Interested in Virtual Team Building Events?
13 mins 
1. What are Virtual Happy Hours With Coworkers?
Virtual team happy hour ideas for the workplace are online gatherings where colleagues connect over video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Skype to unwind and socialize. These sessions aim to recreate the camaraderie of traditional happy hours, nurturing team bonding and employee morale.
Participants often share anecdotes, play games, or engage in other relationship-building activities in a fun and relaxed setting. Virtual team happy hour ideas are a way for remote or distributed teams to maintain a sense of connection and build a positive work culture.
2. 14 Virtual Team Happy Hour Ideas for Workplace
2.1. Enjoy a Cocktail Making Session
If you're looking for a super engaging way to bring your remote team closer, check out Virtual Cocktail Class by Hooray Teams, a professional virtual team-building platform. With a seasoned mixologist as your guide, they'll walk your team step by step through the art of crafting delicious cocktail drinks. You'll pick up tips and tricks from the pros and learn how to whip up classic cocktails as well as exciting new concoctions. And yes, you get to sip on your tasty creations!
To make the experience even more special, they’ll ship out cocktail mixing kits to all the participants before the event. Whether your team is small or large, this virtual event is a fantastic way to break the ice and strengthen team bonds.
Pro-tip: Ask the mixology expert at Hooray Teams to customize your ideas for team virtual happy hour and create your favorite cocktails
If you are looking for virtual happy hour team building ideas to relax with your team, check out our blog on virtual mixology classes, cocktail kits, and some paint and sip options.
2.2. Hit the Buzzer with Happy Hour Trivia
Virtual Trivia Event hosted by Hooray Teams can be your top pick if you are looking best virtual team happy hour ideas for the workplace. Drink in 4 to 5 rounds of exciting trivia sessions based on Movies, Music, Pop Culture, or History under the guidance of an expert trivia master. The best part is that they tailor-made the trivia session specifically for your team based on your interests and preferences.
These games help a lot in making people think creatively, starting interesting conversations, and making teamwork easy. All you need is a laptop, a stable internet connection, and an attitude that says, “We are here to have a cool time!"
Pro tip: Take a look at the wide range of team-building gifts available at successories to appreciate team trivia winners.
2.3. Get Artsty with a Paint Party
Get creative at your next virtual happy hour event with Hooray Teams Virtual Painting Session. A friendly and talented artist will guide you to try different paint styles and brush strokes on a blank canvas to create a stunning masterpiece. A craft kit containing canvas, paints, and brushes will be sent out to you and your team, so there's no need to purchase materials or have everyone in one place.
You and your team can engage in conversations, get personal feedback, and leave with a bunch of new skills—all while sipping your favorite beverage if you feel like cocktails, mocktails, or lattes. This activity will fill your virtual happy hour session with laughter and happiness while you will have a beautiful painting to proudly display.
Pro tip: Check out pixabay.com to explore some amazing painting ideas for inspiration before your virtual painting class.
2.4. Break Free from a Virtual Escape Room
Bring in that perfect mix of mystery and excitement to your virtual team happy hour ideas by joining Hooray Teams Escape Room challenge. You and your team have to use your problem-solving skills and critical thinking abilities to unlock the room before the time runs out. The team will receive a series of clues and puzzles which help them to complete the escape quest.
The virtual escape room game we were sent into was Mafia 360, where we experienced the sinister intrigue of a bygone era. A professional game-master was there to guide us through the intriguing twists and turns in the process. It took us 60 minutes to get out of the room and say, “Yeah. we made it”.
Pro tip: Before entering the room, outline everyone's strengths, such as wordplay, puzzle solving, foreign languages, lockpicking, or mental math, so it's easy to delegate the task.
2.5. Figure Whodunnit with Murder at the Manor
If you're looking for something thrilling and fun virtual team happy hour ideas, consider hosting Murder at the Manor by Hooray Teams and keep your colleagues hooked until the very end. You and your team will don your detective hat to question suspects, analyze clues, and solve the deadly crime before the time runs out.
