Christmas Team Building on a Budget: 7 Ideas

Costs are rising across every part of business, and budgets are tight this year. But Christmas is the one time of year when everyone wants to bring their team together. Here are seven practical ways to get more from your Christmas team building budget, without losing the connection.

The short answer: companies can reduce the cost of Christmas team building activities with seven simple changes:

Use your own office instead of hiring a venue.
Bring catering in instead of eating out.
Connect offices in different cities by video link instead of travelling.
Choose a Remote host. It typically costs £250, compared with £750 or more for an Onsite host.
Book on a quieter day.
Choose a technology-led provider, with no vans of equipment.
Add short virtual activities between in-person get-togethers.

How to run a work Christmas party on a tight budget

Put the money into the part people remember, which is doing something together, and cut the parts they don’t, which is usually the venue and the travel. In practice, that looks like this:

Hold the party in your office and order the food in.
Book an activity that’s priced per head. Ours start at £12 a head. Escape: Festive Edition, Trivia Challenge: Festive Edition and Office Games Festive Edition include the host, with a £240 minimum spend.
Choose a Remote host if the activity charges for hosting. It’s £250 rather than £750 or more.
Pick a quieter slot. A Monday, a Tuesday, a morning, or a “Christmas in January” party.
Keep the extras cheap. Secret Santa with a firm price cap and a homemade awards ceremony cost next to nothing.

So a team of 30 can have a hosted 45-minute Christmas quiz in the office for £360 + VAT, with lunch brought in on top. If you’re working back from a per-head figure, our work Christmas party ideas guide explains the £150 a head HMRC limit.

Why cost matters more this Christmas

Costs are rising across every part of business this year. Energy, staff, suppliers and travel all cost more. Over the past decade, the day-to-day cost of running a small or medium-sized business has outpaced consumer inflation by 11.75% (The Drinks Business).

Venues, caterers and restaurants face the same pressures, and they’re passing them on. Travel costs more too, from taxis to train tickets. Budgets for bringing teams together are under pressure everywhere.

For teams, this creates a real tension. Christmas is the one time of year when almost everyone wants to get together. But every venue booking, restaurant bill and journey adds to the total.

The good news is that the cost of a team activity isn’t usually in the activity itself. Most of it sits in venue hire, food and drink bought away from the office, and travel. Reduce those, and you’ll find the same budget covers much more.

1. Use your office instead of hiring a venue

The simplest way to reduce cost is to stay where you are. Let the team activity provider come to you. It’s the easiest saving there is.

Most Wildgoose activities can take place in an office, or start and finish there. Indoor activities like Level Up and The Insiders run on interactive screens through our Mobile Adventures app. There’s no large room to hire and no equipment to set up. Outdoor activities like a GPS Treasure Hunt can start at your door, take teams through the streets nearby and bring them back for the results.

There’s a second benefit. A team activity is a strong reason for people to come into the office. It gives colleagues a shared experience in the place where they work every day.

At Christmas, this works especially well, and it’s simple to arrange. Run a Christmas team activity in the office in the afternoon. Then move straight into the Christmas party in the same space. One venue, no travel and no extra booking.

2. Bring the food and drink to the team

Catering delivered to the office usually costs much less than a restaurant or venue package.

A simple format works well. Order lunch or snacks. Brief the teams in the office. Complete the activity indoors, or head outside for an outdoor activity. Then come back to the office for the results, the wrap-up and a few drinks. People still get the camaraderie. You still get the energy of a team day. But the total cost is much lower.

At Christmas, this format can replace an expensive restaurant booking. Order a festive lunch to the office, complete the activity, then announce the winners over drinks. One client who booked a festive office activity for their Christmas party called it “a must book for any office or team day” (Trustpilot).

3. Connect offices in different cities, without travel

If your teams are in different cities, you don’t need to bring everyone to one place.

With a multi-city activity, everyone is briefed together by video link. Each office then completes the same activity in its own space, on the same live leaderboard. A team in London can compete with colleagues in Amsterdam and Brussels at the same moment.

We’ve delivered many multi-city activities like this. Amazon, for example, connected 113 colleagues in London, Luxembourg and Madrid with The Ultimate Challenge. One of our Remote hosts briefed everyone through Amazon’s existing conference video call. Every team then competed on one shared leaderboard. No flights. No hotels. One shared experience.

Six months later, Amazon booked a second multi-city activity. As Karley Ray, Executive Assistant at Amazon, said: “We did the Ultimate with you in October and my team loved it.” Read the Amazon multi-city case study.

At Christmas, a multi-city activity lets every office celebrate together on the same afternoon. Nobody needs to travel in the busiest weeks of the year.

