How to bring the office Christmas party to everyone

Most work Christmas party ideas assume everyone can get to the same room on the same evening. For a lot of teams that stopped being true a while ago, and the ideas that actually work are the ones built for shift patterns, multiple sites and people who cannot make a Thursday night.

Quick answer: The best work Christmas party ideas for a spread-out team share one thing: a moment everyone joins in on, wherever they are. Pick a company-wide theme, run one shared activity people can do from anywhere, hold smaller local get-togethers on the same day, and send everyone the same gift so nobody is watching from the outside. You have up to £150 a head tax-free for the event itself, and a virtual party counts.

Sorting the team's gifts too? Huggg lets you set up your whole team's Christmas gifts and let everyone pick what they actually want, sent by link so you are not chasing home addresses.

But the traditional office Christmas party isn’t a possibility for everyone. Hybrid and remote workers, globally or nationally dispersed teams, shift workers, night workers, parents or those with caring responsibilities - there’s 101 reasons why the ‘annual Christmas do’ isn’t a universal experience. 

There is an alternative though. If your employees can’t come to your party, bring the party to your employees! If you know Huggg, you might have guessed our solution: your team can feel the festive spirit, through the wonderful power of gifts! 

…In all seriousness, it’s a simple way to spark a connection. Both with the organisation, and with co-workers - as people can chat about their gifts, and get virtually ‘vibey’ together.

In the article, we’ll cover the gifts you can send for before, during, and after your work Christmas party to keep everyone feeling a part of it.

Pre-party: gifts to get everyone ready

Everything below is on Huggg, so you can send any of it as a single link and let people choose rather than picking for them.

Everyone knows that the ‘getting ready’ part is sometimes the best bit. Anticipation is a helluva drug, and having a bit of pre-party 'me time' is a hugely underrated part of attending any event - whether it’s putting on a face mask, having a bath, lor ining your stomach with a hearty meal.

Self-care gifts to prepare: 

• grüum: beautiful, Scandinavian-inspired skin, hair, and self-care goodies, with themed gift sets such as "skincare saviours", "beard tamers", and "timeless radiance".
   
• PrePear: a pre-alcohol drink made from Korean Shingo pears, full of antioxidants, micronutrients, and compounds that research suggests can help prevent against hangovers.

For those who can’t actually attend the main event, and don’t have any nearby coworkers to celebrate with, why not pre-emptively send them some party supplies? A few tipples (alcoholic or non-alcoholic!) will send the message that no-one gets left behind, with party season.

Tipples to treat your team:  

• Virgin Wines: red, white, rosé, champagne - whatever your flavour, Virgin Wines offers the best of quality vino - the perfect way to help your teams toast each other from afar.
   
• Pimentae: mouthwatering margaritas, with beautifully illustrated packaging - it's a party in a can, with a range of flavours on offer - from spicy to grapefruit. 

During the party: gifts to help everyone celebrate

Prizes and party extras are the easiest thing to send as a Huggg link on the day, because there is nothing to post and nothing to hand out.

If you’ve got teams across the country (or globe!) hosting their own office Christmas parties, you want a way to feel like you’re ‘in it together’ - even if the celebrations take part on different days or times. Our suggestion: competitions, with real prizes on offer. Everyone can try their hand at various challenges on the night - think quizzes, or other office Christmas party games - and win prizes.

Prizes everyone is keen to win: 

• Spa diffuser from The White Company: for luxury in a bottle, give employees the chance to win a fantastically fragrant prize, ideal for kicking off some New Year zen. 
   
• The connoisseur's duo set by R.O.C.K.S.: offer up a pair of classy whiskey glasses, and six of the iconic fast-cooling, non-diluting, granite whiskey stones. 

There will always be people who can’t make any meet-up - whether it’s timing issues, familial or caring responsibilities, health issues, or logistical challenges. But they don’t have to feel shortchanged. Send them a party-in-a-box AKA a hamper filled with tempting treats and tipples.

Hampers to bring the party:

• British Hamper Company: if you want teams to eat, drink, and be merry, you're sorted - with options like "Christmas party", "gluten-free celebration", and "prosecco & chocolate".
   
• FodaBox: for hampers tailored to your teams' preferences, look no further. Think "ultimate craft beer experience", "recovery and health", and "port and cheese".

Post-party: gifts for everyone’s morning-after

A small Huggg send the morning after costs very little and is remembered longer than the last hour of the party.

Is anyone actually a morning person? Even if they do exist, the work Christmas party will put a stop to that enviable-yet-infuriating flavour of enthusiasm! So everyone would appreciate a post-party pick-me-up, whether it’s a strong cup of coffee or something filled with vitamins and other healthy-sounding things that will get them back on track.

