6 christmas team building activities that spark joy

Marie Kondo may like to spark joy, but she doesn’t have an edge on making people happy — especially around the holidays. 

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If you’re leading a group at the end of the year, it’s important to develop your team dynamic and spark some productive fun.

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And while you're at it, get more inspiration from related articles:

• Holiday team building specifically for remote teams
• Winter team building ideas
• Gift ideas for team building

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Team building holiday activities that are fun (and productive!)

Here are several suggestions for holiday and December team building activities that celebrate the reason for the season.

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1.  Have fun with Holiday Spirit (remote only)

Time: 15-20 min

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Making the holiday season feel festive is no easy task – especially if your team is working in a remote or hybrid setting. Holiday Spirit is a perfect fit whether you're looking for an activity to spice up your Christmas event agenda or planning a standalone team building session.

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This ready-to-go activity helps put everyone in a festive mood with conversations about all things end-of-year holidays. Ask each other fun questions and figure out the right gifts, favorite memories, and more they like! Holiday Spirit is free to try in Gomada's 14-day trial.

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2.  Make paper snowflakes …blindfolded

Time: 5 min

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Everyone’s made a paper snowflake before. Chances are you made your first one in grade school. 

But have you ever made one while blindfolded? Here’s how to do so with your team:

1. Gather everyone in a meeting room or an online video conferencing equivalent.
2. Make sure each team member has a plain piece of paper, scissors, and a blindfold. 
3. Have everyone blindfold themselves.
4. Give them step-by-step instructions to fold, cut, and otherwise create a beautiful (or something along those lines) piece of winter craftiness.

Related reading: 18 free virtual team building activities that will supercharge your remote team in 2022/2023

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3.  Make a video Christmas card together

Time: 1-2 hours

Most companies make a corporate Christmas card. Often they even include a team picture. This year, consider upping the ante by making a video Christmas card from your team. 

It can double as one of your Christmas team building activities for work. Here are a few steps to help you get started:

1. Gather your team in person or online — if the latter, use a team building app that allows you to record live sessions.
2. Come up with a plan for your Christmas card content as a group or split into breakout groups and then compare ideas.
3. Assign lines and roles and then record your holiday greeting.

4.  Present favorite holiday recipes

Time: 15 min

Everyone has their favorite holiday recipe. Use this as a launching pad to create a series of fun Christmas team building activities that center on everyone’s favorite foods.

Ask someone to start things off by sharing their favorite holiday recipe. Give them specific parameters, such as:

• Providing the background of the recipe.
• Explaining why they are personally fond of it.
• Detailing what is in it and any unique assembly requirements.

5.  Learn to cook a Christmas meal together

Time: 30 min - 1 hour

Sometimes the best way to build your team’s dynamic and strengthen their communication is by engaging in extracurricular team building activities. 

The holidays are a great time to do this. Team building Christmas activities are a natural reason to collectively step outside of the normal workflow for a few hours.

A cooking class is an ideal way to do this without it feeling like a training session. Have your group take lessons from a professional chef to help them prepare for Christmas dinner — as well as prep to work with one another next year.

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6.  Host a holiday trivia night

Time: 1-2 hours

A trivia team building event can be tailored to any occasion — including using them as holiday party team building activities. There are many holiday-themed questions available. 

Related reading: Virtual trivia team building to bring remote teams together

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Embracing the holidays with team building activities for Christmas

It’s easy to plan a White Elephant gift exchange in the office or pull out a generic online team building game. When December rolls around, though, it pays off to narrow your planning. 

Take the time to find good team building Christmas party ideas. As with those listed above, make sure each is also doubling as a chance to improve specific strengths within your team.

If you can do that, your group will head into January closer, stronger, and ready to be more productive than ever.