16 Hybrid Christmas Ideas, Games & Activities for Work
Hybrid Christmas ideas are holiday activities for groups with members meeting both in-person and online. These celebrations may take place between dispersed teams, international teams, or groups that contain traveling team members. The purpose of these gatherings is to inspire camaraderie and promote unity between in-office and remote colleagues. These ideas are a type of holiday team building and are similar to virtual holiday party ideas, virtual Christmas games and office Christmas parties.
From movie nights to holiday parties to seasonal speed dating, here is a list of Christmas activities for hybrid teams to get employees near and far into the holiday spirit.
| Activity Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Xmas Photo Scavenger Hunts | Picture-based treasure hunt activities where players receive prompts and capture photos. |
| Gingerbread Games | A creative, competitive, and festive 90-minute virtual event using real gingerbread cookies. |
| Secret Santa | A holiday workplace tradition using websites to coordinate gifts for remote and in-person participants. |
| Fully Hosted Virtual Holiday Party | A facilitated 90-minute event involving seasonal trivia, treasure hunts, and lightning rounds. |
| Holiday Trivia | One of the best games for hybrid holiday parties, allowing for maximum mingling between participants. |
| Gingerbread Decorating | A hands-on activity using kits that helps virtual teammates feel included in the action. |
List of Hybrid Christmas ideas, games & activities
1. Xmas Photo Scavenger Hunts
Xmas Photo Scavenger Hunts are picture-based treasure hunt activities. Players receive prompts and must capture photos of the listed items. Participants can either take new photos, or submit older photos. You can play the game live and give teams a time limit to complete the challenge. Or, to accommodate teams in different schedules and timezones, you can run the activity over the course of a week or two and ask participants to upload submissions to a shared album or social media.
2. Gingerbread Games
Let our team bring a little real life into your hybrid virtual holiday party this season! We’ll ship your group real gingerbread people and tree cookies, then host your team for an epic gingerbread showdown. Your group will love this creative, competitive, and festive 90-minute virtual event that’s great for hybrid groups!
3. Secret Santa
Even if you work in a hybrid office, you can enjoy this holiday workplace tradition. To host a hybrid Secret Santa exchange, first have participants sign up on a website like Elfster or Giftster. Remote recipients should input home addresses, while in-person partygoers can put the address of the office. To keep the sender a secret, gift givers can put HQ’s address as return to sender. Be sure to set a budget for the activity. Asking participants to suggest a few presents is helpful, especially since hybrid teams may operate out of different locations and teammates may not know each other well. Finally, choose a date for the exchange, meet up on video call, and watch each other open presents.
4. Fully Hosted Virtual Holiday Party
If you are unsure about the logistics of entertaining in-person and remote guests at the same time, then booking a hosted Virtual Holiday Party is a good solution. Our hosts have experience engaging teams of all kinds, including hybrid groups. This 90 minute event involves seasonal activities such as trivia, treasure hunts, and lightning rounds. Teammates mingle in the main room and breakout rooms while engaging in Christmas-themed competitions.
5. Holiday Trivia
Holiday Trivia is one of the best games for hybrid holiday parties. There are many ways to structure teams, for instance, within-person groups against virtual players, splitting players into breakout rooms, or dividing the group by devices. For maximum mingling, mix up virtual and in-person participants. Before the game starts, tell competitors to come up with festive team names like the Noel-it-alls or Santa’s Helpers. Then, ask holiday-themed questions out loud or via fillable form. Categories might include movie quotes, carols, traditions, xmas around the world, winter holidays, and winter weather. You can also make questions more secular to appeal to global or mixed groups.
6. Gingerbread Decorating
Gingerbread Decorating is one of the best hybrid holiday activities for teams. The hands-on nature of the event can help virtual teammates feel as included in the action as physically-present guests. The first step of this activity is to find a gingerbread house or person decorating kit, and order the kits for attendees. Then, either meet up on a video call and decorate together, or perfect your creations off-camera and share to a collaborative space.
