12 Awesome Virtual Birthday Party Ideas for Coworkers

1. Best Virtual Birthday Party Ideas

1.1. Virtual Team Trivia

A birthday party that keeps you in the hot seat is a memorable way to celebrate. What are we talking about? Virtual Trivia by Hooray Teams. This hosted team building platform covers an exciting mix of different trivia themes. You and your colleagues will be split into small groups and will need to work your way through 4-5 rounds of rapid-fire trivia questions ranging from movies, music, pop culture, or even a quirky take on “The Office” series.

A dedicated host will take care of the questions, emceeing, and the technical aspects of the game. To make it interesting, you can request Hooray Teams to personalize the trivia session to make it all about the celebrant, by factoring in questions about his/her favorite movie, color, food, music, or travel destination.

1.2. Virtual Murder Mystery

Want to go the extra mile with a surprise virtual birthday celebration? Consider hosting a virtual murder mystery where participants take on different characters, uncover clues, and work together to solve “whodunit”.

Our team recently played Murder at the Manor by Hooray Teams for one of our colleague's birthdays, and the result was nothing short of fun. Professional actors played the role of suspicious characters and a vibrant host was there to guide our team, dropping hints and clues. Each participant became an integral part of the unfolding secret, making the birthday celebration not just another party but a collaborative adventure.

1.3. Virtual Escape Room

Throwing a Virtual Escape Room takes the birthday fun to a new level. Hooray Teams offers six hosted themed escape rooms to choose from and each one seems better than the next. This is one of the most thrilling virtual birthday party ideas, as you and your team will work together to solve clues and puzzles to escape before the time runs out. The excitement builds as the clock ticks down, creating a sense of urgency to break out of the room, and keeping everyone thrilled.

The host facilitates the whole game via Zoom and ensures it runs smoothly without any hiccups. With careful planning and a touch of creativity, it can be a memorable experience that you and your team will talk about long after the virtual celebration ends.

1.4. Virtual Scavenger Hunt

When celebrating a colleague's birthday, injecting a dose of excitement and healthy competition can elevate the party to new heights. And a virtual scavenger hunt just does that. These are Zoom birthday games where participants have to complete a set of challenges or fetch items on a list before the time runs out.

You can arrange for exciting rewards and prizes to keep the players motivated. This team-building game keeps the participants engaged both mentally and physically. You can include things on the list like:

Show a childhood photo with a cake in front of you (digitally or printed)
Fetch a numbered candle
Find a Famous Birthdate Twin
Search for an outfit only with the color white
Collect the maximum number of balloons in 5 minutes

1.5. Virtual Birthday Party Bingo

Virtual Birthday Party Bingos add great fun and engagement to the celebration. You can create a bingo card with various birthday moments and rituals that are common as well as unique. Alternatively, there are free Bingo template generators that can help you create themed cards. Ask employees to mark the employee’s name against each statement.

Ensure the same names are not repeated in any consecutive row, column, or diagonal.

You can include statements like:

Celebrated 50+ birthdays
Birthday falls in Winter
Born on a festival/ national holiday
Celebrates birthday on February 29th
Shares birthday with a celebrity
Can sing Happy Birthday in more than 3 languages
Remember everyone else’s birthday dates

1.6. Virtual Karaoke

A party without karaoke is not a party, especially when it comes to virtual birthday party ideas. Get your jam on with your coworkers and include a virtual karaoke session in your celebrations. Select a video conferencing software suitable for your team and send a meeting invite to the employees.

Ask everyone to send in their song suggestions beforehand, and be ready with the set of the karaoke tracks and lyrics. Whenever someone is singing, the other attendees can remain on mute. You can encourage them to join the chorus if required. Also, why don’t you record the session to cherish the memories later?

1.7. Virtual Icebreaker Session

Lighten the mood of your birthday party with a fun Virtual Icebreaker Games session. Interacting with team members makes everyone feel comfortable, especially if there are any new joiners. For instance, the questions might be “Tell us about your hometown, the best concert you’ve attended, and the dreamy destination on your bucket list.” These prompts aim to have fun, create common ground between attendees, and build confidence when speaking to the group.

Games like Would You Rather, or This or That help build up casual conversations that encourage comfortable bonding among coworkers. With these kinds of online party ideas, They get to know each other better and talk about fun stories behind their answers in the game. This results in better team collaboration.

1.8. Virtual Mad Libs

Don’t let the name overwhelm you. Mad Libs is a sort of fill-in-the-blank game where employees shout out random words, such as adjectives or nouns, to fill in the blanks of a story template. The fun part begins when the host then reads out the completed story - especially when reading it out in funny voices!

You can create stories with a birthday or office theme or make it more thrilling by recreating a fun team memory that you all share. You could also take turns becoming the host and asking the team for prompts. The best story construction could also appear on the company’s social media page!

