I became certified in a new software that will help our team immensely."
The personal highlight: It invites colleagues to share a piece of their life outside of work, fostering empathy and understanding.
Examples:
- "My highlight was taking my son on his first camping trip."
- "I finally ran my first half-marathon."
- "I learned how to bake sourdough bread."
The combination of both is crucial. The professional win earns respect, while the personal highlight builds empathy. Together, they create a complete and respected picture of the individual.
5. Make up a Holiday Playlist
Creating a collaborative playlist helps to build an auditory space for your distributed team, share collective joy, nostalgia and positive emotions. It’s easy to execute yet it yields a surprisingly deep return in camaraderie.
Choose the right platform for your playlist. The easiest and most universal tool is Spotify, due to its robust collaborative playlist feature. Apple Music or YouTube Music can also work, though the functionality might be slightly different.
Ask your colleagues to add their favorite songs to the playlist. Their various choices reflect their personality and represent the diversity of the team itself.
Play your Christmas playlist at team meetings for the entire December — at least for 5 minutes. This immediately erases the awkward silence of a waiting room and replaces it with a warm, festive, and familiar welcome.
6. Remote Volunteering
Remote volunteering transforms the team's energy from an internal focus on tasks to an external mission of compassion. By working together to make a tangible difference, team members step out of their defined professional roles and connect on a human level.
The best remote volunteering activities are those that everyone can participate in, regardless of location, time zone, or personal capacity.
Option: Write Cards for Seniors or Isolated Individuals
How it works: Partner with a local nursing home or a hospital in one of your team's communities. Organize a virtual "card writing party" on a video call.
The activity: Ask colleagues to have paper and pens ready. During the call, team members write heartfelt, encouraging messages. They can share what they're writing and for whom, creating a moment of reflection.
Why it's powerful: This activity combats the loneliness experienced by others, allowing the team to engage in empathy and understand the power of their words. It’s creative, personal, and has a direct impact.
Remote volunteering is the ultimate win-win. The community benefits from vital support, and the team benefits from an unparalleled boost in morale, connection, and shared purpose.
Family-Friendly Holiday Ideas for Remote Employees
A 2023 Harvard study found that family-inclusive work events improve employee satisfaction by 34%. Meeting your colleague's children, seeing their creative process, and learning their kids' names breaks down formal barriers. Colleagues are no longer just workers. They are parents and helpers. This builds a deeper, more empathetic team dynamic.
7. Virtual Holiday Craft Hour for Kids & Parents
Create a PDF with a list of 5-10 common household items: construction paper, markers, old magazines, glue, string. Suggest 2-3 craft ideas that can be made from them. Choose activities that are low-mess and engaging for a range of ages:
- ornament-making: decorate pre-made ornaments.
- holiday card decorating: make cards for teachers, grandparents, or friends.
- DIY gift wrap: use brown kraft paper and stamps or drawings to create custom wrapping paper.
8. Holiday Storytime or Puppet Show
Seeing a colleague gently guide their child through a story or cheer them on during a puppet show allows the rest of the team to connect with them on a deep level. It builds empathy and understanding that translates back into better working relationships.
What format options you can use
- Holiday storytime: A team member's child or the whole family reads a favorite holiday book aloud to the group. They can hold the book up to the camera to show the pictures.
- Puppet show: Parents and their kids can use simple socks or handmade puppets, put on a short, holiday-themed skit. This is often a huge hit as it allows for more creativity and humor.
- Dual hosting: Have a charismatic team member act as the host for the event, introducing each family, asking gentle questions, and keeping the energy light.
At the beginning, establish a culture of enthusiastic support. Encourage everyone to use the "reaction" buttons and keep the chat full of positive feedback.
Aim for 30-45 minutes total — it’s the perfect length to maintain the attention of both children and adults.
9. "Show & Tell" Family Traditions
The prompt is intentionally broad to be inclusive of all backgrounds, beliefs and family structures. The key is voluntary sharing in a supportive environment.
What your teammates can share
- A tradition. This could be a cultural ritual like lighting candles on Christmas, a quirky family costume like an annual pajama night or a volunteer activity they do every year.
- A favorite recipe. The story behind a beloved holiday dish is often a story about family, heritage, and love. An employee could explain who taught them to make it, what it symbolizes, and even show the ingredients or the final product.
- A decoration. An ornament, a handmade item, or even a plant like a Christmas cactus can hold a universe of meaning. Sharing the story behind it makes it tangible.
Traditions are deeply tied to positive memories and identity. Talking about them brings up those positive feelings, both for the speaker and the listeners.
