Are you thinking about having a virtual end year party? December is usually end-year-party season. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic and potential lockdowns as various countries face a second wave, many companies are wondering how to maintain a memorable end year experience even through virtual events. There is a need to adapt to our current realities. Trying to copy paste an event without taking to account the workings of a virtual event could end with a lackluster and easily forgettable experience.
Using our event management and team building experience; we have put together a few ideas that you could use to finish off the year in style. Get in touch if you would like to learn how we to incorporate your culture and goals into these ideas.
1. Dinner Party
You might not be able to get together in person for your annual end year dinner, but you can still have a meal together virtually. Pick a date and time, and either order from a caterer or via Uber Eats, Glovo or another application. This is a great way to support local businesses that have struggled this year. You could also make the food yourselves. If you are making the food, decide on your menu, including food and drinks early on and share it with your teammates. You could use your dinner time to celebrate one another over a meal and mix it with a variety of fun games and activities from our end of year vault.
Duration: 3 – 4 Hours
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Of whatever size and enjoy connecting over meals
2. Happy Hour
We have partnered with a great team of mixologist for a fun and memorable event format. We send a Happy Hour package with all the ingredients and drinks for the event beforehand, and then have our mixologist go through the history and unique characteristics of the different drinks. If you would like to run this event yourself, you can look through a few cocktail recipes courtesy of the Diageo Bar Academy. Another great Do It Yourself (DIY) option is the popular Tipsy Bartender website. Enjoy Happy Hour!
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Between 8 – 100pax who share a love for cocktails and Happy Hour.
3. Virtual Movie Night
We all love a good movie with a capturing storyline, actors with great chemistry and a good ending. Watch a movie or binge watch a few with your teammates. Take me to the movies has two variations a virtual DIY offering and a planned outdoor one. If you would like to go virtual use TeleParty it’s a new way to watch TV as a group. The Teleparty application synchronizes video playback and has a group chat options that allows you to keep in touch as you watch the movie.
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Between 8 – 50pax who want something relaxed and laid back.
4. Drive in Movie Night
If you have a larger team and would still want to hang out as a team and watch the movies, we have another option for you. Have a drive-in or cinema experience that could either be family (children included) or couple themed. We will handle all the logistics for you – from booking of the venue, scheduling screen times, communication, audio visual and catering while maintaining the highest health and safety standards. You only need to guide us and enjoy the experience – we will do the rest.
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Distanced
Best for Teams: Between 50 – 500+ pax who want something relaxed but thoughtful and well planned
5. SHOWTIME!
Over the last few years, we have developed several memorable quiz and challenge night experiences. SHOWTIME! is an unforgettable night of virtual challenges that include our own versions of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Deal or No Deal, and Family Feud. We have infused SHOWTIME! with a several challenges all run on one platform that keep your staff team connected and entertained throughout the SHOWTIME! experience, but from the comfort of their own homes. We start off with a build-up of challenges in the week leading up to the penultimate day and then have an entertaining and engaging large group experience.
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Between 50 – 500+ pax who want an out of the box and entertaining experience.
6. The Cookerthon
We have run a Bakerthon experience before and have a social distanced cupcake option. However, because we know how much people love food, we have developed a cooking competition. In association with our professional chef we set up a variety of starters and meals and drinks for you. Our chef will direct you on how to properly prepare the meals and we will focus on various engaging virtual team building and bonding challenges.
Duration: 1.5 – 2 Hours
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Between 8 – 100pax who share a love for making and eating new dishes.
7. Pizza Night
Either order in using Uber Eats, Glovo or other options or have a night full of pizza, wine, and games. This could go hand in hand with other themes such as a virtual concert or take me to the movies. Making the Pizza is also a great option. Start off with sharing the dinner menu with your team and then set up the experience via your favorite video meeting platform. Focus on hanging out, good conversations and enjoying your creations.
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Between 8 – 75pax who love new experiences and enjoy cheese, pizza and probably a glass of wine.
8. Virtual Concert
This is an option for large corporate teams of 500 people and more. Setting up a virtual concert not only supports local musicians, but also allows you to entertain and appreciate your staff after a long and quite different year. Select a lineup of artists that will appeal to your group (it is especially important that you do this) and then don’t only have them perform but have dedicated sets where you get to know a little bit more about them. We have a large collection of activities that would keep your entire team engaged throughout the virtual concert experience.
Duration: 2 Hours
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Between 500 above who want to appreciate their staff and know that music is a great way to do that.
9. Trivia Challenge Night
We all love a good quiz night experience. We have a wide variety of categories to choose from – current affairs, Geography, Movies, Music and others. With the help of an experienced event host and a chat and voting feature we have designed an experience that has friendly competition, fun questions and laughs. Let’s see who comes out top! Just like SHOWTIME! we start off with mini challenges in the days or weeks leading to the event and then have a showdown of your brainiest and wittiest staff members to see who is the smartest of them all.
Duration: 2 Hours
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Between 8 – 45pax who are competitive and still want to outmaneuver and out-think one another.
10. Family Night Out
This starts out with various Go Team App challenges run through the week that allow your teams to know one another little bit better. We have all had experiences of children interrupting a Zoom call or for some a bit more embarrassing experience. Family Night Out is a fun way for the entire family to know what happens at work, engage in a few challenges, and get to know one another a bit more. This is a two-hour experience for the whole family best experienced over dinner and with lots of fillers, energizers and engaging activities that are suitable for families of all ages.
