20 Valentine's Day party games for work
The best Valentine's Day party games for work are short team games about friendship and appreciation, like Roses are red poems about office life, a famous partnerships quiz or a candy heart tower. Here are 20 for the office or a video call, with rules, supplies and a prompt deck to share on screen.
Pick one mixer, one or two team games, a quick challenge and an appreciation game, and you have a 45-minute party in a conference room or on a call. Every game is about the people you work with, never romance, so it works for the whole team, including anyone who skips the holiday. Each game has its rules, its supplies and a line on how remote players join.
20 Valentine's Day party games for work
- 10 minutes: One mixer or two quick challenges at the start of a meeting.
- 30 minutes: A mixer, one team game and one appreciation game.
- 45 to 60 minutes: The full plan below: five games and prizes.
Mixers to open the party
Five to ten minutes each. They get people out of their usual seats and talking to someone new.
1. Heart halves
Cut paper hearts in half, each with its own zigzag, and write one half of a classic pair on each piece (salt and pepper, lock and key). Hand them out; everyone finds the person whose half fits theirs. That person is your partner for the next game.
You need: Red and pink paper hearts, scissors, a marker
On video: The host sends each person half a pair in a private chat; pairs find each other by posting their word.
2. Thank-you yarn web
Stand in a circle. Hold the end of a ball of red yarn, toss it to a coworker and name one thing they helped you with this winter. They hold the strand and toss on until the web is done.
You need: One ball of red yarn
On video: Each speaker names the next person; the host draws the web live on a shared whiteboard.
3. Pass the heart
Pass a small plush or paper heart while music plays. When the music stops, the person holding it draws the next card from the Pass the heart deck below and answers.
You need: A small heart, a speaker, the prompt deck
On video: The host plays a song, stops it at random and calls the next name in gallery order.
Open the deck4. Work buddy quiz
Partners from Heart halves sit back to back. The host reads five questions about each other's work habits; both write their answer, then reveal. One point per match.
You need: Paper and pens, the Work buddy quiz deck
On video: Pairs type answers in a direct message to the host, who reveals them together.
Open the deck
Team games
Ten to twenty minutes each, in teams of 4 to 6. Keep a running scoreboard on a whiteboard or a shared slide. Rather play than run it? A host brings classic game show rounds to your call with a virtual game show.
5. Roses are red, work edition
Each team draws a work topic from the deck and has three minutes to finish "Roses are red, violets are blue" with two lines about it. Teams read aloud and the room votes by applause.
You need: The Roses are red deck, paper, a timer
On video: Breakout rooms of four write in the chat, then come back and read.
Open the deck6. Great partnerships quiz
The host reads half of a famous working partnership and teams write the missing name. Twelve pairs, one point each, answers below.
You need: Paper and pens
On video: Share the list on screen; teams answer in breakout rooms or by private chat.
See the 12 pairs7. Heart words race
Two minutes to list every word or phrase that contains "heart" (heartfelt, hearth, lighthearted). One point per word, two for a word no other team has.
You need: Paper, pens, a timer
On video: Teams type their list in a shared doc; the host compares lists on screen.
See a host's word list8. Valentine mailbox build
Fifteen minutes to turn a cereal box into a valentine mailbox using office supplies. Prizes for most colorful, most engineered and most like our team. Keep the winner for the card games.
You need: One empty cereal box per team, tape, markers, scissors, paper
On video: Everyone builds a mini mailbox from what's on their desk and shows it on camera.
