12 Fun Virtual Holiday Party Ideas
Celebrate with friends without changing out of your PJ’s! (Do you have a pair of these socks yet? BEST SOCKS EVER!)
Happy Friday!
Officially ONE WEEK until Christmas! Eeeee!
I know this is a big week for holiday “gatherings”–you know, virtually! 😂
It also happens the weekend of our annual holiday party (we always host one with Neal’s college friends–I mean, they’re both of our friends, but technically they knew Neal first 😂). It’s the first time since we’ve lived in this house that we haven’t hosted one, so if you’re also in the same boat and are a little sad about it, I FEEL you.
However, just because we can’t be together in person though doesn’t mean we can’t still have fun with our friends! I got a lot of requests for virtual holiday party ideas, so I’ve pulled together a few thought-starters on how you can get together with your loved ones virtually (and you don’t even have to change out of your PJ’s!) whether that’s this week or after the holidays!
12 Fun Virtual Holiday Party Ideas
Book an AirBnB Virtual Experience
I wrote about these in my Experiences Gift Guide and they look SO cool. A really easy way to have a fun, totally new experience together, but apart. You can follow a Plague doctor through Prague, Have Sangria with Drag Queens in Portugal, Learn about Irish Legends and Culture with an Irishman and his cute dog in Dublin, embark on an interactive journey about the French Revolution–SO many unique experiences! They’re all very affordable too, most between $15-$30 per person, and you can arrange private events for most of them, too!
Jackbox Games
A lot of people have raved about Jackbox as a fun way to play virtual games together! They have tons of options and would be great for everything from virtual office parties to your group of besties!
Take a group virtual cooking class
There are so many ways to do this! You can hire a local chef, book one through AirBnB experiences (SO many options from all over the world!) or look to see if your favorite local restaurant is hosting any online classes/courses or would be open to hosting a private event for you. (Many are!) A fun way to learn something new together!
A virtual cocktail experience
Whether you nominate the cocktail enthusiast in your friend group to put together a featured cocktail and send out the list of ingredients beforehand, or you hire a professional to take you through a cocktail experience, this would be a fun one! If you’re looking for the latter, I highly recommend my friend Tim of Pour Souls Chicago! If you’re local to Chicago, he can also create customized Cocktail Kits with everything your attendees need, or if you’re not local, he can put together a list of ingredients for everyone to have beforehand. Tim is great and you will learn a lot about mixing amazing at-home cocktails in his virtual classes!
Book or attend a virtual performance together
Do you have a favorite local singer or comedian that you love seeing live? Reach out and ask to book them for a live virtual performance for you and your friends! (If you need suggestions, I would personally probably start by looking up your local comedy club to see if they have virtual performances or know of any comedians they work with that host virtual events! For example, Zanies in Chicago offering virtual performances!)
Host a holiday movie watch party!
There are so many ways you can host a watch party where the group can stream a movie together and chat/interact throughout the process. Netflix and Amazon both have options watch party options, and there are so many other ways to host a virtual watch party too–a quick google search will help you figure out the best option for you!
Virtual Cookie Swap
The “swap” part is probably easiest to do with those who live in your city, but can totally be done via the mail too! Everyone gets together to bake their favorite holiday cookies, then packs theirs in a tin to drop off to everyone else once they’re finished for a socially distanced swap–so everyone has a delicious collection of cookies!
Gift Wrapping Party
Great for catching up with girlfriends and knocking out your holiday wrapping at the same time! Just pour your favorite beverage, stock up on the wrapping paper, and zoom so you can catch up and wrap together!
Virtual Scavenger Hunt
You can do this individually with a small number of people or break into zoom breakout rooms and do teams, but give everyone a list of items that they can find around the house, in their phone, etc. It can be as easy as “ornament, wrapping paper, etc” or more obscure items, like “an expired product from the fridge,” “a dead plant,” “the last meme you screenshotted,” etc. 😂 I think this can be VERY entertaining.
Play Pictionary
All you each need is a piece of paper (ideally a bigger posterboard so it’s easier to see) or a white board!
Create a virtual supper club!
This will probably be best with a small group of people, but very fun–you all cook dinner together on a given night over zoom and take turns being the “host”–leading your friends through the process of cooking your chosen recipe! This would be really fun to do with special family recipes, and can be as intricate or easy as you like! Just provide everyone with a list of ingredients they’ll need beforehand! You could easily do this with a “cocktail” club, a “wine” club, etc. Or, if you don’t want to cook, simply order takeout from the same local restaurant together, and share dinner over zoom!
Host a Murder Mystery
This company puts together virtual murder mystery parties with lots of different themes! It sounds like so much fun and a total departure from the usual zoom happy hours. I’ve always wanted to do an in-person murder mystery party, and I bet a virtual one would be ALMOST as much fun!
