Interested in Virtual Team Building Events?
8 mins 
St. Patrick’s Day is one of the most popular celebrations in the world. Held annually on March 17, it presents an opportunity for workplaces to get their teams together for light-hearted socializing and entertainment.
The recent pandemic has led to hybrid working becoming increasingly common, while also making in-person events more challenging to organize. Virtual St. Patrick's Day games offer an alternative means to create a convivial atmosphere and share some St. Patty’s Day good humor.
Watch our video below to learn more about celebrating St.Patrick's Day virtually:
1. What Is St. Patrick’s Day?
St. Patrick’s Day commemorates the death of the patron saint of Ireland. This holy man is traditionally said to have brought Christianity to the shores of the Emerald Isle, introducing the concept of the Holy Trinity using the symbol of the shamrock. Perhaps the most famous legend associated with him, however, is the driving out of (probably metaphorical) snakes from Ireland.
Over the years, St. Patty’s has evolved away from the religious aspect to become instead a general celebration of Irish culture. This often involves wearing green, eating champ and downing copious amounts of Guinness.
2. Why Should You Throw a Virtual St. Patrick's Day Party?
Despite not being an official public holiday in most countries, St. Patrick’s Day has nevertheless joined the pantheon of best loved festivities globally. Marking the occasion with some kind of digital event provides an opportunity to boost morale, giving staff the chance to de-stress as well as get to know one another better.
You can also host St. Patrick's Day virtual team-building activities to add a more direct work dimension to the proceedings. These can help improve soft skills, like communication, problem-solving
3. How to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day Virtually with Your Team
Virtual St. Patrick’s Day activities can be celebrated virtually through common communication programs like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype or TeamViewer. Video conferencing software provides a platform for you to hold all manner of events for your remote team. These experiences can then be supported with real-world goodies sent directly to your employees’ doorsteps.
4. 14 Virtual St. Patrick’s Day Games
4.1 St. Patrick’s Day Word Search Game
Keep things simple with an activity that will take your staff back to their childhoods. Play St. Patrick's day virtual games for free with themed word searches, which are abundant online. You can also create your own if you want to add that personal touch. Make the experience more interactive by using features like Zoom’s annotation tool, which allows participants to circle words live on their screen.
4.2 St. Patrick’s Day Virtual Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are one of the most popular St. Patrick's Day virtual team-building activities. Transitioning them from the real world to the digital sphere can be a challenge, but it is possible to plan and build your own from scratch. If you want something more hassle free, enlist the services of a professional company like Goosechase, which specializes in creating virtual scavenger hunts via its app.
4.3 St. Patrick’s Day Word Puzzle
This is another linguistically oriented virtual St. Patrick’s Day game. Google to find out what are some St. Patrick's Day words, then create anagrams for the team to solve. Add a competitive element to the activity by offering a prize to the person who finds all the answers in the fastest time.
4.4 Online Irish Cooking Competition
Colcannon, soda bread, Irish stew, coddle – make the classic cuisine of the Emerald Isle as part of your virtual St. Patrick’s Day games through a cooking competition. Take inspiration from MasterChef and get your team showing off their culinary talents in a light-hearted contest. Plus, if the traditional recipes don’t catch your fancy, you can always opt for some more modern dishes like Guinness chocolate cake or stout-braised lamb.
4.5 Digital Trip to Ireland
What could be a more thematically apt St. Patrick’s Day icebreaker than taking a digital tour around Ireland. You’ll be surprised how many are available, some free and some paid. Decide whether you want to visit by photos alone or take a trip via video, all accompanied by a digital map. Cheaper than flying the whole team overseas, you can absorb all the majesty of the Giant’s Causeway and the charming streets of Galway from the comfort of the living room.
4.6 Online Dance Competition (Show Some Irish Steps)
Jig your way into good spirits with some classic Riverdance steps. Book a virtual dance class or learn from a YouTube tutorial, then see who’s as nimble as a leprechaun and who will need a four-leaf clover to succeed on the dance floor. If you want to take the competitive element out, you can opt instead to create a video of your team doing a dance in sync remotely. This can then be uploaded onto the company’s social media or intranet.
4.7 Virtual Movie Party
Invite your staff to kick back in their slippers for the day with an Irish-themed movie party. Browser extensions like Teleparty enable your team to watch the same thing all at the same time, whether that’s a whimsical rom com like Once or an award-winning drama like The Wind that Shakes the Barley.
4.8 Virtual Trivia Questions on St. Patrick’s Day
The pub quiz is an institution in Ireland. Replicate the experience with some virtual trivia. Divide your employees into teams and test their knowledge on a mixture of categories, from history and geography to food and entertainment. Keep the virtual St. Patrick’s Day games motif going by writing queries that focus on the Emerald Isle, with a prize for the highest-scoring group.
4.9 Virtual Wine Tasting
How do you throw a St Patty's Day party without a bit of drinking? Combine the digital and the real world with a wine tasting session. Again, it’s possible to organize this yourself, but it’s far easier to hire a company to make the arrangements – even some national supermarkets will do it. As part of the experience, miniature bottles of wine will be sent to all your company’s participants beforehand. At the designated time on St. Patrick’s Day, you can then all sit down with a certified wine expert, who will guide you through the different vintages and varietals.
4.10 Online Singing Competition
If some members of your team fancy themselves as karaoke kings and queens, what better way to put them to the test than with an online singing competition? Have your employees prepare a musical number to dazzle their colleagues live. As an added bonus, this idea requires little preparation for managers, aside from creating a schedule so that everyone who wants to can kill it like Kylie.
4.11 Online Bingo
Assemble your own digital bingo card, then send the link out to employees to get started with this virtual St. Patrick’s Day game. Stay classic with a numbers-based card or get creative with a Gaelic theme like leprechaun names. (If you’re wondering what are good leprechaun names, you can make your own with this leprechaun name generator).
4.12 The Luckiest Leprechaun
Speaking of leprechauns, this version of Never Have I Ever is a silly way to kick off online socializing. The Luckiest Leprechaun involves relating fortuitous incidents that have happened in someone’s life, e.g., “I’m a lucky leprechaun because I once got upgraded to first class.” Keep track of how many times people raise their hand to discover which of your staff is the luckiest leprechaun of all.
4.13 Virtual Pictionary
There has been a proliferation of free online drawing games – which is great news for any manager who wants to organize drawing competitions for St. Patrick’s Day. Skribbl, for example, will keep track of everyone’s scores, so you can see who the best artist is, who is the best guesser and who hasn’t a creative bone in their body.
4.14 Among Us
Not all virtual St. Patrick’s Day games have to be related to Irish culture and cuisine. Instead, set up a massive round of Among Us – one of the most popular team pursuits during the first outbreak of the Covid pandemic. This award-winning murder mystery game involves tracking down the killer in your midst through discussion and deduction. You’ll have to pay if you play on a desktop, but the mobile app is free from the Apple Store and the Google Play Store.
5. FAQs
- What are some St Patrick's day zoom party ideas?
Some St Patrick's day zoom party ideas include - holiday happy hours, trivia, scavenger hunts, and word search games.
- What are the best St Patrick's day virtual work games?
Some of the best St Patrick's day virtual work games include - Online Irish cooking class, Irish Fable Storytime, a game of charades and Pictionary with Irish words.
