Discover the Best Holiday Team Building Activities
Everyone loves holidays. Celebrating holidays together is an important part of building a strong company culture, bringing cross-functional teams together, and giving everyone a little fun and rest at the office.
Holidays can be inclusive ways for everyone to establish shared traditions or share some of their own. According to UNC Health Clinical Psychologist Crystal Schiller, celebrating holidays together encourages connection and community. She writes that, “Humans are naturally social and crave connection, so gatherings and traditions that bring [people] together can inspire community and connection.”
Benefits of Holiday Team Building Activities
Jeff Tavangar, a Talent Acquisition Management Consultant and Professor at UC Irvine, writes that “holiday celebrations do more than just improve morale for a day. Having annual traditions in the workplace can increase employee motivation. It also contributes to team-building efforts and leads to more productive teams.” He cites “unity, togetherness, recognition, and motivation” as just some of the benefits of celebrating holidays in the workplace.
If you’re interested in signing your team up for holiday team-building activities, you should consider the options offered by Coursehorse. They have a large number of holiday-themed team-building activities centered on different holidays, including Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. You can also sign up for seasonal inclusivity team-building activities such as Pride or Women’s History Month
Top Holiday Team Building Activities
Virtual Winter Mixology (Materials Included)
Winter is coming, so make a toast with this Virtual Winter Mixology. A professional Mixologist will help your team add a little sugar and spice to their holidays while learning to mix up three winter specialty cocktails: a Spiced Old Fashioned, a Raspberry Snowdrift Sour, and a Cozy Clove Toddy. They’ll also be learning about mixology, working with bar tools, and the history of cocktails. All materials will be shipped to participants, including garnishes, a Hawthorne strainer, a cocktail pick, a jigger, artisanal simple syrups and bitters, and a gift card to purchase spirits and fruit.
Virtual Halloween Pumpkin Carving
Your team will enjoy one of the most iconic Halloween traditions in Virtual Halloween Pumpkin Carving. This 75-minute event combines classic pumpkin carving with exciting Halloween-themed challenges and trivia designed to get everyone in a spooky mood. The high-energy host will teach everyone basic carving techniques and how to customize a design if they want. Then, they’ll lead everyone through a series of silly challenges while carving.
Gingerbread House Holiday Party (Materials Included)
Gingerbread House Holiday Party invites your team to get creative while getting in the holiday spirit as each participant embraces their inner child to build their own gingerbread house. While participants are building their houses, the host will play classic holiday tunes and facilitate fun interaction. The party ends with a show-and-tell section for everyone to share what they made. All materials will be shipped to participants, including gingerbread cookies, icing, and assorted candies such as candy canes and sprinkles.
Virtual Scavenger Hunt: Holiday Scavenging
Virtual Scavenger Hunt: Holiday Scavenging is one of Coursehorse’s most popular team-building events for a reason. This cheerful holiday competition will have your team compete as mini teams in three rounds of holiday scavenger hunt challenges. Some example challenges include making pet-friendly antlers, favorite holiday movie quotes, and creating a snowflake garden.
Virtual Escape Room: the Office Holiday Party
Find out if you have what it takes to escape the most dreaded event of the year in Virtual Escape Room: The Office Holiday Party. Everyone is at the office holiday party listening to cheesy songs and eating stale pizza when suddenly their IDs are deactivated, and they find themselves trapped inside the office. Your team will compete as mini teams to escape the party to their highly-anticipated holiday break.
You can also sign up for a 45-minute version of Escape Room: The Office Holiday Party.
Virtual Trivia: Holiday Music Karaoke
Virtual Trivia: Holiday Music Karaoke is four rounds of trivia featuring everyone’s favorite holiday songs. Do you know every line in the 12 Days of Christmas?Who can identify Rudolphthe fastest? Your team will have a blast no matter which holiday they celebrate. The four rounds of holiday music trivia will be a traditional trivia round, a music round, an image round, and a surprise round.
Virtual White Elephant Team Gift Experience
It’s Coursehorse’s unique version of the zany classic holiday gift exchange game: Virtual White Elephant Team Gift Experience. A high-energy host will get the event going and present the group with a set of quirky and wonderful digital gifts. A fast-paced, fun trivia round will decide the order in which everyone will “unwrap” their presents. All participants take turns unwrapping a present or stealing from someone else. At the end of the event, everyone will be mailed the gift they won at the party.
Virtual Escape Room: Monsters & Ghouls
Your team will race to the clock to save Halloween in Virtual Escape Room: Monsters & Ghouls. It’s the night before Halloween, and everyone is attending Madame Grim’s monster ball—a night of mischief at her castle. Unfortunately, the Crimson Crystal, which holds the spirit of Halloween, is stolen. Your team must race to escape the castle and save Halloween!
Virtual Holiday Ornament Workshop (Materials Included)
In Virtual Holiday Ornament Workshop, your team will be decking their halls with their own homemade holiday ornaments. Everyone can choose to keep them or give theirs away as holiday gifts. There will be a show-and-tell section for everyone to show off their creations. This event is family-friendly, and your little ones are invited. All materials will be shipped to participants, including ornament balls, tissue paper, sequins, glitter, glue, cording, paint, brush, and beads.
Virtual Holiday Cookie Decorating (Materials Included)
Gather your whole team for a fun, creative, and delicious party: Virtual Holiday Cookie Decorating. Everyone will receive all the materials that they need to make gingerbread people and Christmas tree cookies. This workshop is accessible for everyone since no prior baking or decorating experience is required. While everyone is having fun decorating, the cheerful host will play holiday tunes and ask fun holiday trivia questions. All materials will be shipped to participants, including 12 pre-baked gingerbread cookies, icing, Christmas sprinkles, and decorating bags and tips.
