Virtual Holiday Activities for Families

Check out these fun ideas for celebrating the holidays with family and friends virtually! 

The holiday season may be a little different this year, but there are still plenty of creative ways families can spend time together, especially with family and friends living far away! Below are activities perfect for virtual holiday fun!

I’ve linked to sites I’ve personally used and found helpful, but this is not a sponsored post! Amazon links that appear are affiliate links. 

Virtual Holiday Activities for Families!

1. BINGO!

Easy to set up and perfect for all ages! There are lots of fun free printable BINGO boards available online. Crazy Little Projects makes really cute ones for all occasions and her Christmas BINGO and Snowman BINGO boards are perfect for the season. Everyone can download and print their own boards at home. For larger groups, where more boards are needed, check out Etsy. 

Tip: Let everyone know what number board they should print so each person is playing with a different board :)

2. Holiday Trivia Night

Gather a group together for a fun night of Trivia! Whether you play with teams or individuals this is a great activity that can be customized to your group! IceBreakerIdeas has a great list of holiday-themed trivia questions to help get you started!

Tip: Add your favorite questions to a powerpoint, then share your screen with your group on Zoom so everyone can see the questions :)  

3. Paint Party

Tap into your artistic side with a fun family paint party! There are lots of options available online, including live painting events as well as pre-recorded painting videos. Painting Parties is a fun site that offers lots of different holiday and winter painting videos. Below you can see my painting following the video “Snowglobe 2.0” by instructor Joley Wiley. It was so much fun and she was easy to follow! You can order painting supplies from their site or order a MEEDEN Painting Kit from Amazon like I did – it came with the easel! 

Tip: If your party is all adults – make it a Paint n’ Sip by adding some bubbly!

4. Holiday Happy Hour

Speaking of bubbly, join friends and family for a holiday happy hour online! A nice friendly way to toast the holiday season and catch up.

Tip: Make it extra special and send digital invitations! I use Paperless Post for all of my virtual events and they have a great collection of holiday cocktail party invitations :) 

 5. Gingerbread House Decorating

Decorating gingerbread houses is a great family activity and it can easily be switched to virtual! Pick a date and time to all join a group Zoom or Facetime call. Decorate houses using purchased kits and at the end show them off to your family and friends.

Tip: Want to take this event to the next level? Ask friends and family to post a picture of their completed house and vote for your favorites! 

6. LEGO Play Date

This activity is perfect for kids of all ages (and adults!). Set up a Lego Play Date and build together virtually. One of our favorite games to play when building virtually is speed building. Write ideas on slips of paper such as “Dream House”, “Mode of Transportation”, “Animal”, “Superhero” and “Space Ship”. Put them in a hat and draw one to build. Set the timer for 5 minutes and everyone builds! When the timer goes off, share your builds with the group.

Tip: Skip the game and have everyone build one thing to create a huge virtual North Pole Village. Builds could include Santa’s Workshop, a bakery, reindeer stables, toy shop, post office and more. 

7. One-on-One Game Time

Looking for a fun virtual idea your kids can do with grandparents, cousins or friends? Play a game! Games like Battleship and Guess Who? are perfect for playing over Facetime and Zoom. Each person needs to have the game in their own home.

Tip: For Guess Who, divide the men and women so each of you have 12 different characters – 6 men and 6 women. If you plan to play more than once, keep your draw pile together.

8. Virtual Craft Classes

Take a craft class together. Lots of fun places offer them, including Kid Made Modern and Paper Source. Sign up to take one together and enjoy spending time while also creating something for the holidays!

Tip: Create your own “craft class” by finding a fun craft idea on Pinterest. Let everyone know what supplies they should have ahead of time. Ornaments would make a great craft party for kids and adults! 

9. Decorate Cookies

Baking cookies is a holiday tradition for many families! Take the party online by decorating cookies with family and friends virtually while listening to some of your favorite holiday songs!

Tip: Lend a helping hand to stressed out friends by dropping off a little baking kit with pre-baked sugar cookies and fun sprinkles. The only thing left to do is decorate!

10. Talent Show

Host an awesome family talent show! Perfect for kids who love to sing, act and take the stage! Give everyone a pre-determined time, like 5 minutes, to keep the show moving. Consider recording the event, with everyone’s permission, for a special family keepsake. 

Tip: Having a hard time coming up with a talent? Read and act out a favorite holiday story or sing along to a favorite holiday song!

I hope these ideas for virtual holiday activities for families are useful as we plan for the holiday season! Many of these ideas would be fun ideas any year for family and friends who live far away. If you have other ideas of how to keep in touch, let me know in the comments!

Tomorrow is the first day of my 12 Days of Holiday Crafts series!