8 Christmas Event Ideas to Make the Holiday Season Exciting

Nov 20, 2024 Praggya Joshi

The holiday season, with festive cheer and celebrations, is the perfect time to come together. Celebrating it at workplaces enhances team spirit and morale. It also maintains a connected workforce, especially if your teams work remotely or hybrid. Christmas event ideas open the doors to exciting opportunities to connect and celebrate with your teams, partners, and even clients. You can pick a theme and let your creativity unfold.  

In this post, we'll give you a list of some of the most convenient Christmas event ideas for a memorable and enriching celebration at your workplace.  

Top 8 Christmas Event Ideas for Corporate Gatherings 

Here are eight unique corporate Christmas event ideas that will spread the holiday as well as team spirit: 

1. Virtual Winter Wonderland

If you are looking for immersive Christmas event ideas for remote teams, a virtual winter wonderland can be a great choice. It is basically a kind of online event filled with fun, interactive holiday-themed activities. You can use the activities for team-building and celebrate Christmas alongside. 

Try to organize this event during work hours when almost everyone is present. Choose a good virtual events platform that can accommodate the planned number of guests. 

Some interactive holiday-themed games to boost networking and team-building spirit include the following: 

• Holiday Trivia: This trivia can have questions about holiday traditions, movies, music, and history.  
• Ugly Sweater Contest: Let attendees get dressed in holiday attire or have an online "ugly sweater" fashion show. Allow everyone to vote for their favorite looks and have a prize for the winner ready. 
• Virtual Scavenger Hunt: Give attendees a list of items, such as a red ornament, a candy cane, or a holiday card. Set a time limit and ask them to find the items in their homes. 

2. Cultural Holiday Festivities

Do you want to make everyone feel inclusive and a part of a single team? Christmas event ideas like this that allow you to showcase global holiday traditions will help you. It's one of those corporate Christmas event ideas that can be used in many creative ways. Gain inspiration from the following: 

• Have a food station with Christmas treats or let your diverse teams bring food inspired by their history. 
• Invite food trucks with diverse cuisines. The trucks should be parked near the workplace during the day of the event. 
• Decorate your event area with ornaments from different countries. 
• Ask people to share facts about Christmas traditions in their native place. 

3. Retro Holiday Party

Christmas event theme ideas from past decades are sure to make the ambiance nostalgic. Inject a traditional vibe with a retro holiday party theme and this can be done in any way you desire. 

A good place to start would be to set up an old-fashioned cocoa bar and a dessert table with brandy. Set up a DIY wood tree near the table and use old-timey decorations like tinsel, Shiny Brite collection of ornaments, and fruit wreaths and garlands. You can also play classic Christmas songs to complete the theme.  

Don't worry about making your event fully retro. Use whatever vintage items you can source to decorate the place. 

4. Charity and Community Giving

Christmas event ideas that support charitable causes align well with corporate social responsibility. There's no reason to let go of the vision of giving back to those in need. A charitable holiday party is one of the great Christmas event theme ideas to engage in philanthropic endeavors.  

Remember Henry Ford's saying - “The highest use of capital is not to make more money, but to make money do more for the betterment of life.” So, keeping this in mind you can sponsor a local food drive, volunteer at homeless shelters, or organize fundraising events. 

Alternatively, you can host a raffle or a silent auction. Workers can place bids on goods, and all proceeds will be donated to the charity of their choice. 

5. Themed Workshops

Corporate professionals love being a part of engaging workshops. These don't have to be fully work-related. You can use them as a way to explore the interests of your team members. Some of the best Christmas event ideas for workshops include holiday cocktail-making or DIY decoration sessions. 

For the former, you can hire a mixologist who will teach employees the art of creating festive cocktails. Add in a touch of inclusivity by having alcohol-free options like mocktails. Decorate your office space with garlands, twinkling lights, and ornaments. Infuse festive vibes with red and green napkins and gold-rimmed glasses on the table. 

DIY ideas to celebrate Christmas 2024 can revolve around inviting employees to create holiday ornaments and setting up tables with a variety of materials like paint, glitter, adhesive, corks, and clay and allow guests to craft ornaments however they see fit. Depending on the nature of items, employees can make wooden Christmas ornaments, button and felt ornaments, cork ornaments, and the like.  

 6. Interactive Entertainment

A corporate Christmas event can be epic, provided you choose the entertainment options that resonate with employees. You can host live performances like a talent show, karaoke, or band and have everyone enjoying together. Some other good options for this event idea include: 

• Bring in a local choir for a traditional holiday performance 
• Organize a theatrical Christmas skit 
• Host a puppet show or bring in a spoken word artist 
• Hire costumed carolers who will stroll through the event singing traditional Christmas songs. 

Give a twist to the holiday entertainment with a virtual escape room. You can decide on any theme you want. The aim is to ensure that everyone participates in a series of challenges that test the mind and require collaboration. A virtual escape room also develops creative problem-solving ability and makes employees think out of the box.  

Yet another entertainment option popular in many Christmas event ideas is Christmas team photo contest. Divide employees into teams and ask each group to set up a Christmas-inspired mood board. To make the setting perfect for the photoshoot, they can use props like X'mas trees, Santa hats, and reindeer antler accessories. The color scheme for decor should be related to the festival, such as silver and gold.  

After setting the rules, let the contest go live. Employees should submit their entries in a dedicated place from where they can be reviewed by the judges. Don't forget to showcase all the contest entries afterward.  

7. Sustainable Green Events

It's fully possible to soak in the festive cheer with eco-friendly corporate Christmas event ideas. The only requirement is to be a bit mindful of the decor, catering, and how you organize activities.  

Think about digital event invitations, recyclable decor, and fun virtual activities. Choose a beautiful email template to invite employees to the event.  

Decorate the party area with decor like natural flowers, garlands, and festive ornaments made from old magazines and newspapers. Candles, lanterns, and string lights will further enliven the atmosphere. Food should be made from local and seasonal produce like winter squash, citrus fruits, and root vegetables. 

Promote eco-friendly activities and entertainment options like virtual bingo, Christmas gif contest on Slack or a virtual dance-off. All these activities are fun and encourage togetherness and warmth.  

8. Tech-Enhanced Experiences

If you want to really level up the celebratory experience and have enough time, consider using the latest innovations. Christmas event ideas with technologies like Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) create immersive and accessible events for in-person, remote, and hybrid teams.  

• Hold a virtual gathering with VR glasses. Transport your guests to a fun gaming space, no matter in which part of the world they reside. 
• Create an AR experience wherein employees personalize a virtual tree. Ask them to add lights, ornaments, and presents, with the same visible on their device screens. 
• Conduct an AR scavenger hunt where participants look for hidden Christmas-themed objects around the office or event venue using their smartphones.  
• Gamify the event with a mobile event app. Use polls, quizzes, and Q&A sessions to find the engagement levels. You can also use it to boost networking, especially if your company has several departments. 

Conclusion 

Now you have a list of the best Christmas event ideas for a memorable celebration. They'll bring employees closer and promote interaction. Guests will love engaging in games that build team spirit and morale. You can choose any of the Christmas event ideas and personalize it according to the type of team you have (remote, hybrid, in-person) and the preferences of employees.  

To make planning easier, use an event management platform. It'll simplify guest management, like registration, event promotion, and scheduling of activities so you can focus on ideating a theme. Book a free demo to try our all-in-one event management platform.