Morning-after must-haves:

• Reclaim: shots after a night out?! These recovery shots high doses of functional mushrooms, adaptogens, vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes to detoxify, rehydrate, replenish and re-energise.
   
• London Nootropics: Blended with best-in-class adaptogen extracts, these coffees are crafted for those seeking mental clarity, balance and endurance throughout their day.
   
• Drowsy silk sleep mask: After a long evening, it's essential to catch up on your beauty sleep - and this will help your employees get an extra few hours of uninterrupted rest. 

We’re not necessarily talking about hangovers. Even a late night can leave you craving comforts like your sofa, TV, and some tasty food. Line your employees up with some hearty food options, and they’ll appreciate that you appreciate them - for their party selves, their post-party selves, and their on-form to-do-list-busting selves. 

Comfort food to banish the blues:

• Pasta Evangelists: What's more comforting than a warm bowl of pasta? From the "carbonara of dreams" to a "beef and chianti lasagne", this is food that's truly good for the soul.
   
• Barefoot Bakery: Trust us, these are not just any brownies. These next-level bakes are game-changing - even life-changing! - and your employees will love basking in a moment of chocolatey indulgence. 

7. Same-day, different postcodes

If one venue will not work, run several on the same date. Same budget per head, same theme, same gift landing in everyone's inbox that morning. People compare photos rather than notice who was left out, and it keeps the whole thing inside one annual function for tax.

8. Let people pick their own celebration

For genuinely scattered teams, hand over the budget instead of the plan. Set a per-person amount, let people choose their own thing with a Huggg gift, and use the shared moment for a single all-hands call rather than trying to choreograph an evening across time zones.

9. Do something for the people working the day

Retail, hospitality, logistics and care teams are working the month that pays for everyone else's January. A Christmas party they cannot attend is not a reward for them. A gift that lands on shift, plus a proper thank-you from someone senior, does more than an invitation they have to decline.

10. Book the January one instead

December is the worst month to get a room full of people. Venues are expensive, diaries are full and half the team is on leave. A January or February party is cheaper, better attended and still inside the same tax year for the £150 exemption. Send the gift in December and hold the party when people can actually come.

How employee gifting connects dispersed teams: the data

Some numbers from Huggg's own Christmas 2025 data, across 477 UK companies: recipients chose from 673 different products, and 84% picked something outside the ten most popular. 79% of senders chose Gift with Choice over a fixed gift. If you are running a party for a spread-out team, the gift is the part everyone actually shares, and choosing on their behalf misses most of them.

First off, let’s remind ourselves of why belonging is important in the workplace. According to one study, employees who feel a strong sense of belonging have:

• 56% increased performance
• 50% less turnover risk
• 75% less sick days

Great. But who’s to say employees in your organisation don’t feel like they belong? It might not be a problem for your teams right now, but there are some risk factors to be aware of if these things apply to you…

• If you have hybrid or remote workers: McKinsey research shows that 66% of hybrid workers feel excluded from social and cultural moments at work - so gifts can act as a proxy for social connection in the way we described, as they feel recognised from afar 
   
• If you have distributed teams: 70% of employees feel disconnected without their organisations creating deliberately shared events, if they’re working across regions.

It’s pretty clear. If you have dispersed or remote/hybrid teams, connection should be a concern. And using gifting as a signal of recognition, appreciation, and acknowledgement could go some way to bridge that gap. With tangible evidence that you’ve been remembered (whether it’s some cocktails-in-a-tin or some luxury skincare) it’s a lot easier to feel a part of the organisation. 

Does a virtual work Christmas party still get the tax break?

Yes, and this is the rule that makes most of the ideas below workable.

The annual function exemption gives you up to £150 per head, per tax year, for an annual event open to all employees. HMRC's own worked example (EIM21691, Example 3) is a company holding one annual function virtually, with every employee sent a hamper to enjoy during it, at a total cost of £100 a head. HMRC's conclusion is that it sits within the £150 exemption, so the exemption applies.

Two things follow from that, and they are worth knowing before you plan anything:

• A gift sent to somebody at home can form part of the function rather than being capped at the £50 trivial benefits limit, provided there is a genuine all-staff event it belongs to. That is three times the headroom
• The £150 includes VAT, transport and accommodation, and it is a cliff rather than a threshold. A penny over and the whole cost becomes taxable, not just the excess

The catch is that there has to be an actual event. Sending everyone a hamper in December with nothing attached is a trivial benefit and capped at £50. We covered the whole question in the £150 party allowance versus a gift for everyone, and it is worth a read before you set the budget. Check your own set-up with your accountant rather than assuming.

