Holiday Icebreakers for Work

Holiday icebreakers are short prompts that get a team talking in the last weeks of the year. This page has 100 question cards for work: 60 holiday cards that name no specific holiday, 20 Christmas cards, and 20 New Year cards, as questions and two-choice votes. Draw a card in the picker above, show it fullscreen, set a timer, or print the set. Every card is listed below, along with eight games for the office or a video call.

How to Use Holiday Icebreakers at Work

One card takes two to five minutes. The picker starts on Holiday party cards, which work for everyone on the team. Add Christmas or New Year under Occasion when it fits your group.

Before the Office Holiday Party

1. Keep Holiday party selected and set Setting to In person.
2. Press Print cards, cut them out, and put a few on each table. Or press Present fullscreen on a room screen.
3. Open with one holiday icebreaker that everyone answers in a sentence. Go first so people hear how short an answer can be.
4. Follow with two or three Would You Rather cards. People pick a side of the room, and one person from each side says why.

On a Virtual Holiday Call

1. Set Setting to Virtual and share your screen with the card in fullscreen.
2. Ask everyone to answer in the chat first. Then invite two or three people to say more out loud.
3. Use the 60-second timer so one answer does not fill the meeting.
4. For a group larger than 12, use This or That cards. Everyone votes at once with a reaction.

In the First Meeting of January

1. Switch Occasion to New Year.
2. Pick one question about the year ahead and give people a minute to think before anyone answers.
3. Write down the answers to team questions, such as what to try or what to stop. They make a useful list for planning.

Holiday Icebreaker Questions for Work

These 39 questions are about winter, time off, and the year that is ending. None of them names a specific holiday, so nobody has to explain what they do or do not celebrate.

Winter, food, and time off

• What is your favorite thing about the last few weeks of the year?
• What winter food or drink do you wait all year for?
• What is one seasonal tradition you keep every year, big or small?
• What is your ideal way to spend a day off in winter?
• What song do you never get tired of at this time of year?
• What movie or show do you rewatch every winter?
• What is the coziest spot in your home?
• What is the most useful thing you own for cold weather?
• What are you looking forward to doing during your time off?
• Snow: love it, tolerate it, or never see it?
• What is your go-to hot drink on a cold morning?
• What was your favorite winter activity as a kid?
• If the team took a winter trip together, where should we go?
• What is the best treat anyone has ever brought to work?
• What is a tradition from where you grew up that people here might not know?
• What is the first thing you do when your time off starts?
• If you could add one new holiday to the calendar, what would it celebrate?
• During time off, are you a planner or a go-with-the-flow person?
• What winter smell do you like best?
• What is a seasonal food you have never understood the appeal of?
• What board game or card game comes out at this time of year?
• Do you decorate your space for the season? What goes up first?
• What is a hobby you only have time for during a break?

Looking back on the year at work

• What is one thing you want to finish before the year ends?
• What is one work moment from this year that you will remember?
• Who on the team helped you this year, and how?
• What is something new you tried this year?
• What was the best thing you read, watched, or listened to this year?
• What is one small win from this year that deserves a round of applause?
• If this year at work had a title, what would it be?
• Which recurring meeting would you send on a holiday break first?
• What would you put in a time capsule for this year at work?
• What is your out-of-office message style: short, funny, or detailed?
• If you could wrap up one project with a bow today, which would it be?
• What is one thing you learned from a teammate this year?
• What is the best compliment you could give this team for the year?

For an in-person party

• Which spot in the office would you decorate first?
• What should we put on the snack table at the party?
• Who in this room would win a snowball fight, and why?

Christmas Icebreaker Questions for Coworkers

Use these when your team celebrates Christmas at work, for example at a Secret Santa lunch or a tree-decorating afternoon. The 20 Christmas cards are about movies, music, decorations, and treats. Select Christmas under Occasion to add them to the picker.

• What Christmas movie could you watch every year?
• What Christmas song gets stuck in your head first?
• Real tree, artificial tree, or no tree?
• What is your favorite Christmas cookie or treat?
• What is the best Christmas decoration you have seen in an office?
• What is a Christmas tradition you grew up with or picked up later?
• If you could spend Christmas anywhere in the world, where would you go?
• Which reindeer would make the best teammate, and why?
• What job would you want in Santa's workshop?
• If Santa needed a project manager, who on this team should apply?
• What would be on your ideal ugly Christmas sweater?
• When is it OK to start playing Christmas music?
• What Christmas movie character would you want on our team?
• How should we decorate the office tree this year?
• What is the most Christmassy thing you can see from your seat right now?

