'Tis the season for social gatherings and office parties!
The holiday season is a great time to get together with your colleagues and build some team spirit.
Wondering what activities you should go for?
Look no further!
Here are our favorite team-building activities that’ll get everyone in the festive spirit for sure!
Team building and bonding during the holiday season
From escape room adventures to volunteering and even Christmas-themed “Would You Rather”,...
Here are the top holiday season-themed group activities that'll get your colleagues and employees all fired up to bust the end-of-the-year blues and come together as a team.
So grab your eggnog and get ready to have some fun!
Holiday season business pitch
Gif via giphy.
Get your team in the mood for creativity and innovation!
Break them up into teams of 3-4 people and ask each team to devise a business plan on how to sell an assigned object.
In the spirit of the season, assign holiday-themed objects - anything from candy canes to wrapping paper - to the groups.
Teams get a specified time - say 30 minutes - to draw up their plans, after which they have to present them to a Shark Tank-style board.
Whichever group gets the most endorsements for their business plans wins!
Spice things up by naming a fun prize, say a cookie tin filled with all your favorite treats!
Escape room adventure
Shake things up and escape tradition with a Christmastime team-building event at an escape room!
Not only is it a fun and unique activity, but it also encourages communication, cooperation, and problem-solving - all skills that are important in the workplace.
If you were searching for the best way to help your team beat the holiday blues and have a blast, you're reading about it.
Ready to lead your team on a breathtaking adventure?
Take things just a notch higher by selecting a killer name for your escape room team.
Volunteering
Image courtesy Pexels.
Looking to add some good vibes to your holiday team building?
Consider volunteering!
Whether it's serving meals at a soup kitchen or collecting toys for charity, volunteering provides an opportunity for employees to bond while also giving back to the community.
Plus, it's a great excuse to get out of the office and escape those holiday work deadlines for a few hours.
Have everyone vote on what to sign up for.
Volunteering is a pretty good addition to a family bonding event too.
Shared habits
Break up into groups of 2-3 people each.
Ask each group to find a holiday habit or tradition that they all have in common...
And then share what you've found out about one another!
This game aims to get team members to talk and engage with one another.
It also tries to break down barriers that might be hindering effective collaboration between different members of your team.
Merry murder mystery
Gif via giphy.
Calling all the self-professed Sherlock Holmes out there!
Ready to put your money where your mouth is?
Go on a Christmas-themed caper and see if you can get to the bottom of the mystery!
There are many different Christmas-themed whodunits like Bad Santa and Ho Ho Homicide that you can choose from.
Print out the scripts and materials and gather the props and decor.
Set up your murder room, and encourage team members to wear costumes - it'll deepen the immersion!
If you're in Chicago, you can check out our serial killer-themed escape room as well.
Truth or dare (the Christmas version)
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A Holiday-themed game of truth or dare could turn out to be the perfect way to get to know your coworkers better.
Opening up about themselves or taking a challenge outside their comfort zone fosters trust and understanding among teammates.
Plus...it's a shedload of fun, isn't it?
A few holiday-themed truth or dare options to get you started
Have you done anything this year that could land you on Santa's naughty list?
Did you get a present last year that you pretended to like but hated inside?
Dress up like Krampus.
Dial a random number and sing "Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart".
Would you rather (the Christmas version)
As a holiday season team-building option, "Would You Rather" is a personal favorite.
It's simple and quick to play and always fires up interesting discussions and deep laughs.
If you haven't played before, here's how it goes:
Players are asked to pick an option from two circumstances.
They must sift through the pros and cons of each option and decide which is better!
A few Christmas-themed "Would You Rather" questions
- Would you rather work only on holidays (they are still holidays) or only get holidays off work?
- Would you rather work untangling Christmas lights or work as a mall Santa?
- Would you rather accidentally sleep through Christmas or spend it with your worst enemy?
- Would you rather experience a Christmas in 1700 or in 2100?
- Would you rather write a five-page essay about the meaning of Christmas or solve a page of Christmas-themed math problems?
And if you're in the Windy City, you should know all the intriguing team-building activities to consider.
The gingerbread wars!
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Inspired by the Food Network's cupcake wars.
Channel out everyone's competitive spirit and creative energy through the gingerbread wars!
Divide your colleagues into small groups. You can be the host.
Lead them through various challenges, with some groups getting knocked out till you reach the final round...you've guessed what that is, right?
The top two or three teams compete in a gingerbread house building contest in the final round.
Somehow I get the feeling everyone's going to rather relish this team building game!
You can get in touch with the gingerbread wars company if you want your event hosted professionally!
Deck the office
It doesn't always have to be a contest or even a game with rules.
Simply getting the entire office together to brainstorm ideas on transforming the workplace into a winter wonderland can be a powerful bonding activity.