Virtual Holiday Card Workshop (Materials Included)
Bring out everyone’s inner artist while designing holiday cards in Virtual Holiday Card Workshop. A professional artist will guide everyone through making their own customizable holiday cards using collages. There will be a show-and-tell section for everyone to show off their creations. All materials will be shipped to participants before the event, including 10 cards, envelopes, foiled holiday paper, tags, buttons, gemstone embellishments, ribbon, and foam pads. This event is kid-friendly, and everyone’s little ones are invited to join in the card-making fun.
Virtual Holiday Cookie Workshop (Materials Included)
Your team will learn to bake two kinds of holiday cookies in Virtual Holiday Cookie Workshop. A chef will guide everyone through baking two favorites: chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies. Everyone will virtually share their goodies at the end of the event. All ingredients will be shipped to participants, including sugar, flour, salt, vanilla extract, baking soda, baking powder, chocolate chips, and a gift card for butter and eggs.
Virtual Trivia: Classic Christmas Movies
How many times have you seen Home Alone?What state is Cousin Eddy from? Who is Yukon Cornelius? Answer questions about your favorite classic Christmas movies in Virtual Trivia: Classic Christmas Movies. There will be four rounds of trivia that incorporate movie and music clips: a traditional trivia round, a music round, an image round, and a surprise round. Most of the time will be spent in mini teams, but there will also be whole group interaction when sharing answers.
Virtual Trivia: Thanksgiving
Celebrate Turkey Day with your whole team with Virtual Trivia: Thanksgiving. This one-hour game features four different styles of trivia: a traditional trivia round, a music round, an image round, and a surprise round. Questions will be on a diverse number of topics so that everyone is encouraged to participate.
NYC In-Person: Wreath Making
Everyone will be greeted at your door with beauty after NYC In-Person: Wreath Making. In this two-hour workshop, everyone will receive all of the materials and tools they need to make their own beautiful wreath. They’ll also learn key tips for wreath making such as materials, working with real plants and flowers, and how to secure decorations.
Virtual Escape Room: 12 Days of Christmas
Virtual Escape Room: 12 Days of Christmas is a joyful Christmas escape room experience. Your team will compete against each other in mini teams to beat the clock to find the lyrics to Twelve Days of Christmas or the Christmas concert will be ruined! Your team will have 75 minutes to solve a series of Christmas-themed puzzles and find the missing partridge in a pear tree.
Ugly Sweater Making Party (Materials Included)
Everyone will have a delightfully ugly sweater to wear to office parties after Ugly Sweater Making Party. Everyone will receive a sweater-making kit with their own googly eyes, pom poms, glitter, and gold beads. While everyone is decorating, a high-energy host will play holiday favorites and lead everyone through some light holiday-themed trivia. There will be a show-and-tell section at the end for everyone to show off their creations.
Other Seasonal Team Building Activities
Holidays aren’t the only season for celebrating, team-building, or creating office culture through traditions. There are other times of year to celebrate, from the arrival of Spring to Pride Month, Coursehorse has team-building activities for every season.
Virtual Springtime Mixology
When the flowers start blooming, the shakers start shaking! Get into the spirit of Spring with Virtual Springtime Mixology. A professional Mixologist will teach your team how to make three springtime specialty cocktails: a Daisy Buchanan Sour, a Briar Patch Cooler, and a Springtime Old Fashioned. Everyone will also learn about using bar tools and the principles of balance that make a truly great Springtime cocktail. All materials will be shipped to participants, including simple syrups (lavender lemon and orange vanilla), a hawthorn strainer, honey sticks, aromatic bitters, garnishes, and a gift card for spirits.
Virtual Pride Rainbow Bagel (Materials Included)
Celebrate allyship and learn to make delicious LGBTQ-inspired bagels in Virtual Pride Rainbow Bagel. There will be 90 fabulous minutes of rainbow fun as everyone makes dough from scratch, boils their bagels, and uses gel-based food coloring to give their bagels a true rainbow sparkle! Everyone will share their bagels and bond at the end of the workshop. All materials will be shipped to participants, including flour, yeast, honey, gel coloring, and a gift card for cream cheese and rainbow sprinkles. A gluten-free option is available.
Virtual Trivia: Women’s History Month
Celebrate all of the women in your office with Virtual Trivia: Women’s History Month. There will be four rounds of different types of trivia: a traditional trivia round, a music round, an image round, and a surprise round. All of the questions will be focused on women’s history, movies, music, sports, and current events.
Virtual Summer Mixology Workshop (Materials Included)
There’s nothing more exciting than the start of Summer! The days are longer, the weather is warmer, and summer vacation is just around the corner. In the Virtual Summer Mixology Workshop, your team will celebrate the arrival of the Sun by learning to make three craft cocktails. A professional mixologist will guide your team through making three summertime favorites: spicy mango margarita, eastside rickey, and a summer lovin’ old fashioned. All materials will be shipped to participants, including a gift card for spirits.
Virtual Trivia: Black History Month
Celebrate diversity and the long history of Black excellence in Virtual Trivia: Black History Month. There will be four rounds of trivia: a traditional trivia round, a music round dedicated to Black music makers, an image round, and a surprise round. All questions will be focused on black history and black culture, including pop culture, food, music, movies, and current events.