Great partnerships quiz: 12 pairs and answers
- 1. Lewis and ___: Clark (led the 1804 to 1806 expedition to the Pacific)
- 2. Watson and ___: Crick (described the double helix of DNA in 1953)
- 3. Orville and ___ Wright: Wilbur (the brothers behind the first powered airplane flight, 1903)
- 4. Rodgers and ___: Hammerstein (wrote the musicals Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music)
- 5. Hewlett and ___: Packard (started their company in a Palo Alto garage in 1939)
- 6. Gilbert and ___: Sullivan (wrote the comic opera The Pirates of Penzance)
- 7. Jacob and ___ Grimm: Wilhelm (the brothers who collected and published fairy tales)
- 8. Procter and ___: Gamble (a candle maker and a soap maker who teamed up in Cincinnati in 1837)
- 9. Laurel and ___: Hardy (the comedy duo of early Hollywood)
- 10. Simon and ___: Garfunkel (the folk duo behind The Sound of Silence)
- 11. Lennon and ___: McCartney (the songwriting team of the Beatles)
- 12. Venus and ___ Williams: Serena (sisters who won Olympic gold together in doubles tennis)
Heart words race: 24 words for the host to check against
heartfelt, heartbeat, heartwarming, hearty, heartily, hearth, hearten, heartland, heartache, heartburn, heartstrings, sweetheart, lighthearted, wholehearted, halfhearted, kindhearted, warmhearted, bighearted, disheartened, heart-to-heart, change of heart, by heart, take heart, heart of gold.
Quick challenges
One minute each, one player per team, everyone else cheering. Mark a tape line on the floor for the throwing games.
9. Candy heart tower
Stack small candy hearts flat, one on another, into a single tower. Tallest tower standing at the buzzer wins.
You need: A bag of candy hearts per station (swap in plastic counters for allergies)
On video: Play with coins or sugar cubes from home and hold the tower up to the camera.
10. Mailbox flight
Fold a paper airplane from a plain card and fly it into the team mailbox from the tape line. Most landings in 60 seconds wins.
You need: Plain cards or paper, the mailbox from the build game
On video: Aim at a laundry basket or an open box across the room.
11. Fold and snip
Fold paper and cut out as many whole hearts as you can in 60 seconds. Lopsided hearts count; torn ones don't.
You need: Paper and a pair of scissors per player
On video: Everyone plays at once and holds up their pile at the buzzer.
12. Off-hand valentine
Draw a valentine card for the coworker on your left using the hand you don't write with. Ninety seconds, then present it.
You need: Plain cards and markers
On video: The host assigns names; everyone draws at once and holds the card to the camera.
Appreciation games
The warm part of the party. Each one ends with someone hearing a specific thank-you. Want a calmer, hands-on hour? A candle making workshop ships a kit to every guest and a host walks the team through it.
13. Unsigned valentines
Everyone writes a short, unsigned valentine to the whole team ("Thanks for answering my 4:59 questions"). The host reads each one and the room guesses who wrote it.
You need: Index cards, a bowl
On video: People send their line to the host privately; the host reads and the chat guesses.
14. Ode to an office object
Two minutes to write a four-line thank-you poem to something at work: the coffee machine, the shared drive, the one good chair. Read it with feeling. The room votes on the best.
You need: Paper and pens
On video: Remote players write to something on their desk at home.
15. Cards for another team
Set up a card table and make valentines for a team that rarely hears thanks (facilities, the help desk, the night shift). Deliver them that afternoon.
You need: Blank cards, stickers, markers
On video: Each person writes a short e-card or a message in that team's channel.
16. Emoji thank-you
Write a thank-you to a teammate using only emoji. Post it; everyone else decodes what you're thanking them for.
You need: A phone or the team chat
On video: Play it in the meeting chat exactly as written.
Games for a video call
Built for gallery view and the chat box. They work in a hybrid room too. With 30 or more people on the call, a host-run Valentine's Day event keeps everyone playing instead of watching.
17. Kudos waterfall
Everyone types a one-line shout-out for a coworker in the chat but waits. On "3, 2, 1" everyone presses Enter at once and the chat fills up.
You need: The meeting chat
18. Show me something you love
Each person has 30 seconds to show one thing they love that's within reach (a mug, a plant, a book, a pet cameo) and say why.
You need: Nothing
19. Six-word thank-you
Write a six-word thank-you story for the team ("Covered my shift. Saved my week."). Read them aloud in gallery order; the team picks a favorite.
You need: The meeting chat
20. Kindness pals
On Monday everyone draws a name. Do three small kind things for that person during the week, then guess your pal at Friday's call.
You need: A name draw (a hat, or a random picker)
