Are you searching for the best holiday team-building activities? Around the holidays, everyone needs a break. As a team leader, you likely want to make sure your team members feel appreciated. This is a time of year when the workload can be high, and stress can creep up. The right holiday team-building activities give people something to look forward to.

As a remote or hybrid team, it might seem challenging to choose a holiday experience that works for everyone. We’ll share five options that are sure to be enjoyed by everyone in the office and at home.

A recent study of 2,000 work-from-home Americans found that 70% of employees are feeling isolated and 63% are feeling disconnected from their team. Thoughtful and inclusive virtual experiences help teams get re-connected during the holiday season.

In preparation for this year’s festivities, we have analyzed our data from 800+ distributed teams at the leading companies and created a list of their top-5 most popular holiday experiences:

(1) Tartine Bakery and French Press Coffee & Tea Experience

Receive a box with Tartine’s most famous baked items, as well as a Coffee & Tea Press, coffee or tea. A top barista will show you how to use your French Press and share the story of “America’s Most Influential Bakery”.

(2) A Cheese Pairing Experience – Three Flights of Flavor

Meet a celebrated cheese expert who will lead you through unforgettable flights of cheeses (and optional wines, charcuteries, and desserts). Take this opportunity to bond and form new memories together!

(3) The ‘Shaken AND Stirred’ Mixology Experience

Why did 007 order martinis ‘shaken, not stirred’? Receive ingredients and equipment to make two cocktails. Learn the chemistry of mixology together and why it matters how a cocktail is made.

(4) Deepen Team Connection with Art

Share a creative experience together. Receive a beautifully wrapped kit with a canvas, paints, and brushes. Create your masterpiece with guidance from a female-led California-based art studio.

(5) Holiday Tea and Macaron Experience

Experience the time-honored tradition of holiday tea. Receive an elegant kit with holiday flavored teas, a mug, and a box of Chelles macarons. Option to add prosecco to celebrate the end of the year.

Why Holiday Events are Important for Your Team

There are numerous reasons to introduce holiday team-building activities to your team. As mentioned, everyone is dealing with a lot at this time of year, and a celebration can brighten their days. 

Holiday events are an excellent way to boost morale. Everyone can step away from work or even thinking about work and have a good time. It’s a great way to let loose, socialize, and enjoy entertainment together. This will boost energy and can help everyone get through the end of the year.

Beyond that, holiday events can encourage making connections. When people are relaxed and having fun, they will socialize, and it could make connections closer to the team. Just having a way to chat without any pressure is great for teams in any organization.

Finally, holiday events let you recognize all the things your team has done. You have the chance to show your appreciation for all the work that has been completed and the things that are still in the works. It shows that you care, which can make employees feel acknowledged and happy to work hard.

Virtual Team Holiday Event Planning Tips

While planning holiday team-building activities, think about what your goal is with the event. Are you looking to have fun? Let the team bond? Provide recognition to the team? Think about the main goal as you move forward in the planning process.

Next, choose a date and time. This may be easy if everyone is in the same location but harder if people are across time zones. Check-in with everyone to be sure you choose a date and time when everyone is able to attend.

You’ll also want to choose a platform to host the event. Microsoft Teams, Google Meets, or Zoom are all great options. Make sure you get out all the details ahead of time so the team can be sure to make room in their schedules for the experience.

Since you have members of the team away from the office, choose an event that works on a virtual basis. Bring in the team to see what they want to do if that helps you make a decision. And if you want to really make things fun, have a fun dress-up component to the vent. Go with color coordination, ugly sweater, fancy outfits, or whatever works for you and the team.

Host a Holiday Team Building Activity with a Kit

Now that you’re ready to get the holiday team-building activities going, you have options. One of them is to leave some of the planning to someone else. Instead of making an event on your own, send a kit to the team for the vent. 

You can ship these on your own or choose one of our experiences that come with a kit that’s sent out to every employee. Five that you may want to check out include the following:

• The Snack Break Experience to Refresh Your Team
• Deepen Team Connection Through Painting
• Great Wine and Great Cheese for Great Teams
• The Brew Break Experience for Your Busy Team
• Team Refresh | Energy, Focus, and Fun for Your Team

Part of the fun comes in receiving a box in the mail. It makes the holiday team-building activities feel more real, even if the event itself is virtual. It is sure to create excitement since it acts as a gift that each team member gets to open. It also makes the holiday team-building activities more interactive and can lead to a more connected team, even over a distance!

We take care of all the planning activities for your holiday so that you can focus on celebrating the season together!