How Knak Does Holiday Parties: Throwing a Killer Remote Bash

Well, it’s been quite a year, but the Knak team has powered through, and we’re ready to celebrate the holidays together, even though we’re apart. We can’t gather in person, but we want our team to know how much we appreciate them, so we’ve come up with some ways to celebrate, connect, and laugh (commiserate?) about the year that was 2020.

Just in case your team could use a bit of holiday inspiration, I am taking over the Knak blog again to share our ideas for virtual holiday celebrations that will spread cheer. Try one or a few of them, and get ready to celebrate, 2020 style.

1. Host a Virtual Christmas Dinner

Send gift cards along with an invitation so everyone can get their favourite meal, and hop on Zoom to eat together and share holiday plans.

Alternately, let everyone expense a meal of their choosing. Just set a limit to keep it fair.

2. Have a Gingerbread House Building Contest

Have a kit sent to everyone – prebaked, with all the frosting and candy included – and gather on Zoom to watch everyone create their own masterpiece. Add a Christmas playlist to the background so you have something to listen to, and appoint someone to judge the best one at the end.

There are several good places to order kits from. Here are some suggestions to make it easier! 

3. Host a Virtual Happy Hour

Choose a business that sends out cocktail, beer, or wine kits – Bar From Afar is an Ottawa favourite – and host a custom happy hour. You can try new flavours, create a signature cocktail, and learn a new drink while you celebrate. 

For non-drinkers, consider sending coffee or tea.

4. Throw an Ugly Sweater Contest

Don’t give those ugly sweaters the year off just because you’re not together in person. Host a virtual competition, and mail out a prize to the winner.

This can be done in many ways, but we suggest two options:

• Have everyone submit a photo of themselves in their sweater. Post them in Slack, and ask people to vote on the best (worst!) one. Reveal the final results at your virtual holiday party.
• Ask everyone to wear their sweater to your virtual party. Request that they join with their cameras off, and then reveal the sweaters one by one.

*We tried to do this last year at our holiday party, but Kelly was the only one who actually wore her sweater. Good job, Kelly 😂

5. Make Secret Santa Virtual

Use a name generator like drawnames.com to pick names, and ask everyone to mail their gift by a certain date. Open everything together on Zoom, and try to guess who sent what. 

6. Host a Virtual Trivia Game

Virtual trivia puts a fun twist on a classic game. An organization like Tailored Virtual can customize a trivia game around just about anything, from your specific organization to sports, music, holiday movies, etc. Combine this with the virtual happy hour or secret Santa drawing, and you’ll have a great time mixed with some healthy competition. 

7. Send Cards!

We love this fun card generator from Zendesk. Use it to spread some holiday cheer to your co-workers and let them know you’re thinking about them.

No matter what you decide to do, have fun together! It’s been a tough year, and it’s important to acknowledge the work your team has done in the midst of some unprecedented circumstances. Make sure they know that you appreciate them and that you couldn’t have made it through this year without them.

Happy holidays!