10 work Christmas party ideas for hybrid and multi-location teams

It’s not always possible for every employee to squeeze into the same venue, at the same time, with the same Wham!-heavy Christmas playlist. Shift patterns, time zones, caring responsibilities, long distances… workplace culture is more complicated than it used to be. 

But that doesn't mean people should miss out on festive fun.

Try these easy, inclusive ways to make your workforce feel connected this Christmas - no matter where they’re celebrating:

1. One company, one theme

Different cities? Different countries? Different hemispheres? Give your teams a consistent thread to tie their celebrations together.

Think:

• A shared theme (“Top 10 Xmas hits”, “German markets”, “Homemade Christmas”)
• A company-wide playlist
• A few activities everyone can join in on
• A shared gifting moment that everyone gets in on, individually or as a team

Get everyone high on the festive supply you’re blowing out, and make it an event that will replace “what’s the weather where you are?” small talk for weeks (if not months) to come.

2. Cross-team, cross-border fun

Christmas games don’t have to happen in one room. Your teams can get (unhealthily competitive), show off, and win bragging rights from literally anywhere in the world:

Try a:

• Virtual karaoke-off
• Company quiz
• Online escape room
• Global scavenger hunt

Send winners something tangible - like a hamper from FodaBox or The Gifting Team - so there’s something worth staying and getting competitive for. 

3. Mini Christmas parties where required

Some teams are tiny. Some are totally remote. Some work weird shift patterns. Some can barely agree on a meeting time, never mind a Xmas party venue. Make it easy for smaller teams to feel the party vibes, even if they can’t be together with the rest of the organisation. Send a gift to managers who can bring to a wider team, or share among them: 

• A little wine or beer bundle
• A festive hamper
• A voucher for an activity

It’s all about giving people a ‘moment to remember’ - and that will pay off it ways you can’t track, but you definitely can feel.

4. Give everyone a reason to dress up

Searches for “what to wear to an office Christmas party” go wild each year, and it can be a bit stressful to get it right - as Christmas office party attire needs to be appropriate for a work setting, but still festive. But if half your team is joining in remotely, it’s worth keeping things simple - while still giving everyone the excuse to make more of an effort than they usually would for their daily stand-up.

Offer guidance that’s fun, not stressful:

• Something sparkly on top (camera-friendly)
• Optional festive accessories
• Zero pressure

It’s a simple way to give permission to lean into the festive feeling, without making it awkward or stressful.

5. Make the absent feel included, whatever the circumstances

Not everyone can - or wants to - attend the work Christmas party. They might have a new baby. They might hate big groups. They might be in a completely different country. They might feel stressed about the pressure to drink. 

Whatever it is, a small gift says “you are still part of our team, and we recognise you”.

Think:

• A Pimentae cocktail or Hotel Chocolat spirits trio
• A self-care moment from L’Occitaine or Gruum
• Pasta or brownies for a cosy night in

It’s not about the gift (although Huggg has a LOT of amazing options). It’s about the feeling of being remembered, and included.

6. A shared ‘morning after’ moment

Whether you love an espresso martini, or avoid all harmful substances - the morning after a Christmas party is a bonding experience. The stories, the starry-eyed memories, the (HR approved!) goss. And post-party activities and gifts can recreate that in a hybrid or dispersed workforce…

Create a company ritual…

• An organisation-wide ‘morning after’ thread on Slack or Teams
• Recovery kits delivered ahead of time
• Comfort food delivered right on time: gift cards for Deliveroo, or Pasta Evangelist

Post-work-do anxiety is a real thing, people. Find a way to make EVERYONE feel good about the night before, whether they were physically at your Christmas work do, or not.

Huggg’s takeaway: work Christmas parties are for everyone, wherever they are

Huggg is used by over 2,000 UK businesses to do exactly this: set a budget, let everyone choose their own gift from 700+ brands, and send it by link so the person on shift gets it at the same moment as the person in the room. It is free to use and you only pay for the gifts you send.

Everyone wants to belong. Everyone wants to celebrate the end of the busy season. Everyone wants to feel like someone’s saying “hey, you did a good job this year”. That’s why employee gifts are a perfect way to make office Christmas parties more inclusive. 

Our platform makes that easy. There’s gifts for every preference and need - and you can send physical gifts using links for employees to redeem themselves, so there’s no need to collect addresses. Start exploring the Huggg platform for free.