Quick Christmas votes

• Would you rather work as one of Santa's elves for a day or drive the sleigh for a night?
• Would you rather decorate the tree or wrap the presents?
• Gingerbread or sugar cookies?
• Colored lights or white lights?
• Classic Christmas movies or new Christmas movies?

Holiday Would You Rather for Teams

Read both options, ask everyone to vote, then ask one person from each side to explain. These ten holiday icebreakers are written for coworkers.

• Would you rather work from a snowy cabin for a week or work from a beach house for a week?
• Would you rather host the team party or plan the games for it?
• Would you rather have every December meeting end ten minutes early or have every December meeting start ten minutes late?
• Would you rather travel during your break or stay home the whole time?
• Would you rather bake treats for the team or decorate the office?
• Would you rather have a week with no email or a week with no meetings?
• Would you rather listen to only seasonal music for a month or listen to no music at all for a month?
• Would you rather wear a cozy sweater every day of winter or wear fuzzy slippers to every meeting?
• Would you rather end the year with an empty inbox or end the year with an empty to-do list?
• Would you rather go sledding with the team or go ice skating with the team?

8 Holiday Icebreaker Games for the Office

Each game runs in a meeting room or on a video call. None needs anything you have to buy, and none involves alcohol. They also work as Christmas icebreaker games if you swap in the Christmas cards.

1. Holiday Bingo

Time: 15–20 minutes · Group: 10–50 · You need: one bingo card per person

1. Make cards in the icebreaker bingo generator with squares such as "has seen snow this year" or "owns a seasonal mug".
2. Print the cards, or send the link in the chat for a video call.
3. People talk to each other to find someone who matches each square, and write that person's name in it.
4. The first person to fill a row calls "Bingo" and reads the names aloud.

2. Pick a Side

Time: 5–10 minutes · Group: any size · You need: the Would You Rather and This or That cards

1. In the picker, select only Would you rather and This or that under Format.
2. Show a card. In a room, each option gets one side of the room. On a call, each option gets a reaction or a letter in the chat.
3. Everyone moves or votes at the same time.
4. Ask one person from each side for a one-sentence reason, then draw the next card.

3. Year in Review Quiz

Time: 15 minutes · Group: 6–40 · You need: 10 questions about the team's year

1. Before the meeting, write 10 questions from the team's own year, such as the month a project launched or the name of the new coffee machine.
2. Split into teams of three to five, or breakout rooms on a call.
3. Read each question once. Teams write down one answer.
4. Read the answers at the end and let each team mark its own sheet.

4. Two Truths and a Lie: Winter Break Edition

Time: 10–20 minutes · Group: 4–15 · You need: nothing

1. Everyone thinks of two true statements and one false one about winter, time off, or the past year.
2. One person reads all three in any order.
3. The group votes on which one is the lie, by show of hands or in the chat.
4. The speaker reveals the answer, and the next person goes.

5. Desk Scavenger Hunt

Time: 10 minutes · Group: 4–30 · You need: a list of 8 items

1. Write a list of things people can find nearby: something red, something warm, a mug, something that lights up, a snack, something from a past team event.
2. Call out one item at a time and give 30 seconds to fetch it.
3. Everyone who holds the item up to the camera, or brings it back to the table, scores a point.
4. After eight items, the highest score picks the holiday icebreaker for the next meeting.

6. Emoji Song Quiz

Time: 10 minutes · Group: 5–40 · You need: a chat window or a whiteboard

1. Before the meeting, write 8 to 10 seasonal song or movie titles using only emoji.
2. Show them one at a time on a slide, in the chat, or on a whiteboard.
3. The first correct answer, called out or typed, wins the round.
4. For the last round, ask volunteers to write an emoji title of their own for the group to guess.

7. Snowball Answers

Time: 10–15 minutes · Group: 6–25 · You need: scrap paper and pens, or private chat on a call

1. Draw one holiday icebreaker question from the picker and show it to the group.
2. Everyone writes an answer on scrap paper without a name and crumples it into a "snowball".
3. Toss the snowballs into the middle of the room, and each person picks up one that is not theirs. On a call, people send answers to the host by private message instead.
4. Take turns reading an answer aloud while the group guesses who wrote it.

