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Christmas market - Depending on your local restrictions, an outdoor even might be ideal for your Christmas party this year. If you have a small team, then a meetup at an outdoor Christmas market is a lovely way to get together in the fresh air.

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Parking lot Christmas market -

An alternative to this is hosting your own Christmas market in the parking lot of the office! There doesn't need to be many stalls, just some good food, drinks, decorations, and music.

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Parking lot Christmas market - Each team member could also participate by providing one element of the party, like some baked goods or mulled wine.

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Christmas picnic -

Weather and restrictions allowing, you may be able to replicate your usual Christmas party outside! Select a local park and set up for an afternoon of festive fun. Cater the event with seasonal drinks like mulled wine, hot chocolate, and perhaps Champagne.

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Wine tasting - There are many interesting new online activities offered by companies adapting to the pandemic. For example, a British company called Twelve Degrees that provides wine tasting experiences is now offering partly virtual options.

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Wine tasting - Packages of wines and cheeses are sent to the participants who then take part in an online wine tasting masterclass as a group. This gives them the real experience of wine tasting from the safety of their homes.

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Online games day - Give everyone a day or afternoon off and arrange a series of online activities the whole team can take part in. Try to include something for everyone–there could be classics like Scrabble and Monopoly, card games like Poker, and Counter Strike tournaments for the real gamers.

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Ice-breaker games -

Online events are great for getting people together, but it’s often hard to encourage conversations among large groups. A good tool on Zoom is the "breakout room." This allows the host to split participants into smaller groups temporarily.

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Ice-breaker games -

Each group can have a list of questions to answer, like what is the strangest Christmas present you've ever received? Another great conversation starter for remote international teams is for each person to describe their local Christmas traditions.

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Christmas quiz -

An online Christmas-themed quiz can be part of the games day or a separate event. Search for the best online tool that might allow participants to form teams so there's good interaction. Fun ideas could be to include drawing rounds or come up with questions about team members.

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Christmas bingo -

Bingo is a simple, familiar game that tends to get people pretty excited! You can take it to the next level by creating a specific Christmas-themed bingo. Instead of numbers, the team can mark off a square when something festive happens during the party, for example someone mentions a Christmas movie or sings a Christmas song.

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Drag bingo -

The only thing better than bingo is drag bingo! There are plenty of fantastic online events you can book for your team and it’s guaranteed to be a good time.

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Online scavenger hunt -

This is a fun way to get people interacting during an online get-together. It can be done in a couple of different ways. The first way is the speed round! The host shouts out an item and everyone has to run to find it in their home. The first one back in front of the camera holding the item wins.

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Online scavenger hunt -

The second way is more of a show and tell. Choose Christmas-themed items like the best gift you’ve ever gotten, most festive item in your home, your Christmas stocking, etc.

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Holiday photo challenge -

If your team is up for it, have them each send in a childhood photo taken during Christmas or winter. You can turn it into a slideshow and ‘guess who’ quiz to see if they can recognize each other as kids!

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Food delivery for the team -

To go the extra mile, you could arrange for a takeaway food delivery to be sent to all of the team members at home. Another option would be a food hamper including booze and snacks for the party!

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Online awards -

Christmas parties often include some kind of awards ceremony to congratulate the team for the year's hard work. There's no reason this can't happen online.

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Online gifts -

There are plenty of possibilities for non-physical prizes like vouchers that can be spent online.

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Ugly Christmas sweater competition -

Any online event can be accompanied by an ugly Christmas sweater competition. For an extra challenge, and to reduce costs, each team member could be required to decorate their own sweater!

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Distanced Secret Santa -

Secret Santa can still be achieved with everyone at home. Set a budget for the gift and provide the address of the recipient. Each team member can order a gift online to be delivered to their match.

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Holiday cooking -

This could be an optional team-building Christmas event for those who are interested in cooking. Give team members the chance to submit their favorite holiday recipes and compile a holiday cooking guide to share with everyone!

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Holiday cooking -

This could also involve an online demonstration or cook-along workshop hosted by a team member.

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Virtual escape room -

Escape rooms were all the rage for a while, but locking your team in a small room together isn’t the best idea this year. Fret not: there are plenty of online experiences available that are really fun and interactive! Split your team into multiple groups and see who makes it out first.

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Online murder mystery experience -

An online murder mystery experience is another fun virtual experience that’s great for team building. Take it to the next level and get everyone to dress up depending on the theme of the experience, such as 1920s vintage attire or 1980s Christmas!

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Virtual pictionary -

Pictionary is fun and can easily be done online using the whiteboard feature on Zoom. Go for a seasonal theme and get the teams to draw things like mistletoe and reindeer!

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Twenty questions -

Have the team play 20 questions with a Christmas present! The host can take an imaginary or real gift and the team must figure out what it is within 20 questions.

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Crafts for charity -

Christmas is a great time of year to give back. Get the whole team involved as part of your Christmas event! Your company could team up with a local retirement home and get each person to make and send a personalized Christmas card to a resident.

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Truth or dare for charity -

A fun way to raise money for charity could be a game of truth or dare. For example, one team member could dare another to call the fourth person in their contact list and sing 'Jingle Bells' at them and, if they do it, a monetary contribution will be donated to the charity.

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Christmas swag bag -

If you decide not to throw a Christmas party at this time but still want to show some appreciation to your team, consider sending them each a Christmas swag bag with crowd-pleasing gifts like fluffy socks, candles, and chocolates.

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For more Christmas cheer, check out these stunning photos of the best Christmas decorations around the world.

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