7 Virtual Halloween Ideas for a fun Work Party

Despite popular opinion, Halloween is not just for kids. Spooky season is here, and no matter how old you are, you’ve probably been thinking about how costumes and fall activities are actually going to work this year during the pandemic. 

This is especially true for companies and teams that traditionally celebrate Halloween in the office. For adults who work together, Halloween can be a fun opportunity to connect with coworkers, build team camaraderie, and push yourself out of your comfort zone. 

But just because your team is working remotely or staying more socially distant, it doesn’t mean you need to skip out on Halloween completely. There is still time for you to organize some fun virtual Halloween activities for your team to have fun and stay connected this year. Keeping these CDC Halloween guidelines in mind, we have come up with some easy virtual Halloween ideas that your team will love. 

Just because you aren’t leaving the house, it doesn’t mean you can’t show off your costumes over Zoom. Encourage your team to get creative, put on their best costume (maybe this is the year you finally try a DIY costume), and then schedule a video meeting to show them all off. To add a fun incentive, consider creating categories and letting people vote on a winner for each. Your company can offer fun, simple prizes like a lunch gift card, or custom merch. Want to make it even more of a party? Coordinate a dinner or drink delivery in advance, or offer to reimburse employees for a portion of their own celebrations. 

Thriver offers an array of unique team activities led by seasoned professionals. They offer three different types of magic shows, and have even created one specifically with Halloween in mind. The Virtual Magic Spook Show is a highly interactive (and kind of scary) virtual magic show for your team. It’s ridiculously engaging, a ton of fun, and your team’s decisions impact the results of the show. If you want to explore more Thriver experiences, you can also check out their Halloween-themed escape room and trivia game. 

Need something to wash down all of that candy? Virtual halloween-themed cocktail classes are a fun way for your team to celebrate the holiday (like real adults) without ever stepping foot into a bar or restaurant. Check out the various live classes on Eventbrite leading up to Halloween, or celebrate on the 31st itself with this class hosted by Bitters Lab. If you aren’t able to find a live class that works for your team’s schedule, you can also pick out your own Halloween cocktail recipe and set up a Zoom call while you make the drinks together. 

Watching a movie together is probably out of the cards this year. Instead, test your team’s horror movie expertise with a special trivia game night. This takes minimal preparation and is also a great team building opportunity. Encourage people to grab a drink, and hop on a virtual video call. Then divide the group into teams and split into individual breakout rooms, where they will work through a list of trivia questions (check out some examples here). Whoever gets the most correct answers at the end of the time frame wins!

Escape rooms are a classic team building activity, and they are even better when planned around the spooky Halloween season. The Escape Game is one of the most popular virtual options for escape rooms. This company is great because you can participate from anywhere, as long as you have access to Zoom. At the beginning of each game, you also have access to a host that will help your team get started. Each “escape room” can hold up to 8 people, but they can also accommodate groups of up to 500 people with individual breakout rooms. 

Bingo is an easy game to play virtually because it has minimal pieces and only requires one host to do the talking. If you do a quick search around the web, you will find many pre-made Halloween bingo boards that make this even easier, like the one below from Teambuilding.com. After you set up a virtual video meeting, delegate one person to be the host, and make sure everyone on the team has printed out the bingo card you choose. You can also make this more exciting by offering a fun reward to the person who gets bingo first. 

If you can’t get together for an in-person happy hour, this is a festive and easy way to get together for drinks without ever leaving the house. Schedule a team video meeting, and tell everyone to show up with 1-2 pumpkin beers. You can leave it up to them, or you can also come up with a list of options and assign beers to each person. Once everyone is on the call, take turns going around and trying each one. You can also encourage people to bring food pairings for each, and have them explain why they chose what they did. If you are wondering just how many different pumpkin beers are out there, don’t worry. Here is a roundup of over 20 pumpkin beers to get you started.

— Addy Goff

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