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How to host a virtual team dinner (+ ideas & invitation sample)
Team dinners are a classic team building tool for a reason.
People have been connecting over food for millennia. When you work remotely, it’s easy to assume that these in-person opportunities aren’t available.
But that isn’t true. There are a ton of ways to make remote teams feel connected through a variety of virtual team building activities.
Looking for more ways to develop your team? Check out these stats about employee engagement and other employee engagement apps and solutions.
10 ideas for your virtual team dinner
Team dinners don’t have to be complicated. You can combine food with a comfortable team building activity to elevate the social interactions in your team.
Check out some of these virtual team dinner ideas:
- Do some activities with Gomada, such as “Guess What?” or “Random Fairytales”. These are fun, lighthearted ways to spend an evening with your remote colleagues. Schedule them for free in Gomada’s 14-day free trial.
- Book a virtual cooking class. Cooking classes can provide something for everyone by picking a couple of simple variations of the same recipe.
- Try some wine. The variety and novelty of wine tasting can be massive fun for many people when you can deliver a premium experience to their doorstep.
- Organize a mixology class. Preparing cocktails is more enjoyable when it’s paired with some education.
- Try chocolate instead. A non-alcoholic variant can be chocolate-tasting. The rarer the chocolate, the more exciting the dinner will be.
- Play a game of bingo. Bingo is a party classic because it’s easy for anyone to participate. Many services help you host bingo games for larger teams.
- Do some mindful eating. Mindful eating is a singular experience that can change how people perceive food. Doing it in a group gives everyone something to discuss and start the evening with.
- Play a virtual murder mystery game. There’s a huge number of murder mystery games out there, so it can be hard to choose the best one, but they force you to work together as a team to solve a problem.
- Play a virtual escape room game. Escape rooms provide a similar experience to murder mystery games and are a team building favorite.
- Try a scavenger hunt. Scavenger hunts are universally fun, especially if you have some competitive spirits in your team.
The best team building events give everyone a chance to participate–without feeling like the odd person out.
Remember that food is a sensitive topic. It’s hard to design an inclusive event because people have dietary restrictions. If you go for any of those options, ask for people’s preferences ahead of time and build in extra options to accommodate those.
You can also check other employee engagement tools for different team building activities.
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Share fun facts and bond with a team quiz
Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.
01. Yes
share-fun-facts-and-bond-with-a-team-quiz
Run a guided recognition activity
Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.
01. Yes
run-a-guided-recognition-activity
Organize a virtual cooking class
Hire a professional chef to help your team cook a delicious lunch or dinner. May be difficult for co-workers with families. To find providers and get tips, read our blog about virtual cooking classes.
02. No
organize-a-virtual-cooking-class
Hire a stand-up comedian
Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.
02. No
hire-a-stand-up-comedian
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Table of contents
Team dinners are a classic team building tool for a reason.
People have been connecting over food for millennia. When you work remotely, it’s easy to assume that these in-person opportunities aren’t available.
But that isn’t true. There are a ton of ways to make remote teams feel connected through a variety of virtual team building activities.
Looking for more ways to develop your team? Check out these stats about employee engagement and other employee engagement apps and solutions.
10 ideas for your virtual team dinner
Team dinners don’t have to be complicated. You can combine food with a comfortable team building activity to elevate the social interactions in your team.
Check out some of these virtual team dinner ideas:
- Do some activities with Gomada, such as “Guess What?” or “Random Fairytales”. These are fun, lighthearted ways to spend an evening with your remote colleagues. Schedule them for free in Gomada’s 14-day free trial.
- Book a virtual cooking class. Cooking classes can provide something for everyone by picking a couple of simple variations of the same recipe.
- Try some wine. The variety and novelty of wine tasting can be massive fun for many people when you can deliver a premium experience to their doorstep.
- Organize a mixology class. Preparing cocktails is more enjoyable when it’s paired with some education.
- Try chocolate instead. A non-alcoholic variant can be chocolate-tasting. The rarer the chocolate, the more exciting the dinner will be.
- Play a game of bingo. Bingo is a party classic because it’s easy for anyone to participate. Many services help you host bingo games for larger teams.
- Do some mindful eating. Mindful eating is a singular experience that can change how people perceive food. Doing it in a group gives everyone something to discuss and start the evening with.
- Play a virtual murder mystery game. There’s a huge number of murder mystery games out there, so it can be hard to choose the best one, but they force you to work together as a team to solve a problem.
- Play a virtual escape room game. Escape rooms provide a similar experience to murder mystery games and are a team building favorite.
- Try a scavenger hunt. Scavenger hunts are universally fun, especially if you have some competitive spirits in your team.
The best team building events give everyone a chance to participate–without feeling like the odd person out.
Remember that food is a sensitive topic. It’s hard to design an inclusive event because people have dietary restrictions. If you go for any of those options, ask for people’s preferences ahead of time and build in extra options to accommodate those.
You can also check other employee engagement tools for different team building activities.
Get-to-Know Activity
Guess What
Always wanted to know more about your team? Wish they understood you better? Go on, let’s get started then!
Try this activity
Remote team dinner invitation email samples
After you decide on the program and set a date, you need to send invitations to your team. A virtual team dinner invitation email should be short and sweet.
It needs to cover when the event will happen and tease a little about what you have planned for the evening. If you order anything for delivery, asking for signups is essential.
Here’s an example:
Another virtual team dinner invitation email template could look like this:
You can personalize your virtual team dinner invitation based on the event. Say you’re hosting a chocolate tasting:
Collaboration & Creativity Activity
Random Fairytales
Get creative in a relaxed team environment. Take turns drawing and guessing scenes, then watch how an initial idea took on a life of its own.
Try this activity
Food delivery services for remote team events
A virtual team dinner delivery is the cherry on top–assuming the event isn’t cooking together. If you organize an alternative event and provide the food, your team is almost guaranteed to have a great time.
These are some of the delivery services that will coordinate food delivery across different countries for you:
- Pizzatime provides options for lunch, breakfast, and dinner globally.
- Hoppier organizes food delivery across 60+ countries.
- SnackMagic has a huge number of package options that are also customizable to your brand.
Another way to provide the food is to go for a virtual kit, although that isn’t quite the same as a fully-prepared meal.
Developing a team building strategy
Successful team building involves supplementing those with various activities to build the tight-knit, motivated team you’re looking for. If you ever need more ideas, check out our free virtual team building activities, get-to-know-you games, or games you can play on Zoom.
Have a blast with your remote team 🔥
Our team building activities are rated 9/10 by over 900 remote teams.
It's the easiest way to feel close when working remotely!
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