It's been a year and the first Christmas parties have been canceled again due to rising Covid infection rates. Many catch themselves thinking, "Again? It was like this last year, wasn't it?"
For many companies, the digital Christmas parties we remember from last year are a recurring normality. Not because of it being an explicit wish, but because rising infections make it impossible for many companies to organize Christmas parties on site.
However, as Christmas parties or end-of-year parties are an important ritual in the business year and bring a sense of togetherness, it is important to settle for alternatives.

We talked to some of our clients and asked them how they would approach the issue.
A great idea reached us from Deutsche Börse, which is planning to convert the upper floors of the company's own multi-storey car park into a Christmas market. This is of course very creative and creates a lot of anticipation among employees, but for many companies this simply isn’t financially feasible. We think, however, that any kind of inspiration should be taken into account and serve as a motivation for your own party. It’s always possible to arrange something exciting. Even if it should be a virtual party.

We’ve listed a few options below, which we hope will serve as inspiration for planning your online Christmas party.
Our tip in advance: Take the virtual party just as seriously as a Christmas party in the office or at another on-site venue. Send out invitations that include important key dates and create a sense of anticipation to the virtual event.
(Side note: Ask your staff to make a few arrangements. For example, you could ask them to decorate their backgrounds for Christmas. Send everyone a Christmas decoration package that they can use to decorate.)

🐦 The beginning of your virtual party is like the start of many video conferences. The icebreaker is important. You can have some casual Christmas music on until most of the gang is logged in. Then, our favorite tip out of all the shared suggestions was: Sing a Christmas song to start. This suggestion probably will not evoke an eruption of cheers. But bear with us for a moment and let us elaborate: We recommend performing a well-known Christmas tune to a specially written, company-related text. Maybe a recap of the past year. Keep it short and sweet, and have different groups perform different phrases. All the quirky tunes and amusing lyrics alone should break the ice. (Please assess for yourself whether this will be well received or whether it is more likely to cause an unpleasant silence.)
Variation: During the speech of a managing director or team leader, a musical surprise can be incorporated. This includes the surprise introduction of a musician who performs a song "in honor" of the staff. If you get the right artist, this creates a guaranteed wow effect.
🐦 Invite everyone to prepare their own Christmas dish and enjoy it all at the same time. A great way to engage everyone in this is to send a cooking box to every employee who registers. HelloFresh or Dinnerly, e.g., are great providers for this sort of activity. It’s cooking made easy.
🐦 In recent years, there has been a real boom in mystery dinners. Even among initial skeptics, it now enjoys great popularity. A short intro into how it works: You are given a crime case and have to solve puzzles and find the culprit together with others. Many providers have surfaced for such online mystery dinners, i.e. "Stadt-Krimi" or "Culinario Mortale". This is an activity that is guaranteed to involve everyone and provide fun.
🐦 Almost every company we have exchanged ideas with does a Secret Santa! This can also be done online. At least with a little preparation. Draw the Secret Santa partners in advance and issue the respective gift by post mail. That way, everyone can unwrap a gift during the party.
🐦 As a company, also consider giving a gift to everyone during the party. Gifts are a great way to express gratitude and certainly give a virtual Christmas party the emotionality that an on-site celebration would have had.
🐦 Wine or beer tastings are also highly popular with many companies and are offered online: You can put together exciting sets for such tastings and have them sent to all employees.

Virtual Christmas parties are certainly a big challenge. However, with some effort, you can find an innovative and interesting approach that all employees will remember for a long time.
And soon we can all physically sway together again.
The entire Pickvogel team wishes you a happy Advent season!