Remote Party Ideas

It’s come as no surprise to anyone that parties are going to look and feel rather different this year. With a stressful 12 months behind us that have proved challenging workwise for all kinds of reasons, teams deserve a chance to let their hair down and put their knees up more so than ever.

While this can prove challenging in the circumstances, a little ingenuity goes a long way. With some careful planning, you could take this opportunity to put a whole new spin on your business’s usual festive affair, coming up with a fun and quirky idea that’ll really get everyone laughing along.

To help get your party planning started, we’ve thrown together a list of some of our favourite remote ideas for a remote  get together.

Mastermind your way out of an online escape room

You’d had to have been living under a rock to not have heard of an escape room game in recent years. But now this activity has taken a bold leap into the digital world, through unique and exciting virtual rooms which offer plenty of the same fun as the real-world originals. Options like HiddenCity allow multiple players to work collaboratively via computer or tablet, communicating all the time via camera and microphone. Together, your team is tasked with cracking codes, hacking files and uncovering the truth to wind up victorious.

Though escape rooms can be a little limiting when it comes to the number of participants able to join each room, you could always make a competition of it by having multiple groups undertake the same challenge at each time, to see who can escape the fastest.

Toast with a tipple on a virtual group gin tasting

After the year everyone has had, it’s fair to say we’ve earned a festive tipple or two. Do this in style when you opt for a spirit tasting experience, which can be ordered online through a whole range of independent retailers or direct from distilleries. In theory you could opt for just about any drink, including craft beer or whiskey, but gin is a great all-rounder and plentiful non-alcoholic options mean that everybody can join in on this one. Simply find a suitable online store and together select the miniatures you’d like to sample. Each member of the team will then get the miniatures’ box sent to their home address in advance of the big day, when you’ll jump on a video call and discuss each of your gins as you taste them one at a time.

Crack the case on a virtual murder mystery

Murder mystery events have been all the rage in recent years, offering just the right combination of problem solving, intrigue and outright silliness. And with the wonders of modern technology, this is something you can now run and host virtually, through innovative apps such as Whodunnit.

To play, you simply need to identify a host who will run the game and select from an exciting and fun range of theme options. Players can then mingle through voice and video as a fictional dinner party or reception takes place, until some unlucky guest falls victim to the killer and all mayhem breaks lose. After much discussion and deliberation, attendees will be tasked with picking out the murder by the end of the evening. A bucketful of fun; you could even go the whole hog and ask invitees to turn up in fancy dress as a fully-fledged character of their own choosing!

Put trivia to the test on a virtual quiz

Quizzes are a workplace function staple – a quick, easy and entertaining way to break the ice and get everyone mixing in groups outside of their usual channels of communication. That’s why it’s great news that running a quiz online has never been easier, thanks to websites and apps like Kahoot!. These allow you to put together an extensive quiz in advance, featuring all kinds of specialist rounds, images, music and more. Come the big day, you simply need to share your screen on a conference call to display the questions and answer options, while all your invitees play along on their smartphones either as individuals or in groups!

Put your camera to work with virtual parlour games

Finally make good use of the camera you’ve sat through endless meetings on this year, when you add parlour games to your conference call party. Popular activities like charades and Pictionary are easy to play along to online, with a pen, paper and a decent WIFI connection being all that’s required to join in.

To help games like these flow even more smoothly, you could talk the team into investing a small fee in an app like Drawful 2, which allows a large group of players to play along at Pictionary remotely, via their smartphones.

With these silly and sociable virtual activities, along with so many other great party ideas you’ll find out there, there’s plenty of fun to be had this year.