It took us around an hour to solve this online murder mystery game, during which we sifted through clues like the suspect list, leaflet containing victim details, and alibi information. The host was friendly, and he helped us throughout the game to find the ultimate whodunit. All you need is just click the meeting link, turn on your video and microphone, and Hooray Teams will handle the rest.
Pro tip: We recommend having the clues handy or printing them out so that you can make notes.
2.6. Break Even with Icebreakers
The Hooray Teams Virtual Happy Hour Icebreaker games are perfect for getting to know someone and sparking all kinds of conversation – making it one of the best virtual team happy hour ideas. A professional host will guide you through the activities and keep the energy high, making sure everyone has a wonderful time.
You and your team will participate in interactive challenges, trivia quizzes, and collaborative activities. If you want to make certain customizations to questions asked or games conducted, you can reach out to the team, and they will help you with the same.
Pro tip - Spice up your happy hour icebreaker session with perfectly balanced drinks from Cocktail Courier
2.7. Have Fun on a Virtual Scavenger Hunt
Fed up with virtual happy hour ideas that only ask you to sit - sip -chat - repeat? Then you and your team need some dynamic activity like a scavenger hunt. In this activity, you and your team will be given a list of written or verbal clues to discover. It can be anything like a coffee mug with a kitty paw print, a book with a blue cover, a gadget you never use, or even an item older than 10 years. The game is both collaborative and competitive while keeping everyone entertained.
Pro tip - Here’s a list of thrilling virtual scavenger hunt ideas for your remote happy hour, or you can use an app like Scavify to streamline the process better.
2.8. Play a Classic Game of Charades
Encourage out-of-the-box thinking and creativity at your virtual happy hour event by playing charades. Divide the team into groups using virtual breakout rooms and have one team member act out a word for their team to guess. You can use a game word generator to come up with random words or phrases.
The group will receive the prompt via private chat through any video conferencing platform. Participants are only allowed to use movements and gestures to describe a thing, person, place, or action. Earn a point for every correctly guessed word, and then it's the other team's turn to take a shot at acting.
Pro tip: It is better to specify the category of the word. For instance, you can say if it's a movie, an actor, or an animal. This makes it easier for teams to guess during the game.
2.9. Travel Around The World Virtually
Why not take your virtual team happy hour ideas up a notch and treat your remote team to a virtual trip to France, Italy, or Spain? Arrange a virtual travel 3D extravaganza where coworkers can "travel" from home or office to a virtual destination with no passport required.
Or gather everyone around for an Unforgettable Fiesta in Barcelona. Or "race around" your home on a Santa Mozzarella! Scavenger hunt In Italy. Not traveling has never been this fun! Forge stronger bonds over drinks and strategic games for that perfect happy hour team building experience.
Pro tip: ToursByLocals deliver virtual guided tours where you can meet a local and explore a new city, from your own home.
2.10. Engage in a Witty Lip Read Battle
We got this virtual team happy hour idea from the Whisper Challenge Jimmy Fallon and Rebel Wilson played. The two took turns mouthing words while the other slipped on a pair of headphones that played loud music. They had to guess what the other was saying, and the guesses had Jimmy and the audience in splits!
Everyone says something while muted, and the unmuted attendees have to guess what it is. Each attendee gets two or three guesses until the player unmutes themselves to reveal what they were actually saying!
Pro tip: The lip-read battle has to be played with video on to be able to watch the speaker’s lip movements closely. Here’s how it goes; the player mutes himself or herself. Run a test where you say something and type into the chat window to ask by a show of hands if anyone heard anything. If the responses come back negative, then you’re good to start the game.