4. Choose a Remote host

A Remote host joins by video link instead of travelling to you. A Remote host typically costs £250. An Onsite host typically costs £750 or more and comes with a minimum spend. That’s a saving of at least £500, or around two thirds of the hosting cost.

An Onsite host in the room is a great option, and many clients choose it. But a Remote host still delivers the briefing, manages the live scoreboard and presents the final results. One client who chose a Remote host for their Paris team described the host as “absolutely brilliant” (Trustpilot).

5. Book at quieter times

If your dates are flexible, ask about quieter days and times. It’s always worth asking.

December is one of the busiest months of the year for team activities, and the first three weeks are usually the busiest of all. The week immediately before Christmas is usually much quieter, so you might get a better price. Just remember that some colleagues may already be on holiday that week.

There are other ways to find a quieter slot:

Choose a Monday or Tuesday. They’re quieter than Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Last December, Thursdays alone took about a third of our events.
Choose a morning. Demand’s always lower in the morning than in the afternoon. Run the activity in the morning, then move on to lunch in the office and a few drinks in the afternoon.
Celebrate in January. A “Christmas in January” get-together gives you more choice of dates, and gives the team something to look forward to after the holidays.

6. Choose a technology-led provider

The way an activity is delivered has a big effect on its price.

Traditional team building often needs vans of equipment and large teams of staff. Those costs go into the price you pay. At Wildgoose, every activity runs through the Wildgoose Platform on people’s own phones and laptops. There aren’t any boxes of kit to transport, and there are fewer people to send. That makes our activities simple to organise, easy to repeat and more cost-effective.

7. Add regular virtual activities between in-person get-togethers

A virtual activity is one of the most cost-effective ways to bring people together.

We’re not saying virtual activities replace meeting in person. They don’t. But you don’t need everyone in one room every time. A short virtual activity once a month keeps teams connected between bigger get-togethers. Colleagues join from home or from different offices, and the cost is significantly lower than any in-person format.

A virtual Christmas activity also solves some very practical problems. Colleagues may live in different parts of the country. Some have childcare commitments. Travelling to a party costs time and money. A virtual activity lets everyone take part from wherever they are, on the same leaderboard. At Christmas, it’s a thoughtful and inclusive thing to offer your team.

Lower cost. Same connection.

Rising costs are a reason to plan differently. They aren’t a reason to skip the Christmas get-together.

The value of a team activity comes from the shared experience. Colleagues laugh together, solve problems together and get to know each other better. None of that depends on an expensive venue or a long journey.

Wildgoose has more than 22 years of experience delivering team experiences for the world’s biggest brands. We’re rated 5.0 out of 5 from more than 650 reviews on Trustpilot. Tell us your budget, your team size and where your people are. We’ll suggest the most cost-effective way to bring them together. Use your office. Connect your cities. We’ll come to you.

Get instant pricing for your Christmas team activity

Frequently asked questions

How can we run a work Christmas party on a tight budget?

Hold it in your own office, bring in catering and book a hosted activity priced per head, from £12 a head with us. Choose a Remote host over an Onsite host, pick a quieter day or a morning, and keep extras like Secret Santa on a firm price cap. You’ll move straight from the activity into the party in the same space, with no venue hire or travel costs.

How much does a Christmas team building activity cost?

Wildgoose team activities start from £12 per person, with GPS outdoor activities slightly higher. A Remote host typically adds £250. Every activity page has a live price calculator that’ll give you an exact price for your group size and format.

When should we book Christmas team building?

As early as possible. The first three weeks of December are the busiest, so dates there don’t last long. For better value, consider the week immediately before Christmas, a Monday or Tuesday, a morning slot or a “Christmas in January” get-together.

How can companies reduce the cost of team building activities?

The biggest savings come from avoiding travel and venue hire. Run the activity from your own office, bring catering in, connect offices by video link instead of travelling, choose a Remote host and book on a quieter day.

Can team building activities take place in the office?

Yes. Most Wildgoose activities can run inside an office or start and finish there. Indoor activities run on interactive screens through our Mobile Adventures app, and outdoor activities can start at your door.

Is a Remote host cheaper than an Onsite host?

Yes. A Remote host typically costs £250, compared with £750 or more for an Onsite host, which also comes with a minimum spend. That saves at least £500, and they still deliver the briefing, manage the live scoreboard and present the results.

How do you run one team activity across several offices?

Everyone is briefed together by video link. Each office then completes the same activity in its own space, and all teams compete on one live leaderboard.

Is virtual team building cheaper than in-person team building?

Yes, it’s usually significantly cheaper because there’s no travel, venue or catering. It works best as a regular addition to in-person get-togethers, and it isn’t a replacement for them.