Work Christmas Party Canceled? How To Keep Everyone Safe & Happy

The pandemic has encouraged many individuals to start a small business at home. If you’ve been working hard to grow your company, you’ve likely outgrown your home space. Did you have to move your home business into an office? Congratulations! The office space can help bring your company to the next level, ensuring you’ve got enough room for new staff and equipment.  

Unfortunately, if you were looking forward to throwing your first office Christmas party, the current pandemic developments might force you to reconsider. It’s important to find an alternative solution, and nobody wants to feel as if Christmas were canceled. So as a new entrepreneur, it’s your responsibility to figure out the best and safest way for your team to get excited about the business Christmas event. Indeed, Christmas parties are instrumental in bringing the team together and engaging with everyone at the end of the year. 

You need an engagement strategy

First of all, Christmas parties are crucial to boosting engagement and morale in the team. However, they do not replace employee engagement strategies. You need to have plenty of positive measures in place already to support your employees and make them feel valued. Waiting until the Christmas party to recognize and reward your team is counterproductive. The Christmas party is a festive event. Yet, the business should organize end-of-year reviews, one-to-one catch-ups, and peer recognition regardless of the office party. 

Failure to encourage engagement is likely to drive employees away. Too many companies lost valuable staff during the pandemic and were quick to blame the lack of social events. In reality, social events only serve to reinforce existing loyalty, engagement, and positivity. If you have not established those, your Christmas party will be a waste of time and money. 

How about a Christmas bonus?

Christmas is the perfect time for a bonus. If the business has enjoyed a good year and can afford monetary bonuses, it can be a great opportunity for rewards. Your team will be delighted to receive extra money at the end of the year. Bonuses can increase staff retention and make Christmas more festive for families. 

However, you need to be careful about handing out your money. People talk, so selecting only a few individuals will likely lead to disappointment in the team. Similarly, different bonuses can also create tensions in the team, especially if people feel their contribution has been ignored. Ideally, you want to set either a unique bonus for the whole team or different amounts based on hierarchy. However, it is best practice to reward everyone in your team rather than choosing only a handful of lucky individuals. 

A Christmas virtual party

You can’t plan the party in the office. But who’s stopping you from throwing an online Christmas party on a platform such as Zoom? You can even invite professional event managers or entertainers to help you make the most of the platform. 

It can be the occasion to make your end-of-year speech in front of your webcam, thanking everyone for their effort and contribution to the business. You can also use a virtual Christmas event to wish your team a Merry Christmas and put everyone in a festive mood with songs and a seasonal background! You’ll find plenty of free Christmas backgrounds for Zoom that can put a smile on your team’s faces. 

It’s tough to maintain engagement all night when you invite people to a virtual event. So keep the event low-key and short, sharing the review of the year, your plan for the year to come, and your thanks for the hard work. 

Have a Christmas theme workshop online

If you are looking for something festive to do with your team, why not plan for an online seasonal workshop? You can reach out to a professional cook to get virtual tips on how to plan a delicious Christmas dinner. Alternatively, you can also arrange for a mixology class with your team. An expert can introduce a few Christmas cocktails and teach everyone how to make them. Not all cocktails need to be alcoholic. However, young guests may want something a little bit more exciting than a glass of orange juice or soda for Christmas. That’s where a mixologist can inspire your team. 

Encourage a Secret Santa

Secret Santa is here to stay, even in a virtual world! There are many ways to make your Secret Santa party work. If you keep your office open, you can gather gifts in the office and encourage everyone to pick the present with their name on it. If some of your staff have chosen to work remotely during the festive season, you can arrange a delivery service. It can be a fantastic way to bring a Secret Santa with a festive card into everyone’s home. 

Yet, Secret Santa doesn’t need to be about presents. It can seem like an odd idea, but some kind words can go a long way too. You could introduce an anonymous and virtual Secret Santa letter service, where instead of a gift, everyone is asked to say kind words to their assigned receiver. 

How about a Christmas Grinch party?

Are you familiar with Dirty Santa or Yankee Swap? The game is arranged by White Elephant and basically encourages your team to steal gifts. The principle is simple. Each team member uploads an image of an item to serve as a gift. Then everyone engages in a game of stealing each other’s presents online. At the end, gift-givers are tasked with purchasing and shipping the gifts to the best present thieves. It is a fun and exciting party game that’s perfectly suited for an online party. 

Have a Christmas contest on your intranet

Why not encourage everyone to share a photo of their Christmas decorations and home traditions? There’s nothing more festive than exchanging pictures of seasonal cookies and Christmas trees!

You can also introduce challenges to make it a business game. For instance, you can ask everyone to introduce an unexpected everyday item as part of their Christmas decorations, such as a toothbrush or a screwdriver. Most imaginative photos win a prize! 

Throw a Christmas trivia with a prize

A Christmas quiz can also encourage your team to join the virtual event with their family. You can decide on a prize, such as sending a box of sweet treats or an Amazon voucher to the winner. Christmas trivia questions are a fun way to engage everyone and create a festive mood. Festive quizzes are also a fantastic way to introduce the team to different cultures and traditions. For example, if you have an international team, you can also include questions that relate to the unique traditions in their country of origin. 

Organize a charity event

Christmas is a charitable season. It’s all about giving to each other and bringing the generosity of Christmas to life. Nobody better than Charles Dickens illustrated the generosity of the period through his iconic Christmas Carol. So, it makes sense to turn your Christmas party into a charity event. Why not let the team pick a cause and organize an event to raise money? You can find plenty of exciting ways of raising funds for a charity donation, such as:

• Organizing a sports challenge where each member can create a sponsor-me page
• Have a huge car boot sales event to donate profits
• Throw a 24 hours live-streaming gaming event where different team members can join and play
• etc. 

Alternatively, you can also choose to donate your time and expertise to support local businesses or communities. For instance, your team can distribute Christmas food parcels to unprivileged neighborhoods. 

Are you ready to find an alternative to your office Christmas party? There are so many options, depending on what you want to achieve. Perhaps, if you don’t know which one to choose, it can be a good idea to ask your team what they want to do for Christmas.