Don’t let distance keep you from celebrating Christmas. Try these virtual Christmas party ideas to have fun with friends and family no matter where they are!
Can we cancel canceling Christmas? I don’t want to see another article telling me Christmas is canceled. Sure Christmas will look different this year but haven’t we all seen or read about the Grinch? You can’t stop Christmas from coming.
I know many of us are feeling disappointed that things haven’t gotten back to normal yet. Christmas is clearly my favorite time of the year and so many of my favorite traditions involve activities that may not be safe right now.
I saw this as a possibility months ago so I started planning for Christmas 2020 and considering all kinds of scenarios. That has me prepared mentally and physically.
I recommend taking a moment to grieve the loss of what you pictured Christmas being this year. It’s okay to be sad about it. Then it’s time to reimagine your Christmas.
I’m focused on the wonderful fact that my family is safe and healthy. That’s always such an amazing thing to be grateful for at any time but this year especially when we see so much pain around us it’s something to be very grateful for.
One thing I have found during this time that is actually really great is we have connected more with people that live in other states. Since things are virtual anyway it’s allowed us this amazing chance to see far away friends. One of our friend groups has gotten together on Zoom a lot and this meant a friend in the group that moved earlier this year is able to join. We’ve loved getting to see him and it’s not something we would have thought to do before.
So that’s one thing to consider when planning your Christmas this year. Make it special by including family or friends that don’t live nearby and you wouldn’t usually be able to have over for holiday parties. I think these virtual parties should continue even once in-person events are back, a mix of the two would be a lot of fun!
While it’s nice to chat and catch up on virtual calls a great way to make it feel more normal is to have a virtual Christmas party. If you aren’t sure how to plan one I have lots of fun ideas you can try out.
Virtual Christmas Party Ideas
Cookie or Gingerbread House Decorating Contest
With this one you can have everyone decorate their cookies while you are all on the call, just turn on some Christmas music and laugh at each other trying to rush to make your creations.
Or you can ask everyone to make their cookies before hand and share on the virtual call and everyone can vote on their favorites. Just make sure there are rules so it’s fair.
You could also decorate gingerbread houses. Everyone can get gingerbread house kits or you could even take it back to grade school and use graham crackers to make “gingerbread” houses.
Dress-Up Parties
Ugly sweater parties don’t have to be in person, throw on your sweaters, make some hot cocoa, and join your friends virtually to laugh at all the sweaters and even have a contest for the ugliest sweater. You can even do digital gift cards as prizes.
You could also have everyone put on their fancy Christmas clothes and enjoy seeing everyone virtually. The best part is everyone is at their own homes so you could go change later in the party when everyone is really to be in comfy clothes.
You could also go really comfy and have a virtual Christmas PJs party. This can be a lot of fun for the whole family, especially if you have some matching Christmas pjs.
Christmas Cocktail Party
Come up with some fun Christmas cocktail recipes to share with everyone ahead of time so they can have the items on hand to make some and get on a call to enjoy the cocktails together.
You could also have everyone just make their favorite cocktail while on the call so everyone can learn some new ones. You could even save the recipes and make a family or friends cocktail recipe book to share for future years.
Christmas Movie Night
There isn’t much better than some hot cocoa, popcorn and a Christmas movie. There are many ways we can still enjoy that experience with others outside of our household or bubble.
This is an idea I love so much I have a full blog post on it. You will find different ways to have your own virtual Christmas movie night as well as other fun movie night ideas.
Play Games
Playing games over virtual calls is a fun way to get together. It’s something my friends and family have been doing this whole time and really love.
Not sure what you can play at your virtual Christmas party? Here are some fun ideas.
- Christmas Pictionary. Using the whiteboard option on Zoom you can play pictionary with a Christmas theme.
- Christmas Scavenger Hunt. Use screen sharing and share a list of Christmas themed items and have everyone race around to find them. When the times up the person with the most items wins.
- Christmas Bingo. Send everyone a printable bingo sheet ahead of time and get on a virtual call to play together. This is a great family-friendly option.
- Christmas Trivia. Have someone be the host and ask Christmas trivia questions and everyone can right down their answers and at the end the winner can get a digital gift card or another fun prize.
- Christmas Charades. Write down a bunch of Christmas-themed prompts and send them to everyone before the call. Then take turns acting things out and guessing.
- Christmas Would You Rather? Create different scenarios that have a Christmas theme to them and read them off while everyone takes turns answering.
- Christmas Never Have I Ever. You can have a list of questions ahead of time like “I’ve never regifted a Christmas gift” or each person can just take turns saying something they have never done. This can be family-friendly and you can just hold up fingers and put one down for each thing you have done or you can make it a drinking game and take a drink every time you have done one of the things.
- Christmas Buzz Words. Take common holiday phases like elf, snowman, tree, and make them a drinking game. Every time during your gathering that someone says one of these words you have to take a drink.
Buy a Christmas game pack featuring all of these games!
Virtual Christmas Potluck
If potlucks are a common tradition with your family you can still have something similar at your virtual Christmas party. Everyone makes a meal to eat during the call and when you get on you show your plate and talk about what you made.
Then everyone can share their recipes, this can just be via a group email or you could have one person get all the recipes and turn them into a Christmas recipe book to enjoy for years to come.
A Visit From Santa
If the kids are sad about missing out on seeing Santa this year have a virtual visit with Santa. There are many places that you can get personalized video calls from Santa. You could play it on screen share for the whole family or even see about asking Santa to come to your video call. You can hire Santa or ask a friend to help.
Sing Christmas Carols
If you have a musical family you could all sing carols together or even play carols on instruments together. If your family isn’t musical see about hiring a local musician to perform. They are struggling right now with their gigs being canceled so this is a great way to have some Christmas fun and enjoy some Christmas music.
Send a Goodie Box
Put together little goodie boxes for everyone to enjoy during the virtual Christmas party. If everyone lives in the same town you could drop the boxes off contactless on porches or if you aren’t needed by you could mail them ahead of time.
Somethings that are fun to include-
- Hot cocoa mix
- A Christmas mug
- Christmas snacks
- Christmas activity sheets for kids.
- Christmas coloring books.
- Photo props for your call. Everyone can use theirs while people screenshot to get fun virtual Christmas party photos.
- Gift cards
Ugly Mask Contest
If you have to wear masks why not make them fun? Sure we don’t need to wear your ugly sweater mask on at the virtual Christmas party but it can still be a fun way to celebrate together.
Just like ugly sweaters, you can either have everyone make their own or allow people to buy them. I think it’s fun to buy a plain mask and make it ugly.
Virtual Christmas Card Exchange
Have everyone create fun Christmas cards to share using screen share or holding them up during the call. Everyone can create physical cards to share or use programs like Canva or PicMonkey to make digital cards.
Sharing Christmas cards doesn’t seem to be as common now so this is a fun way to see lots of cards without people having to actually send them out.
Christmas House Tours
I’m a firm believer in decorating your home for you and your family to enjoy but it is a bit sad to not be able to show it to other people. But you still can!
Each person can take a turn showing everyone around their house or you could even create short videos ahead of time to show during the call.
The key to having fun this Christmas will be creativity. Talk to your friends and family and brain storm ideas like the ones in this post. You are sure to find fun things to do all season long.
Don’t forget to pick up my Christmas game printable pack for a really fun virtual Christmas party or in-person parties as well.
Leave a Reply