1.9. Virtual Cooking Classes

When you are looking for virtual party ideas for workplace birthday celebrations, virtual cooking classes are a wonderful way to make some yummy food and relish it, while at work. These online classes with hosted chefs guide you through the cooking process, including the meal preparation before cooking and the presentation after.

Employees get together over a conferencing platform where the chef interacts with the participants and instructs them on the process. The ingredients and resources required for cooking will be sent ahead of time to be prepared for the class. This helps employees have a great time together and create a delicious dish from scratch.

1.10. Virtual Happy Hours

This is one of the relaxed and casual virtual birthday party ideas for coworkers that everyone will love. These are conducted on virtual conferencing software applications like Zoom or Teams and are usually a part of the office’s team-building activities. Employees can get their drinks or the host can have it sent to everyone’s address.

To add to the fun, you can either watch a sport together by sharing your screen or play games like Scribbl, Heads Up, or Never Have I Ever. You could also send in cocktail recipes and pairing suggestions beforehand.

1.11. Virtual Cake Cutting

A very wise person once said, “no birthday is complete without cake.” You can send cake to your virtual birthday honoree or all of your party guests. Foodie favorite MilkBar will ship a signature cake anywhere in the US, and you can find treats from various famous bakeries on GoldBelly.

Of course, you could always contact a local bakery in the birthday celebrant’s city and order a treat, or email an online gift certificate. Budget-conscious online birthday organizers can scour Etsy for cake pops or cupcakes in a jar. Or, you can mail your party guests mug cake makings. Most packets of mug cake mix will fit in a standard envelope, though you may need to add an extra stamp!

1.12. Virtual Wine Tasting Party

Raise your glass and toast to an unforgettable birthday bash with a virtual wine-tasting party. Experience the look, smell, and taste of various wines and draw valuable insights about each flavor profile. You can appoint a passionate wine connoisseur who can introduce you and your team to the nuances of different wines and how they are made from grape to bottle.

You can host the show entirely, send the participants all the wines in advance, or invite everyone to bring a bottle. So, why not swap the traditional birthday bash for laid-back and fun-filled virtual birthday party ideas that combine good company with great wine?

2. Tips on How to Set up a Virtual Birthday Party

2.1. Select a compatible virtual conferencing platform

Select a compatible video conferencing platform for your virtual parties according to your team size. You could also look for features that help attendee participation, like a chat box, emoji reactions, and recording. Send a meeting invite to all the employees at a mutually decided time.

2.2. Set a Personalized Theme

Choose a theme for the party that’s personalized- it can be something the birthday employee likes. Be it a favorite movie, favorite festival, or even favorite travel destination. Look at some virtual birthday party ideas for coworkers and pick a theme accordingly.

2.3. Make a List of Interactive Activities

You could make a list of interactive games and activities that can gain maximum engagement. Send across the list so everyone can keep game essentials ready at hand. In case you’re arranging for an external facilitator, you could ask everyone to join the meeting in advance for things to run smoothly.

3. FAQs

3.1. Can you do a virtual birthday party?

A virtual birthday party is when all employees gather over a virtual conferencing platform and celebrate a virtual birthday party for coworkers together. The host sends across a meeting invite over the team’s communication channel and arranges for games and activities that can be done remotely.

Some examples are virtual cooking classes, having a karaoke session, virtual happy hours, movie night or even games like trivia, escape room, murder mystery, and more. A cake can be sent to the employee’s house and everyone comes together over a video call to sing for them.

3.2. What are some of the best virtual birthday party gift ideas?

When it comes to virtual party ideas for birthday celebrations, thoughtful and practical gifts can add a special touch to the occasion. Consider gifting Bluetooth headphones, desk accessories, gift vouchers, planters, goodies basket, laptop stand that are sure to enhance their birthday memory.

3.3. What are some virtual birthday party games?

Some virtual birthday party games to include in your virtual birthday party ideas for coworkers are:

Trivia
Scavenger Hunt
Murder Mystery
Charades
Pictionary
Scribbl

3.4. How do you make a virtual birthday special?

Virtual birthday party ideas for adults become special when you and your coworkers enjoy each other’s company and indulge in casual conversations. You can decide to get a cake delivered to the birthday employee’s place and also surprise them with a gift sent in with the cake.

To add to the joyous moments, you could arrange for fun activities to do together virtually, like trivia, Pictionary, scavenger hunt, murder mystery, karaoke, and more.

3.5. How to do a virtual cake cutting on Teams?

To have a virtual cake-cutting ceremony on Microsoft Teams, schedule a meeting and invite participants. Order a cake in advance and ensure it arrives before the scheduled time. On the day of the celebration, position your camera to capture you and the cake and have all participants join the virtual meeting.

Begin the ceremony by sharing a few words, cutting the cake, and showing it to the camera while singing or sharing the occasion's significance.