How to Host a Virtual Office Drinks Party: 5 Top Tips

A year down the line, we're all still working from home! Whilst the end is in sight, home working looks like it's here to stay. Whilst we're all missing the social component of working in the office, we need to make sure we still have events set up to ensure everyone is in touch. One of the best ways is to host a virtual happy hour, including various team building activities in a video call.

There are plenty of ways to keep it fun and interesting - see our top 5 tips to make your virtual office drinks party one to remember!

1. Set a theme

Create a theme for the party - if it's celebrating a specific day, or event, or perhaps a company event or anniversary. If anyone would like to they can dress up (make sure its optional if some people feel uncomfortable). All the activities can then set around your theme: themed trivia, games, or quizzes!

If you can't decide, you can even send out a poll for everyone to vote on what they would like the theme to be.

2. Share the agenda

Create a structure before the event starts - what will the drinks party entail... You can either share the agenda before the event, or at the beginning. Clearly state how long the event is expected to last, so there's no awkwardness on people leaving at different times.

Allow time for general chit chat - if not everyone has met before schedule some time at the beginning for a quick 'get to know you' introductions, or catch ups.

Leave your agenda open for suggestions, if someone really does not want to participate in one activity, make sure you're flexible or have another option lined up! Make sure everyone is clear alcohol is optional, especially if it's a deal breaker for their attendance.

3. Set some ground rules

Guide your team with some simple rules or guidance for the call. This article recommends some easy rules to set for your work calls.

A good example would be to advise the team no talking about work! Sometimes it's hard to switch off, but to make sure everyone relaxes make it a rule to not mention any clients or work related topics.

Make sure everyone goes on mute when they're not talking - if you have large numbers of people in the call, you can even make sure people can only unmute themselves at certain intervals.

Of course, alcohol should always be optional. If anyone breaks any of the ground rules you can create some fun drinking game penalties (alcoholic or non-alcoholic)!

4. The magic number

Having too many people attending may get hectic! 

Create a guest list, making sure no one misses out! If you think you may have too many guests attending, make use of Zoom's room functions to split people off into groups. Plan your activities with this in mind! You can rotate the rooms at set intervals, putting everyone in groups of 10 and rotating the groups every half an hour will make sure everyone has a chance to talk to one another.

5. Organise a home delivery for your team

If budget allows, send your team a home delivered package including everything needed to enjoy the virtual party in the comfort of their own home. Giving everyone the same gift box will make everyone feel a little more connected even though they are not in the same room (or even country for some!).

Check out some of our best selling virtual packages available for home delivery.

Some of the ideas for the perfect Virtual Drinks Party:

• DIY Cocktail Kits
• DIY Mocktail Kits
• Cheese & Wine Hamper
• Wine tasting
• Healthy Snack boxes with Drinks

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A few bonus top tips for your next work happy hour!

• ‍Laughter should always be your aim! If everyone is relaxed and comfortable the laughter should be flowing. Don't force it - whilst you can add some kind of comedic activity to your agenda, make sure you don't force anyone to become a stand up comedian for an hour.
• ‍Go with the flow - make sure you don't cut people off if they seem like they're having fun. Whilst you may have created an agenda for your virtual happy hour, it doesn't need to be as rigid as a corporate meeting, if something is working well, stick at it.
• Make it a novelty - if you want each event to be special, ensure you don't host events too often. You'll get more people in attendance, and it means you can put more effort into making one the event of the year!
• Remember everyone is still working from home! Ensure your event is appropriate for the home office, if it involves a lot of space, or any special equipment, make sure you brief people before the time of the event.

If you'd like any help planning your next event, contact us at Feedr as we're now masters as Virtual Events: drop us an email at [email protected] or 020 3890 2200 to get it touch today with your potential event.

We would love to share our best home delivered for your next virtual drinks party, or for your virtual happy hour. If you're looking for some more virtual events advice, check out our recent blog post on How to Host a Virtual Event, and Actually Make it Good.