Ten of the Best Holiday Team Building Activities
The holidays are upon us and we want to share some of our favorite team building activities and holiday themed games, exercises, and challenges to do with your employees this holiday season!
1. Volunteer Your Time
Arguably one of the most meaningful, effective, rewarding teambuilding activities, volunteering during the holidays gives employees a shared mission and helps coworkers bond with each other. Whether for a few hours, half day, day, or month-long campaign, volunteering your time and giving back to the community is incredibly rewarding for all. While food pantries are always in need, and tend to be accommodating of larger groups, volunteering opportunities are plentiful. From fun runs and turkey trots, to canned food drives, to delivering meals to seniors, volunteering at homeless shelters, writing letters to soldiers, to volunteering at local animal shelters, there are countless ways to give back during the holidays (and beyond!). When coordinating, reach out and connect with local organizations to assess their needs and determine where your team(s) can make an impact in your surrounding community.
2. Donate to Charity
While of the one of the more low-key holiday team building ideas, coordinating a charitable donation is one of the easiest ways to give back to the community. This option is especially attractive to busy offices or companies that run several shifts, as employees can pitch in and participate without having to be together at the same time. Prior to selecting organizations to support, consider polling your employees to see where they would like to see their donations go. Encourage employees to contribute personally or engage in fundraising efforts and, if feasible, have the company match their donations. For maximum impact, select local organizations and then share updates about the good work they are doing throughout the year. This will help employees feel more connected to the charity and encourage future donations, should you wish to donate to them again next year.
3. Host a Holiday Scavenger Hunt
Split your employees into groups, or create department centric teams, and create a fun, concise, holiday themed scavenger hunt list. Give each team five to ten minutes to grab the items on the list. Here is a list of scavenger hunt apps and treasure hunt clues for game inspiration.
4. Host a Holiday Meal or Potluck
Holiday feasts and potlucks are one of the most obvious holiday team building events, especially as the holiday itself revolves around food. You can either make reservations at a restaurant, cater in, or coordinate a potluck. You may also consider booking a few food trucks, participating in tastings, going to a farm to table restaurant, or attending a cooking class that ends with a meal, to offer a more unique dining experience.
5. Plan a Special Appreciation Day
Though Employee Appreciation Day officially falls on the first Friday of March, the holiday season is the perfect time to celebrate your staff for their hard work and dedication. During the week leading up to the holidays, consider planning a staff appreciation day and plan special events for employees to enjoy. Some ideas include chair massages, complimentary meals and snacks, raffles and giveaways, and handwritten thank you notes.
6. “Gratitude Tag”
“Gratitude tag” is a game that revolves around giving thanks. To play, team members take turns thanking each other for kind deeds. Once an employee has been thanked, that teammate must find a new coworker to show gratitude. Participants can give thanks via email, verbally expressing their gratitude during a meeting, or by leaving each other notes. The game continues until every team member has been thanked at least once. To ensure that everyone receives a sincere word of gratitude, we recommend keeping track of mentions on an Excel spreadsheet.
7. Write Thank You Letters
One of the most meaningful holiday-themed team building activities is writing thank you letters. To do this exercise, simply set up a station with nice cards, pens, envelopes, and stickers or seals. Be sure to block off thirty minutes to an hour where teammates can sit down together and jot out notes to those who have made a difference in their lives this year. Examples might include bosses and mentors, family members, colleagues, vendors, clients, or staff at a nearby restaurant. Team members can then sign group cards and deliver them together.
8. Play a Game of “Guess the Gratitude”
“Guess the Gratitude” is one of the easiest games. It not only gives employees the opportunity to express their gratitude in a group setting but also helps employees get to know each other on a more personal level. To do this exercise, each employee writes down one thing they are thankful for; answers do not have to be office-related, and more personal answers can help team members get to know each other better. Then, the leader chooses responses at random to read out loud, and the rest of the group must guess which team member the answer belongs to. To help vary the responses and make the game more fun, ask employees to avoid more common answers such as family, shelter, freedom, having a job, etc. and encourage them to think more creatively about the things they are personally thankful for.
9. Participate in a Turkey Trot
Turkey Trots are one of the more popular holiday event ideas. These races started as ways to burn calories before consuming a large meal but have become a holiday team building favorite among employers and employees alike. Running a race together can inspire friendly rivalry and encourage exercise. Plus, teammates can cheer each other across the finish line. To increase engagement and encourage inclusivity, consider sponsoring several teams of walkers, joggers, and runners and encourage employees who are unable to participate in the race to come cheer their coworkers. You may also consider opening the event to employees and their families.
10. Play a Game of “Holiday This or That”
“This or That” is another fun, easy holiday team building game. To play, the leader reads out a series of prompts, and players must respond with their preference. If playing in person, then players can move to one side of the room or the other to broadcast their choice.
A few starter questions include:
- White meat or dark meat?
- Mains or sides?
- Spend with friends or spend with family?
- Mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes?
- Sit down dinner or mingling dinner?
- Football or parade?
- Black Friday or Cyber Monday?
- Dress up or wear sweats?
We wish you and your teams a happy holiday season!