Hosting a work Christmas party during COVID-19

Blog
HR Strategy and Culture
Hosting a work Christmas party during COVID-19

With December fast approaching you may be wondering how to host the perfect work Christmas party under the Coronavirus current restrictions or whether just to cancel altogether.

Cancelling might seem to be the easiest option with the least risk but hosting a Christmas party (even online) is a great way to increase team morale and benefit your business!

Below we discuss the value of hosting a Christmas party, and some virtual Christmas ideas to get your team in the Christmas spirit:

The benefits of a work Christmas party

For many business owners the idea of a Christmas party isn’t entirely positive. Employees topped up with alcohol and relaxed inhibitions can fuel the fire for unwanted rumours and gossip. Before hosting a party, virtual or otherwise, make sure to understand what your business is liable for when it comes to staff behaviour at a party.

However, it’s important not to dwell on this too much as the positives of a Christmas party far outweigh the negatives. It’s a great chance to motivate, reward and engage with your employees and can yield long term results further down the line in the working environment.

And, if your budget is a little tight this year due to COVID-19, you don’t need to spend loads to have a great party – especially as most celebrations will be done remotely this year!

Remote work Christmas party ideas

We know what you’re thinking. After a year of Zoom quizzes, the idea of a virtual work Christmas party sounds, a little… well unappealing.

However, banish that thought as a remote Christmas party doesn’t need to include your employees awkward dancing infront of their webcam or getting drunk because they can’t bear all the stop-starting that happens with a poor internet connection.

It’s time to get your employees excited about their virtual Christmas ‘do’ with some of these great ideas…

A virtual cocktail hour – Who doesn’t love a Quarantini? Why not set up a virtual cocktail hour and send out a small box of simple cocktail supplies for your employees to sample and discuss over zoom.
Secret Santa – At the start of December get one of your team to pull names out a hat via Zoom, set a budget and send each Secret Santa their recipients address. Once everyone has their gifts open them online and get them to guess who sent it! Fun fact: If you use Slack, you can download a Secret Santa add-on which will randomly select and privately message employees to buy a gift for.
Online Awards Ceremony – Don your best glad rags and prepare your team for a night of glitz and glamour from the comfort of their own homes. Set a black-tie dress code, give your employees a voucher for food and drink and get them to vote for company awards well in advance. And don’t forget to make the awards light-hearted like; ‘funniest employee’, ‘best dressed’ and, even, ‘most likely to be late’!
Cheese and wine tasting – Send out a cheese and wine box to your team to open at the party. Discuss and vote for your favourites overall. If cheese isn’t their thing, chocolate and wine work well too!
Gingerbread house making competition – For any budding artists in your company this is their chance to shine. Select a panel of judges for each employee to present their creation to, each judge writes a score on a card and shows it to their camera. Nothing beats a bit of friendly competition.

How citrus HR can help

If you’d like further guidance on creating workplace social events, our HR consultants can help.

Get in touch on info@citrushr.com or give us a call on 0333 014 3888 to find out more about how we can help your business with friendly, expert HR support.

The content of this blog is for general information only. Please don’t rely on it as legal or other professional advice as that is not what we intend. You can find more detail on this in our Terms of Website Use. If you require professional advice, please get in touch.