8. Team Shout-Outs

Time: 10 minutes · Group: 4–20 · You need: nothing

1. Ask everyone to think of one teammate who helped them this year and what that person did.
2. Go around the room or the call. Each person gives one thank-you in one or two sentences.
3. The host keeps a list so that everyone is named at least once, and adds a thank-you for anyone who was missed.

More games for distributed teams are in remote meeting games, and games for longer sessions are in team building icebreakers.

Virtual Holiday Party Icebreakers

These holiday icebreakers only make sense on a video call. Select Virtual under Setting to include them in the picker.

• What is the view outside your window right now?
• What is in your mug right now?
• Show or describe one seasonal thing within arm's reach.
• Which winter scene would you pick as your video background today?
• Type one word in the chat for your year. Who wants to explain theirs?
• What is the weather doing where you are today?

This or That cards are the fastest format for a call. Everyone types their pick in the chat at the same moment, and nobody has to unmute.

• Hot chocolate or tea?
• Sweet treats or savory snacks?
• Lunch party or after-work party?
• Staying in or going out?
• Festive video background or plain video background?

New Year Icebreaker Questions for Work

Use these 20 cards as holiday icebreakers in the first meetings of January. They look at the year ahead at work and at small personal goals. Select New Year under Occasion to draw from them.

• What is one thing you want to learn this year?
• What is one work habit you want to keep from last year?
• What is one thing you would like our team to try this year?
• What are you most looking forward to in the next three months?
• If this year at work goes well, what will be different by December?
• What is a small goal you could finish by the end of January?
• What skill would you like to get better at this year?
• What place would you like to visit this year?
• What is one thing you did over the break that you would recommend?
• What book, show, or hobby is on your list for this year?
• What is one thing we should stop doing as a team this year?
• How do you like to plan a new year: a list, a calendar, or no plan at all?
• What would make this a good first week back?
• What would make the office a better place to work this year?
• What is one thing you would change about our video calls this year?

Quick New Year votes

• Would you rather learn one new skill really well this year or try twelve new things once?
• Would you rather have a four-day week in January or leave an hour early every Friday all year?
• Would you rather set one big goal for the year or set a small goal each month?
• Resolutions or no resolutions?
• Paper planner or digital calendar?

Keep It Inclusive

Not everyone celebrates Christmas, and some people celebrate nothing in December. The holiday icebreakers in the picker are set up with that in mind.

• Start with "holiday". The picker opens on Holiday party cards only. Christmas cards are a separate option that you add yourself.
• Ask about the season. Winter, food, time off, and the year at work are topics everyone can answer.
• Do not ask people to explain their traditions. A question like "What do you celebrate?" puts people on the spot. "What are you looking forward to?" does not.
• Make every answer optional. "Pass" is a complete answer, and so is a one-word reply in the chat.
• Leave out gifts and plans at home. Avoid questions about what people spend, who they are visiting, or who they live with.
• Plan food for everyone. If the party has snacks, include choices for common allergies and diets, and keep the activities free of alcohol.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some fun and easy Christmas icebreaker games?

Of the holiday icebreaker games above, Holiday Bingo, Pick a Side, and the Emoji Song Quiz are the easiest to run. Each takes 5 to 20 minutes and needs only cards or a chat window. For a Christmas version, add the Christmas cards in the picker and use Christmas songs and movies in the quiz.

What are good short holiday icebreakers?

A single This or That card takes under a minute for a whole team, for example "Hot chocolate or tea?" or "Staying in or going out?". For a slightly longer opener, ask one question and have everyone answer in a sentence, such as "What winter food or drink do you wait all year for?".

How do you keep holiday icebreakers inclusive at work?

Use prompts about winter, food, time off, and the past year instead of a specific holiday. Keep Christmas questions for teams where you know they fit, and let people pass without giving a reason. Stay away from questions about gifts, spending, and plans at home.

What are good New Year icebreaker questions for work?

Good New Year questions look ahead and stay light: "What is one thing you want to learn this year?", "What is one thing you would like our team to try this year?", and "What would make this a good first week back?". Skip resolutions about bodies, money, or habits people may not want to discuss at work.

Looking for another season or more questions? See the Halloween icebreakers for work and the 250+ icebreaker questions picker.