How To Celebrate Christmas With Loved Ones Virtually

Deck your halls and send out that Zoom link – there’s no need to hold back on the festive fun!

Many of us won’t be home for the holidays again this year, but we’re determined not to let that bring down our Christmas spirit. Sure, our nearest and dearest may be farther than we hoped, however that’s doesn’t mean we need to hold back on the festive fun! We’ll just have to get creative and tweak a few traditions. So deck your halls, don your tackiest jumper and send out that Zoom link, here’s how to celebrate with loved ones virtually.

Read more: The 12 Dates Of Christmas – Festive Dating Inspo

Prioritise Traditions

Think about what’s most important to you over the holiday season and come up with some ways that you can still incorporate your favourite traditions in spite of the limitations. Always decorate the tree as a family? FaceTime your parents and spend a cosy evening at home putting up Christmas decorations – you could even make a timed competition out of it! Use the opportunity to really pinpoint those meaningful moments and be open to making new memories.

Read more: Where To Buy And Recycle Your Christmas Tree In Hong Kong

Shop Early And Shop Local

Do you traditionally play Secret Santa as a family? It’s not too late to organise a gift exchange and send a special package to your recipient. There are some great Secret Santa generators available online such as Elfster and Draw Names that allows you to draw from a list of names (ensuring you don’t get same person as last year) and create a wish list with exclusions. Just be sure to set expectations that gift might not be delivered on or before Christmas day at this point, but that only makes it more of a surprise when the package finally arrives at your doorstep! In need of some gift inspo? Check out our gift guides here.

Read more: Christmas Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List

Spread Christmas Cheer

Looking to give back this festive season? Another great gift idea is to make a charitable donation in a loved ones name. Most charities will send the donor a nice card telling them how they’ve made a difference. It’s more important than ever to spread a little Christmas cheer and help our local community end the year on a high note.

Read more: How To Give Back To Hong Kong This Christmas

Dinner Over Zoom

A virtual Christmas is not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but if you’re not able to hop on a plane to open presents in person, utilising technology is the best we’ve got. Arrange a time to jump on a call and open a few gifts, toast to absent loved ones and keep the call going over Christmas dinner.

Read more: Your Guide To Christmas Dinner At Home

Binge-Watch Christmas classics

Does a evening in with hot chocolate (and a well-deserved splash of Baileys), popcorn and your fluffy dressing gown sound like your kind of night before Christmas? Watch your favourite festive flick with loved ones around the world using Netflix’s free “Teleparty” feature that synchs your movies, enables synchronised playback and adds a group chat to the virtual party. Head here for our holiday watch-list!

Read more: The Best Christmas Movies And Shows On Netflix To Watch Now

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Lexi Davey in December, 2020 and was most recently updated in December, 2021 by Team Sassy.