Drag out all the decorations that have been stashed away in a corner cupboard, play everyone's Christmas and New Year favorites, and have plenty of snacks and candies on hand so folks can snack throughout.
Work as a team to deck the office halls for the holidays!
Innovate a recipe
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While the potluck has always been a dependable way to get the office Christmas dinner done, why don't you spice things up this year?
Challenge your team to innovate recipes!
You can simply ask each person/each group (divide your team into smaller groups) to submit a holiday favorite recipe.
If you want to take things up a notch, give each group a different country/culture from which to select menu items.
You could very well end up having an international Christmas luncheon!
Understanding the importance of team building can make such activities even more impactful.
Cookie swap
Got a few buzzkills that go all Ebenezer Scrooge on you when you announce holiday season team building events?
Then you should really include a cookie swap.
This all-cookie version of a potluck will prove too much for anyone to resist!
Every participant must bring at least one kind of cookie - that they've baked themselves - on Cookie Swap Day.
Set them all out on a table, buffet-style, and ask everyone to help themselves.
Human Christmas tree
This certainly adds a twist to "creative team building", doesn't it?
Turn one of your colleagues into an actual Christmas tree. Maybe the one that hates their Christmas sweater the most - they won't mind it getting covered with all the decorations, will they?
Get your best tinsel, lights, garlands, and Christmas ornaments, and give the lucky person an Instagram story their friends and followers will never see coming!
Budget Christmas shop (got this idea from JStuStudios)
I got this idea from the Budget Challenge series created by JStuStudios.
Bookmark that video for later; right now, let me break down the budget Christmas shop challenge for you:
Divide the team into smaller groups.
Get a Plinko board (as large as you want). Assign a dollar amount to each of the bottom slots.
These will be the different Christmas shop budgets.
They can range from the laughably little (such as $100) to the lavishly large (such as $10,000).
The groups take turns dropping the Plinko chips from the top and watch as it gradually drops, bouncing off the pegs, till it reaches the bottom.
The slot the chip settles into is the budget for that group.
Now each group has to build a Christmas shop within their budget.
Who Am I (the holiday season version)
Transform this age-old classic into a fun holiday season team bonding game.
Make a list of Christmas and holiday-themed characters (like Crampus, Frosty, Rudolph, Santa, and so on).
Create sticky notes with each name.
Stick one of the character notes to everyone's forehead without allowing them to see it.
Leave the entire team to mingle with each other.
The idea is for folks to give hints about the character name to the person they're facing (and can see the sign on their forehead).
Who can guess their character first? Who'll be the last?
This is a great way for employees to use their critical thinking skills while having fun.
Who Am I is a pretty hilarious addition to most casual events. Here are a few other party games for adults.
Team hike
A team hike is the perfect combination of fun and fitness.
The beautiful scenery along your route will provide plenty of opportunities for casual conversations.
The break from the office environment will be highly welcomed. Plus, it's a great way to burn up all the Christmas calories.
So, this year, swap small talk at the office cocktail party for a shot at the trails nearby!
Merry meme-ing!
Who doesn't love memes?
This year, take your team's creativity to new heights with meme-making!
Ask everyone to come up with the best holiday season meme they can think of.
If you're not sure how to make the memes - placing text on images and so on - don't worry; there are plenty of online meme generators that make it very easy.
Share them in holiday emails, post them on the company Slack account, or even make an Insta-story out of them!
Holiday Happy Hour
Holiday happy hours are the perfect way to get your team in sync with one another and bust end-of-the-year stress.
Start the event with some Christmas cocktails, and then bring in games such as trivia and Bingo, but keep the focus on the time of the year.
Ghost walk
Image courtesy Pexels.
The end of Halloween doesn't mean the spooky season has to end!
In fact, with temperatures having dropped, isn't the holiday season in a way better to feel the chills?
Ghost walks are a unique way to learn local history, they get people's adrenaline pumping, and they're also a spooktacular opportunity for team members to bond with one another.
And ghost walks are usually held at night, making them ideal as an after-work activity.
Pub tour
Sampling rich beverages and nibbling on delightful pub snacks.
Are you reading anything you don't like?
Neither will your colleagues.
They'll revel in the opportunity to sample local libations while taking part in casual conversations.
So gather your team and hit the town on a pub crawl this holiday season - cheers!
A bar crawl can be a pretty epic way of welcoming the new year!
Bonding with your colleagues over the holidays - a final word
The end of the year can sometimes become a stressful time for office teams - the festivities all around notwithstanding.
You can help them beat the stress by hosting a great team bonding event.
And with group activities like these, your colleagues and employees will be asking you when the next event’s happening!
Happy Holidays!
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