2.11. Participate in a Quirky Talent Show
What ridiculous-sounding talent do your teams secretly have? Find out by putting together a talent show in your virtual happy hour. It can be anything, from enacting a character from F.R.I.E.N.D.S, House M.D, or Gilmore Girls perfectly to singing tunes with their tongue rolled up. One of our colleagues hilariously delivered Joe’s iconic "How ya doin'?" catchphrase from FRIENDS, leaving everyone in splits. The best thing about these ideas is that they don't require any special skills or talents other than the ability to ham it up for some laughs.
Pro tip: Elevate the fun factor by encouraging participants to come dressed in costumes that match their chosen talent. You can even browse some merchandise from cbsstore or tvstoreonline.
2.12. Tune into Virtual Happy Hour Karaoke
Karaoke sessions are one of the fun Virtual team happy hour ideas for teams to bond and build team morale. You can select the songs beforehand, ask the team members for suggestions, or curate the playlist together during the session.
In virtual karaoke, the emphasis is on fostering connections, where there's no judgment or rating for your singing performance. As the host, it's your responsibility to involve everyone in maintaining a lively atmosphere throughout.
Pro tip: If you’re out of ideas or themes for happy hour karaoke, you can try luckyvoice, Karafun, TheVoice, where you can find a myriad of playlists for your virtual happy hour session.
2.13. Doodle Away with Skribbl Game
Skribbl is a free drawing game where you just need to enter your name and join aboard. Someone will draw on it, and there’ll be a clue on the top right with one letter filled in. Whoever guesses the word before the clock stops ticking scores! All the scores are displayed at the end. We played this on our last Friday happy hour event and had a great time. We couldn’t decide what was funnier, the drawings or the guesses!
Pro tip: Find out a variety of word choices from Gist and use Quick, Draw!, or AutoDraw to practice drawing skills.
2.14. Indulge in a Virtual Whiskey Tasting Session
We cannot wrap up the virtual team happy hour ideas without an exquisite Whiskey tasting session. You and your teammates can explore and appreciate diverse flavors of whiskey from the comfort of your own home.
The tasting sessions are led by an expert whiskey connoisseur who will walk you and your team through the origin, flavor profiles, and production techniques of various whiskeys. For most of the sessions, participants will receive whiskey tasting kit containing Scotch, Rye, Bourbon, or Irish.
Pro tip: Whiskey tasting can be intense, so schedule short breaks between each tasting for some fun activities and engage in casual conversation.
3. FAQs
3.1. What do you say on Zoom happy hour?
You can say the following in Zoom happy hour activities-
- Announce housekeeping rules for virtual team happy hour ideas at the start before getting into any games.
- Start the conversation with some icebreakers.
- Ask how everyone has been doing and what have they been upto over the weekend. Make sure the entire group gets to respond to the questions. Keep the tone casual and humorous.
3.2. How do you make virtual happy hour fun?
Happy hours can be made fun virtually by playing a mix of icebreaking and team building activities. You can opt for fun and exciting virtual happy hour themes depending on the participants’ preferences. Such team building virtual happy hour ideas can be easily unified into employee engagement software to make them more organized and easier to execute especially for large-scale organizations.
3.3. How do I host a Zoom happy hour?
- Schedule the meeting for a time and send the meeting code by email or text to the participants in advance.
- Remind them in a common group to join in and ensure they are aware of what the meeting is for.
- Start the session only after confirming everyone is let in and are able to hear and see you.
- Time the games and virtual happy hour activities planned so that everyone gets a fair shot without the meeting time overrunning.
- Take feedback at the end of the meet so that you know how the attendees felt. If the responses are positive, you can think about planning a future meet!
3.4. What virtual happy hour games can you play as a large group?
There are several games for virtual happy hour for large groups including breaking out of virtual escape rooms, solving murder mysteries or playing drinking games. A few games for virtual team happy hour ideas we recommend would be The Ruined Paradise, Scavify and the lip read or whisper challenge!
3.5. What are some fun happy hour names?
Some fun and creative names for happy hour are It’s Happy Hour again, It’s 5 O’clock Right Here, No Champagne, No Gain, Three Martini Lunch, funny power hour, and Shaken Not Stirre.
