How To Plan A Christmas Party For Remote Teams [Games, Ideas, Agenda]

Christmas Party For Remote Teams made easy with browser based games, virtual escape rooms and simple ideas to plan a festive online session people enjoy.

Here is a mix of practical ideas plus three games you can run with your team this year: Christmas Word Finder, The Lost Presents: A Christmas Escape Room, and Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes. You can mix and match these into a single holiday session or spread them across December.

Start with the basics: what kind of Christmas session do you want?

Before you pick activities, it helps to answer three simple questions:

1. How much time do you have?
   30 minutes, 60 minutes, or a full afternoon all lead to very different plans.
2. How many people are joining?
   Some games are great for small teams of 4 to 8, others work better when you can split into multiple breakout rooms.
3. What is the goal?
   • Just relax and laugh together
   • Help people connect across departments
   • Give a little structure to an end of year social

Once you know this, you can pick a mix of light, low effort activities and one main game that brings everyone together.

Quick, low prep Christmas activities for remote teams

Use a few of these as a warm up before you start a game or as small team traditions throughout December.

1. Holiday show and tell

Ask everyone to bring one thing to the call that feels “Christmas” or “holidays” to them. It can be:

• A decoration
• A snack or drink
• A memory or tradition they want to share

Give each person 1 to 2 minutes to show it on camera and explain why it matters to them. This is simple, inclusive and works across cultures.

2. Remote Secret Santa (without shipping chaos)

You can run Secret Santa without packages getting lost:

• Use a simple online draw tool to match people.
• Instead of physical gifts, set a small budget for digital gifts, for example:
  • Gift cards
  • Ebooks or games
  • Donations to a charity the receiver cares about

Open the gifts together on a call and try to guess who bought for whom.

3. Holiday playlist take over

Create a shared playlist and ask everyone to add 2 to 3 songs:

• One classic holiday song
• One “anti Christmas” or non seasonal song they love
• One guilty pleasure

Play parts of the songs during your call and ask people to guess who added what. This is a nice background element during games and breakout sessions.

4. Cookie or snack tasting

Ask everyone to bring a holiday snack from where they live. During the call:

• Show the snack on camera
• Rate it together (appearance, taste, nostalgia level)
• Let people share recipe links after the session

This works especially well with distributed teams who live in different countries.

Christmas Word Finder: light, browser based fun for busy teams

Best for: 15 minute session, all hands, low effort fun
Energy level: Light and playful

Christmas Word Finder is a browser based puzzle where your team searches for holiday themed words together. Everyone joins via link, no installs or accounts are needed.

Why it works well for remote teams:

• People can join from anywhere, even with a weaker laptop or connection.
• It is easy to play alongside a drink or snack.
• Teams can chat on your usual video tool while solving.

Nice ways to use it:

• As a warm up before your main Christmas game.
• As a quick activity for teams that are already busy in December and cannot commit to a long event.
• As a regular short break throughout the month, for example a 20 minute Friday word hunt.

The Lost Presents: A Christmas Escape Room for remote teams

Best for: 45 to 60 minute holiday event, teams who like puzzles and story
Energy level: Engaging, collaborative

The Lost Presents: A Christmas Escape Room is a hosted virtual escape room where your team solves the mystery of misplaced presents and saves the holiday party.

What makes it good for remote teams:

• It runs entirely online, ideal if your team is spread across countries.
• Everyone sees the same game view and works together to crack codes, search scenes and share ideas.
• You can split larger groups into multiple teams and compare times at the end.

How to get the most from it:

• Start with a short welcome round so people know who is in their group.
• Encourage teams to talk out loud. The magic is in hearing each others thought process.
• Leave 10 to 15 minutes after the game for a quick “what worked well” chat, or just to share favorite moments.

If you want to book The Lost Presents for your Christmas session, you can reach out here and we will help you with timing and group size:
/plan-my-event/

Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes: for teams that enjoy pressure and chaos

Best for: Smaller groups who like fast decisions and a bit of chaos
Energy level: High, intense, lots of laughter

Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes is a cooperative game where one person sees a virtual “bomb” and the rest of the team has the manual. The person with the bomb describes what they see, the others guide them through the instructions. Nobody can see the whole picture, so communication is everything.

Why it works especially well online:

• You naturally split roles. “Bomb defuser” shares their screen, everyone else reads from the manual or a PDF.
• People practice clear, calm communication under time pressure, but in a playful context.
• It creates plenty of funny moments, perfect for an end of year session.

Tips for running it as a team activity:

• Rotate the “bomb defuser” so more people get a turn in the hot seat.
• Start with easier modules so everyone can learn the flow.
• Use breakout rooms if you have many people, then bring everyone back to share how it went.

If you would like support in hosting this as part of a structured holiday event, you can use our planning form and we will suggest a format and timing that fits your group:
/plan-my-event/

Putting it all together: a 60 minute remote Christmas session

Here is one simple agenda you can copy and adapt:

• 0 – 10 minutes: Holiday show and tell, one object per person
• 10 – 15 minutes: Share your team playlist and guess who picked each song
• 15 – 45 minutes: Main game
  • Christmas Word Finder for a lighter session, or
  • The Lost Presents: A Christmas Escape Room for a more immersive event, or
  • Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes for a high energy group
• 45 – 60 minutes: Open chat, highlight funny moments, announce informal “awards” such as best detective, calmest under pressure, most unexpected idea

If your team is larger, you can run the same structure in multiple breakout rooms and then come back for a shared closing round.

How we can help

If you want to run one of these games, but you are not sure which one fits your team size, time zones or budget, you do not need to figure it out alone.

Share a few details about your team and preferred dates here and we will help you plan a Christmas session that actually feels fun for people to join:
/plan-my-event/