Virtual Christmas parties are in full swing this year, and the Amihan team has just organized an amazing and unforgettable party. 

Everyone had so much fun — I feel nobody had expected it to be THAT FUN, but we had people laughing so hard they literally cried out tears. That’s something rare in these trying times.

Amihan's virtual Christmas Party hosted through Zoom
Several Amihan team members posed for a virtual ‘group photo’ with the host, Wizzo. The party’s proceedings were all conducted via Zoom, the virtual conferencing solution.

But you know–organizing a virtual Christmas party is no easy task. How can you make sure to have a fun and engaging virtual Christmas party? Also, Christmas parties are celebrated with food too! How can you not host a Christmas party without food, right?

Let me tell you how we celebrated ours.

  • We hired a professional party host. They are there for a reason! I think it’s alright to say that in general, everyone enjoyed Wizzo the Magician. Wizzo is an engaging host and we enjoyed watching his magic tricks. He had captured everyone’s attention–there was crazy online banter and laughter over Zoom chat all throughout the program.   
  • We had hot and fresh food delivered to 140 team members in Manila and Cebu via Jollibee food delivery! Except for the organizers, I’m sure everyone was surprised (in a good way) with the load of goodies that arrived. #ThankyouJollibee

  • We organized interactive digital games. Amihan team members are not newbies to virtual games, as we have been organizing virtual parties since the lockdown began in March. But because a lot of us had our videos on this time around, it elevated the fun and discussion online! I applaud Wizzo’s creative use of the Zoom functions–it leveled things up and brought us all together. 
Virtual party games
Some Amihan team members competed in a virtual party game, complete with snowmen serving as the contestant’s avatars.
  • We had a WFH vlog contest. In addition to the yearly tradition of the new employees’ showcase, the organizers asked Amihan team members to put up a vlog that illustrated their WFH scenarios. The videos were the real kicker- they really brought out what the segment is all about, which is learning more about our teammates’ personalities and talents. Salute to the Tiktok moves, video-editing skills, and creativity of everybody who contributed! 
A Zoom screen showing the winners of the Amihan Work from Home Video contest, during the Virtual Christmas Party
We presented the contestants’ group videos for our Work From Home (WFH) Vlogging Contest. The Zoom screen here shows here the winners.
  • We held an online raffle. Christmas parties are not the same without a raffle, right? Good thing there are digital raffle wheels nowadays. Congratulations to our winners!
Raffle spin wheel on TV with an Amihan team member posing
Team members anticipated on who can win next in our virtual raffle draw!

Most of us have been working from home all by ourselves since March. Our transition to work (fully) remotely went through some rough patches, even for a digital transformation company like us. We weren’t immune to problems. 

This virtual Christmas party truly brought us all together. Despite the challenges we’ve had all throughout the year, our team has shown its strength. I’m really proud of the Amihan team and commend everyone for pushing themselves to do the best they can.

Amihan CEO Jerry Rapes
Amihan CEO Jerry Rapes gave his Gratitude Message for all team members.

It is true what Jerry, our CEO, had said. Trust is what will keep us together. If we cannot trust each other, then we will not succeed together, as our partners and customers will not also trust the work that we do for them. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas!

Macelle Legaspi is a digital strategist & tech marketing professional.

 

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