10 Virtual Team Celebration Ideas in 2023

Celebrating milestones and achievements can be challenging when you are not in the same location. Virtual celebrations can be done at any time of day, anywhere with an internet connection!

If you are on the lookout for more free virtual celebration ideas, then look no further! In this blog post, we will outline 10 different options and give advice on how to make them work. We've compiled all of these with the intention of bringing your teams together in a way that is fun and uplifting without requiring physical presence.

In this list you will find ideas:

• Free virtual celebration ideas.
• Online celebration ideas.
• Virtual office celebration ideas.
• Ways to celebrate milestones remotely.

List of Virtual Team Celebration Ideas

Curating a care package

There are few surprises more rewarding than getting something unexpected from your teammates. Team recognition gifting is a powerful way to boost morale and reinforce norms for teamwork. Here are some ideas of how you can do it:

• Send each member one free virtual gift from an online store like Amazon, eBay or Walmart.
• Create a personalized video that summarizes the team's accomplishments with funny voice-overs and clips from movies related to their success. You could also create specific ones for members of your team who have recently received recognition for their work. This will show them how much they're appreciated.

Lacking gift ideas? There are hundreds of options like:

• Snack boxes. Check our gift ideas.
• Fitness equipment or small gadgets.
• Classic designer sweaters or jackets to stay away from plain corporate branded apparel.
• Charitable donations.

Create a Storyboard or Concept Art

To better support your team celebration, you can start out by creating a storyboard or concept art. If you are not familiar with the term, a storyboard is a 3D depiction of the proposed celebration, usually to be painted or dra

wn, and concept art is a sketched drawing based on that concept. These are both great ways of helping you visualise your plans and help to make them more enjoyable.

For example, you could have a picture of an activity-based around a famous sporting event or the success of a specific team or a charity you are passionate about. You could also have a concept art depicting the type of card or badges that will be distributed to those participating.

This can help you communicate the meaning of the celebration in your team, and is a great way to get everyone on board.

Virtual happy hours

Virtual happy hours are events no employee can say no to. You can eat lunch together, grab a glass of wine, watch a movie, tour someone’s house, or just play a game like “Name that song”. But sometimes it’s also interesting for the team to bring someone external and learn while doing.

You could ask a sommelier or mixologist to teach you how to taste or create a special drink, while you enjoy a team milestone. If you are going big, a package full of ingredients will simplify the management a lot.

By receiving the ingredients to your doorstep, your team’s experience starts with unboxing. These virtual events are appropriate for all kinds of occasions, from birthdays to promotions, to project completion, to your plain-old standard Thursday night.

Choose a Victorious anthem

I think there is no sports team in the world that don't have their own anthem. Music unities people. Makes sense to also have a victory anthem.

Each employee writes the first line of the song, and they are then responsible for adding an additional verse to it in order to create a sense of team spirit that is shared among all employees.

With this virtual event, you will be able to personalize each celebration and acknowledge various milestones such as job anniversary or birthday with an authentic celebration online. You could even create your own with a Drumming Session.

Some inspiration could be the famous We Are the Champions by Queen or Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.

Compile your team's highlights reel

Put your team's activity into perspective by showcasing achievements within the presentation, image or video slideshows, decks and so on. Empower your team with confidence by awarding virtual badges and certificates, so they feel like a true member of the team. Collecting the answers via forms such as the 'funniest moment', 'the best coming up with ideas', 'craziest suggestion of the year' or 'team bonding story'.

For some inspiration that’s bound to leave you without words, check out what the folks some Virtual Team Buildings ideas.

Track birthdays and other milestones

Don't let birthdays, special occasions or work anniversaries slip under the radar.

Send a heartfelt virtual birthday card to team members you work with. Show your appreciation for their hard work by sending them flowers, balloons or even gifts online. Start an 'online celebrations' board on the company's website and list these milestones.

Track these in one place so that no event goes unnoticed, for example, Slack using cakeday. Add specific instructions such as “Please have the cake ready at 3pm Eastern Standard Time” or “Birthday cupcakes at 10am Eastern Standard Time.”

Create a celebration fund

A fund to do something with your virtual team can be a great way to celebrate an occasion. For example, if one of your remote team members gets promoted or if one of your employees has a baby, you can contribute to the celebratory fund to allow them to buy something that they need or to spend time with them.

Alternatively, a fundraising event to allow the team to celebrate a goal can also be a good idea. A variety of events and goals should allow the team members to participate in the celebration in different ways. Alternatively, you could create a range of daily milestones to celebrate and draw a line in the sand where you have achieved it.

You can also share what the virtual team is up to on social media or simply send each other emails with all the activities you've done together.

Brainstorm a team ritual

If you want to treat your virtual teams to a unique or fun celebratory ritual, start by brainstorming a standard celebration to enjoy every time a teammate crushes a goal or reaches a milestone. Finding a great team ritual will help you gain consistency and trust. The activity is not as important as the repetition rate. If you've got a dynamic group of people, then you could try:

• One person leads the whole team through a word-association exercise, such as 'Words that inspire me'.
• Daily positive affirmation of the day.
• April Fools Day online prank war.
• Birthday photoshop challenges.
• Wine and cheese Wednesday.
• Weekly grateful speech.

9. Celebrate unknown special days

Everyone knows when Christmas is, but did you know that October 1st is Escape Room Day? This approach is a great way to highlight and honour the diverse backgrounds of your teammates. Escape the mainstream celebrations and embrace the different cultures that are present in your workplace, pretty sure your teammates have different traditions.

You can find some celebrations ideas these days:

• National Clean Your Desk Day - January 13th.
• National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day - January 27th.
• National Paranormal Day - May 3rd.
• National Puppy Day - March 23rd.
• Scavenger Hunt Day - May 24th.
• Donut Day - June 2nd.
• Talk Like a Pirate Day - September 19th.
• World Penguin Day – April 25th.
• International Burger Day – May 28th.
• World Kindness Day – November 13th.
• Programmers’ Day – September 13th.
• World Art Day – April 15th.
• World Emoji Day – July 17th.

Go check our collections of holiday activities.

Virtual Escape Rooms

Making a celebration via competition is also a good idea. Give the team an hour to solve a puzzle or answer questions and see who comes out on top. Another way is to create a virtual escape room, which can be played online in small groups of up to ten people. Solve clues that will lead you through various challenges in order to get out on time. There are mainly two types of online escape rooms that can be done remotely.

• Players see the room and navigate around themselves online and can zoom into objects, watch videos of locks being unlocked and see what happens after the puzzle is solved. In this type of Escape Rooms the Game Master assists live in real-time.

• Escape Rooms where the Game Master holds a camera showing players the room and act as an avatar for players who tell the Game Master where to go and what to do.

For more work from home party suggestions, check out our collections.