Have you been missing your holiday office parties? Working from home does not have to interfere with your company’s holiday festivities. Throw a virtual Halloween party or a virtual Halloween happy hour and get your team in the spirit of things. Team members can decorate, dress up, have refreshments and mingle from their own homes.

Virtual parties can be less stressful and easier to plan than your average office party. Video sessions allow us to stay connected to our coworkers and friends while we work from home. If the current team workload is lighter, leaving a larger chunk of time for an event, throw a virtual Halloween party for your team. If time is limited, throw a virtual Halloween happy hour instead. 

Planning ahead for your event can help ensure its success. Here are some tips to consider when planning out your DIY virtual team building event:

• Select a theme for your Halloween party. Will it be an all inclusive Halloween theme? Other Halloween theme suggestions include: vampires, zombies, ghosts and witches.
• Encourage everyone to dress up! Costumes are great icebreakers and add to the fun. You could also include a costume contest, rewarding the top favorites with a select prize.
• Create a fun email invite. Your invite could include your theme as well as a creative snack and mocktail recipe to match your theme. Team members can choose to make the suggested refreshments or whatever else they would like. 
• Suggest team members decorate their desks or select a fun virtual background to match their costumes.
• Incorporate fun and engaging team building games like these…

Virtual Halloween Themed Bingo

Bingo is an easy and quick game to play that can easily be themed for Halloween and transitions nicely to a virtual environment. This classic game is suitable for all skill levels and can be adapted to match any theme you like. To create a Halloween bingo board, select a variety of spooky photos and or sayings/ quotes to match your specific theme. Use these images and sayings/ quotes in place of letters and numbers. Email this custom board out to your team in advance so that they have ample time to print it out before the party. Consider prizes for those who win to encourage participation. 

Virtual Halloween Themed Party Quiz

A virtual team quiz gives your remote team the chance to work together and put their knowledge of spooky pop-culture to the test. A team quiz game is another great inclusive game that accommodates all skill levels. To give your quiz game a Halloween twist, consider putting together clues (by words, sounds,  visuals or a mix of all three) based on some of the following themes:

• Name the Halloween movie quiz (Nightmare before Christmas, Nightmare on Elm Street, Frightneers, Hocus Pocus, Friday the 13th, Interview with the Vampire, Frankenstein, Dracula, Clue). Try to select a wide range of movies so that most people would have at least seen 2 or 3 from the mix and are able to contribute to the trivia. 
• Match the Halloween lore quiz ( Darcula, Frankenstein, Werewolves, The BoogeyMan, Witches, All Hallows Eve)

Remote Teams Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are another great team building event for your remote team. One that can be easily adapted to any theme like Halloween. Transform your basic list scavenger hunt into a Halloween costume hunt. Select a simple costume idea that can easily be created at home with household items that everyone will have or can improvise for. See who can find all of the pieces and get their costume on the fastest! Some costume ideas include:

• Ghost: white sheet or pillowcase, your unfinished business ( dirty dish, dirty laundry, empty pet bowl), and an excellent “BOO!” to really sell it
• Witch: pointy hat, long nose (cucumber, pen), and a creepy cackle
• Vampire: fangs (carrots, pretzels, pencils), black cape (black sheet, black jacket, fancy shirt with the collar up), and your best evil laugh
• Pumpkin: orange shirt or pillow case, green stem (piece of lettuce, green sock, green hat), a lantern to make you glow (lamp, flashlight, flashlight from your phone)

Looking to do something more advanced for your team building event? Remote team building events don’t have to be hard or time consuming with the right planning. Let the crew at Breakout IQ provide the support and guidance you need for your next virtual team building adventure.