11. Date Night – Couples Edition
The COVID-19 Pandemic has taught us all the importance of relationships during this time. For those who are married or living together and with kids – you have had to balance between work, taking care of the kids and meeting one another’s needs. Reward your employees and their spouses for holding it down during this difficult year. This event is the perfect mix of various formats that we have already shared with you.
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Between 8 – Unlimited pax who want to celebrate love and conquering 2020 with their partners by their side
12. Beer or Wine Tasting
Have your own beer and wine festival but from the comfort of your home. This is the perfect event for small and intimate teams that are wine or bear connoisseurs. Sample from a large collection of Kenyan selected wines and beers and don’t just stick to the usual brands – there are several new specialty options that you can take advantage of. This event format works best with the virtual concert or Lip Sync Battle (Structure in our E-Book). You could either DIY or have us handle the logistics, experience, and execution.
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Between 8 – 75pax who share a love for cocktails and Happy Hour
13. Escape the Mob
Escape the Mob is a fun virtual team building activity that begins with a mysterious video telling your team that they are incriminated in the perfect heist. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Your team now has a limited amount of time to develop an alibi. Guided by the Go Team app you will set out on a journey completing challenges that will gain you points and also help you determine the exact time they were at each place on the night of the robbery. And in a final twist if teams can collaborate successfully, they may work out the whereabouts of the stolen diamonds!
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Between 8 – 250 pax who want an end year team building full of riddles and clues that’s better off than a murder mystery event.
14. In the Picture Remote
If you believe in the importance of shared identity and creative self-expression then this is the perfect activity for you. Members of your team are invited to take a number of selfies for inclusion in a video clip which will showcase all members of your team. We will provide you with clear instructions on the orientation and background color of each of the photos. Following guidelines on the content of your photos, we will also encourage you to get creative in finding props that they have close to hand. The images are compiled, and the video is created. First, a fast-moving sequence of individual faces then as the view pans back, more faces appear. The camera pans back to reveal a powerful pictorial.
Duration: 1 Hour
Event Format: Virtual
Best for Teams: Between 8 – Unlimited pax who understand that a whole is a sum of several parts and want to appreciate everyone within the company.
15. The Infinite Loop (Virtual Escape Room)
A team of hackers is called to a special secret mission to save a young boy imprisoned by mistake in a spaceship. The team must pass through a series of doors that are locked with a puzzle. Each team collaborates in a breakout group on zoom. For each door, one team member can see the spaceship, and the others have information to help them unlock the door. As they complete one puzzle and move to the next, roles switch automatically. The competitive fever rises as teams watch the main screen showcasing the evolution of the scores of all the teams in the game. Who will rescue the boy?
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Virtual and Hybrid
Best for Teams: Between 8 – 250pax looking for a virtual escape room experience.
16. The Big Picture
The Big Picture team building exercise commences with individuals working as small teams or as individuals. You will collect brushes, and paint a diagram outlining your individual canvas and, a blank canvas. They then set about to paint their individual canvases. Soon into the exercise, participants realize that in order for the overall artwork to be successful they need to collaborate with the other paintings in their area. Once complete, the highlight of The Big Picture is the final reveal where, following a debriefing session, the masterpiece is unveiled to all participants for the first time, which always results in loud cheers and thunderous applause. Every now and then it is important to step back and look at the ‘big picture’, particularly when looking at an organization and how its people operate and communicate internally.
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Socially Distanced
Best for Teams: Between 25 – 100pax who want a meaningful and powerful muse.
17. Kidz Factory
In Kidz Factory, individuals will be given a mixed bag of wooden parts which they have to combine and decorate to produce a range of high-quality children’s toys. Three-dimensional blueprints guide participants through the process and detail a range of toy designs. In the planning stages the group identifying components, managing the flow, taking individual responsibility and forming a production line. Once quality checked, the toys are then creatively decorated. In the second phase some out of the box thinking is required as teams are also tasked with creating engaging and educational games using the newly assembled toys. A fun informal finale allows each team to take stage in turn and demonstrate unique activities that maximize the play value of their toys.
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Socially Distanced
Best for Teams: Between 8 – 100pax who want to put a smile on a child’s face this Christmas with toys that will last beyond the Christmas period.
18. The Bakerthon (Cupcake Edition)
Individuals are provided with basic ingredients and resources to custom design and decorate a precooked cake. Teams employ all aspects of cake decorating from drawing and concept design, through to cutting, stacking, shaping, and most importantly layering and decorating. A range of bonus challenges can also be completed in order to gain additional decorations or big ticket items which could be the difference between either cake success or failure. Once complete teams line up their cupcakes and present the inspiration behind their decorations. The judges choose a winning team and award a prize for the best cupcakes! The Bakerathon highlights the benefits of individual participation and team collaboration while incorporating business specific objectives and organizational values. Resources and time are scarce so skillful decision making and team dynamics are important.
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Virtual and Socially Distanced
Best for Teams: Between 8 – 100pax who want to bake, develop team work and excellent design thinking skills.
19. Hearts on Soles
Hearts on Soles is an activity designed to put shoes on the feet of the poor in Nairobi. Lots of people donate clothes – jackets, shirts, trousers, skirts to the poor. However very few people think about donating shoes. The activity is centered around designing shoes with inspirational messages that will lift the hearts and warm the feet of the girls, boys, men, and women that wear them. This creative and powerful yet simple activity gives your participants a chance to come together and collaborate and change the lives of the less fortunate. We encourage participants of Heart’s on Soles to donate other items that will help the less fortunate keep warm during the festive period.
Duration: 2 – 3 Hours
Event Format: Socially Distanced
Best for Teams: Between 8 – 100pax who want to bless the less fortunate with a well-designed pair of shoes this Christmas