12 Best, Most Unusual Christmas Team Building Ideas

Do you hear that? It sounds like… sleigh bells ringing, are you listening?

Too cheesy? Well, it should be. Christmas is almost here! 2020 has definitely NOT been the year everyone thought it would be, but lets at least go out with a bang and enjoy Christmas.

Don’t worry, this isn’t your run in the mill “TOP CHRISTMAS THINGS TO DO” type of post. Nope, instead let’s spice it up a notch and look at the best, most unusual and eccentric ideas for a Christmas party. All to help your employees bond better.

Starting with…

#1 Employee Awards Ceremony

Well, well, well. Good to start off, right? An event that will more likely make your employees hate each other. Nice. No, no, you need to hear me out on this one.

While it’s a privilege to be praised for work that you’ve done, try and change course and give awards that connect to your employee’s personalities. So, you got a joker in your office? Present a “best comedian” award!

Maybe you have someone who’s always late but gets the job done anyway. Present a “Tardy but hardy” award!

Mix it up with some Christmas-themed awards as well. Did you guys do a recent Secret Santa? Make a “best gift-wrapper” or “best ugliest Christmas sweater” award!

#2 Festive drink darts

You’ll probably want the staff out of the office with this one (unless your company allows drinking in the office, in that case, get cosy!).

Festive beer darts are just like regular darts, only your liver is at stake. With every throw you make, the dart will land on:

One additional rule you could implement is that everybody must be drinking Christmas drinks.

(Something like this)

#3 Comedy club

Get your staff “ho, ho, ho-ing” by going to a comedy club! Preferably a local comedy club, but getting your employees out for a good laugh for a night out is ALWAYS a great time. You can also hire comedians virtually through Maximillion, you’ll be set for a great night.

Besides, who wouldn’t want to see their colleague spit out during a momentous funny moment done by one of the stand-up comics?

#4 Festive Escape Rooms

What better way to bond other than putting your department in a Christmas-themed escape room?

If you don’t know what it is, an escape room is a game in which a team of players work together to try and escape specific rooms, which is done by solving puzzles, completing tasks, all in the matter of a limited time.

You and your teams don’t have to be absolute high-IQ to participate in an escape room. It’s all about fun! And because it’s going to be Christmas-themed, the festive mood will only shine brighter.

#5 Christmas Bake/Cook Off

Oh everybody loves a bit of bake off. I’m not sure about you, but it makes me want to make my own things and ultimately fail as well. Who could forget James Acaster’s “Bon – Appetit” line?

Anyway, I digress. If we’re talking about unusual and weird Christmas party ideas, I think this one takes the cake.

Sorry, I know you didn’t care for that food pun, guess it just leeked out of me.

Okay that’s the last one, we promise.

The idea is that 1 – 3 staff from each department could make or bake Christmas food, bring it in the next day for everyone to try, and the winner of the department gets a bottle of wine or two! You can even do this one virtually by showcasing what you’ve created on video and choosing the best looking one.

There’s a touch of competition, but it also allows social interaction between departments that might not even have spoken to one another.

#6 Bauble-y Bingo

Give your employees a chance to win some cheerful and festive prizes by running an exciting Bauble-y Bingo game, courtesy of Maximillion Events!

This is a game of bingo like no other, and if your staff are ones that like a good competition, then this interactive activity is the one to give. Participants are provided with an electronic bingo card. What’s great about this is that this experience is led by the one and only SANTA! And of course, his best crew of elves (here’s an offer you can’t refuse.

Nobody in your workplace wants to play as Santa? No problem, because Maximillion can fill that space. What way to become more festive than bringing in our jolly old gift-giving pal?

For more information about our Bauble-y Bingo, and other fun interactive experiences, click here for our Interactive team building Christmas Brochure.

#7 Present raffle

Now, depending on what your company is like, this could go pretty weird, or be super fun. And also a great way to get your employees closer together!

A present raffle is essentially what it sounds like, a raffle for presents. Everybody will still get tickets, but the tickets will be assigned to a particularly wrapped present.

Another cool aspect you could implement is that those that are participating and buying the presents must meet a certain requirement for what presents they’re thinking of buying, such as “it must be bigger than an office chair” or “must be able to play sound”. It gives incentive for people to join.

The more creative and wacky your requirements are, the more likely people will join. So get thinking!

#8 Cocktail creation

Another drinking one, I know. but hey, it’s Christmas! People may say drinking out is enough, but I’d say go further by organizing a cocktail making masterclass for your office.

It’s a perfect way for any celebration such as Christmas. You and your colleagues will learn the fundamental ways of creating delicious, fun cocktails by playing great interactive cocktail games and learning in the class.

Want to make it more Christmassy? Create drinks that are Christmas themed!

#9 Christmas karaoke

Do you want your team to bond? Nothing does it better than getting together and singing some of the classic Christmas songs sung worldwide.

There’s nothing much to add onto this list, really. Just book yourselves a karaoke night and blast away with some festive tunes.

And this close to Christmas, more or less, a lot of people will be in the mood.

If you’d like to make things a bit more interesting, have people pair up and sing together, or put them in teams and make a competition to get the best score! Best singers or highest scorers get free shots for an hour! Or something along those lines.

#10 Who kidnapped Santa?

No, this is more of a “murder mystery” type of night. And it’s going to be a lot of fun (not to mention very effective for your team building needs).

I’ll set the scene for your murder mystery night. It’s the 24th of December, and as you and everyone else would expect, Christmas is not long away.

However, there’s something off. And before you could question the ambience surrounding the town you and your team get an anonymous letter, and it reads: “We’re here to steal Christmas from you! If you want Santa back you need to [solve the puzzle], you have 2 hours to get him. Good luck”.

And so commences the murder mystery night! This event is a fun, creative and powerful method of bringing together your members of staff in solving a unique puzzle – Who kidnapped Santa? It requires teamwork and problem solving, a sure way of creating a bond only Krampus or the Grinch is able to break!

#11 Beat the Intro (A musical quiz)

Looking to energise your employees? Look no further than Maximillion’s “Beat the Intro” activity.

This loud, fast-paced and exciting quiz is sure to provide a competitive buzz between your staff, and the more competition the better! Pit them against each other to determine who is the most musically educated member of each department.

To add to the festive fire of this activity, the host will also be our live virtual DJ, so it’s sure to be a fun time for everybody.

All guests will then be asked to “name that tune” before any of the other participants, adding an adrenaline of competitiveness for each team playing the game!

To find out more about this exciting interactive energiser, click here to view our virtual Christmas brochure.

#12 Bring a pet to work day

Who doesn’t like pets? You can even do this idea virtually too!

Dress up your pet with a cute little Santa hat or beard and bring them up to work. Not really much to say with this idea, really. Just a good old fashioned, stress-relieving day by having your pet by your side during work!

Get to know your staff better by allowing them to bring a pet for a day or two, and introduce them to your colleagues.

You can check other people’s pets as well! Who knew that Casey in the finance department had a pet iguana?

What idea best suits your team?

Do you enjoy getting your team together and have them use their problem-solving skills for an escape room? Or maybe just your generic office-based “build a basket for the egg” type of activity?

Either way, we hope that this list of unusual team building ideas is able to give you some inspiration on your next Christmas-themed team-building exercise.

If organising and creating an event is too time-consuming for you, or if you’d simply like professionals to take over, contact us anytime.

Maximillion designs creative events, and are currently running a virtual team building programme developed to keep teams connected whilst working remotely.