The Best Holiday Team Building Games

In the business world, it’s the season for holiday parties. Why not use this opportunity to work on team building as well? There are quite a few options for holiday team building games that are quick, easy, and give your employees the chance to increase their co-worker bonds in the process. And besides, everyone has an endless slew of non-work-related holiday parties to attend anyway—this is your chance to let your holiday party stand out from the crowd.

What are the best types of holiday team building games for work?

Like any other type of team building game, you’ll want to make sure that the activity you choose focuses on helping your employees become more comfortable with and better at working with each other as a result. Often, companies will use the opportunity of a team building game to give teams that don’t often work with each other the chance to interact and learn about each other, so even just the way that you decide to compose the teams can make a difference when it comes to holiday team building games.

As Forbes explains, a few key ingredients are collaboration, a willingness to participate on the part of your employees, fun, and connecting the activity to business objectives. “For a team-building activity to be successful, you must tie the activity to the business goals of your participants. The purpose of team-building activities is to be disruptive, yes. However, if you fail to foster a post-activity conversation about business goal relevance, you will miss the mark,” notes Forbes. Yep, it’s the holiday season and people aren’t exactly inclined to chat business at a holiday party, but a quick conversation or speech on business relevance won’t hurt anyone.

What are some good holiday team building games to play?

Creativity is king when coming up with holiday team building games. The best route is to think about what would work best for your individual cohort of employees and craft something from there, but if you’re looking for a little inspiration, here are some ideas:

Consider a Charitable Activity.

Giving back is a great way for teams to work together and to do something meaningful during the holiday season. The best part is that there are ample charities and organizations that need help during the holidays, so chances are your employees can choose programs that resonate with them personally. Try kicking off your holiday party with the charitable activity and reconvening in the office afterward to start the festivities.

Try a Culinary Task.

Cooking together is a great way to bond while also taking care of the majority of the food component for your holiday party. It’s a fun way for coworkers to spend time together in a different way than usual and they get to celebrate the fruits of their labors as soon as the dish is done.

Create a Holiday Scavenger Hunt.

You can make this as easy or as difficult as you’d like, depending on your time restraints. To keep it holiday themed, center it around all of the holidays celebrated by the employees in your office. The goal is to be the first team to return with all of the items on the list.

Host Holiday Olympics.

Teams compete in made-up holiday games like using tinsel to tie legs together for a three-legged race or eating candy canes without biting and the like. The bar is low for relevant skills and the holiday cheer is high.