Thoughtful Gestures to Make Team Members Feel Valued
A 2023 Gallup study found that employees who feel recognized are 56% less likely to job hunt. This means that making small gestures is more valuable than ever. It links an employee's hard work to a positive outcome, reinforcing productive behaviors and motivating continued excellence.
10. Personalized Holiday Cards or Shoutouts
Send heartfelt messages to your teammates recognizing each person’s contributions. For example, e-cards or shoutouts.
While writing about colleagues’ achievements, be specific. Avoid "You're a great asset." Instead, say: "The way you led the Q4 client presentation was incredible. Your calm under pressure when the demo glitched and your quick thinking saved the deal. Thank you for your dedication."
A heartfelt message is a tangible piece of evidence that one is part of a community that cares. It models the behavior of gratitude and encourages teammates to support each other.
11. Surprise Holiday Care Packages
The core of this idea is the element of surprise and the physicality of the gesture. It’s a deliberate logistical effort that signifies genuine care. The company invests time, thought, and resources into curating, packing, and mailing each package.
A tangible gift stays with the employee. Every time they use it, they are reminded of the company's appreciation, extending the positive feeling long after the holidays.
Gift Ideas
- Custom mugs. Imprinted with a fun team inside joke, a value statement, or simply "World's Best [Job Title]". It’s personal, practical and promotes the brand.
- Gourmet treats. High-quality coffee, hot chocolate, baked goods, or a curated snack box. This appeals to the senses of taste and smell, creating a comforting and indulgent experience.
- Premium company swag. Move beyond cheap t-shirts. Think branded blankets, high-quality water bottles, noise-cancelling headphones, or ergonomic desk accessories. This upgrades the employee's home office experience.
- The "$5 coffee gift card". A small gift card to a local coffee shop paired with a handwritten note is infinitely more impactful than an expensive but impersonal generic gift. It shows individual attention.
12. Flexible Holiday Scheduling
Implementing a policy of flexible scheduling is an act of empathy and strategic leadership. It moves beyond the traditional days off calendar. This approach demonstrates a trust in your team and a commitment to their well-being.
What you can offer to your colleagues
- Half-days: officially sanctioning an early end to the workday for a block of time leading up to the holiday.
- Extended deadlines: a deliberate and proactive review of the pre-holiday workload. Leaders identify non-urgent projects and move their deadlines to January.
- Meeting-free days or weeks: mark specific days, or even entire weeks, as "meeting-free zones." Any meeting that isn't absolutely critical is canceled or postponed.
The benefits of this flexibility create a healthier and more loyal team. Forcing employees to choose between family obligations and work leads to neither being done well. Flexibility eliminates this lose-lose scenario, protecting both well-being and productivity.
Conclusion
Just because your team isn’t in the same room doesn’t mean you can’t make holiday memories together. Whether it’s a silly game night, a heartfelt gratitude session, or a surprise care package, small efforts go a long way in making remote employees feel connected and appreciated. However you celebrate, make it meaningful — because a connected team is the best gift of all.
FAQs
What can you present to a remote colleague playing Secret Santa if they didn't fill out a wish list?
A safe and thoughtful gift for a remote colleague is a digital gift card to a nearly universal platform like Amazon, a popular coffee chain, a food delivery service, or a streaming subscription, as it gives them the flexibility to choose exactly what they want while still feeling personal and convenient.
How do we encourage kids' participation without pressure?
Text the parents during the party and ask them about the children's mood. Tell the kids there’s nothing to be ashamed of or afraid of, no one is judging them. If they don’t feel good to participate actively, offer a calm activity, such as having the host read a holiday story aloud.
Remind the kids that they can turn off a camera or leave the party whenever they want.
What are the low-budget ideas of memorable gifts that a company can present to the remote employees?
The most meaningful and cheap gifts focus on recognition and connection rather than monetary value. Consider sending a personalized, hand-signed holiday card, a digital gift like donating to a cause they care about in their name, or provide a custom-made "Team Champion" digital badge for their email signature or Slack profile.
How do we address time zone differences and scheduling challenges when planning a remote holiday event?
Use scheduling tools like Doodle or When2Meet to find the best time for the majority of your team. Set the meeting time in the two or three most common time zones in your company. Always record the main event, like a speech or game, so anyone who misses it can watch later.
Keep the live event shorter and focused on fun, interactive activities, like a quick toast or sharing holiday wishes, so it’s valuable for those who can attend without being a long commitment. This approach shows respect for everyone’s location and schedule.