The bigger the PAYSTRAX team gets, the more special it feels when we all find a way to celebrate the holiday party together. PAYSTRAX has now grown to over 140 people, spread across multiple offices and time zones. That makes it harder to get everyone in one room, but it also makes it feel extra special when we do manage to celebrate together, both online and live. And that’s exactly what we did!
Holiday party at PAYSTRAX offices
By now, it’s almost a tradition: we start with an online holiday quiz so that everyone, no matter where they’re based, can join in at the same time.
This year the quiz topic sounded innocent enough: “holiday traditions around the world”. In reality, it had most of us staring at the screen, trying to decide whether this particular bizarre tradition belonged to Scandinavia, Southern Europe or “none of the above”. There were plenty more surprises, heated guesses and friendly competition and… now we know that:
🎅 in Iceland there’s a cat who lurks in the snow and eats people who didn’t receive new clothes before Christmas Eve
🎅 in Wales a horse skull on a stick goes door-to-door singing songs at Christmas (how scary is that?)
Once the quiz was done, it was time for the part everyone had been secretly working on for weeks – Secret Santa. In each office, gifts had been slowly appearing under the Christmas tree, with people doing their best not to get caught sneaking them in. When we finally gathered to open them, we were reminded just how creative PAYSTRAXers can be: gifts based on inside jokes, suspiciously accurate presents that proved someone had been paying attention to random comments during coffee breaks, and a mix of practical, funny and very sweet ideas that said “I actually thought about what you might like”. Half the fun was in unwrapping, the other half in trying to guess who the Secret Santa was.
After that, we moved on to unboxing holiday gifts from PAYSTRAX. With drinks and snacks on the table, Christmas songs in the background and wrapping paper slowly taking over every surface, it was good to step away from day-to-day tasks and reconnect as people.
Festive Holiday dinner
Because we’re spread across countries and time zones, there’s no single “right” way to do a holiday party, but that’s what makes it fun!
So, after the joint part of the celebration, each office continued the evening / afternoon in its own style: some went for early dinner, keeping things relaxed and cosy, while others chose a whole party in the city centre, joined by our colleagues’ significant others.
There were games, plenty of dancing, and even more of “we should do this more often” comments. And across the offices, the theme was the same everywhere: spending time together, celebrating what we’ve achieved this year and simply enjoying each other’s company outside the usual work setting.
Christmas donation from PAYSTRAX
Alongside the internal celebrations, we kept another tradition going too. Every year, instead of sending Christmas gifts to business partners, we choose to support a cause that needs it more. And this time, we were happy to make a donation to SOS Animals, an organisation that cares for animals in need and helps them find safe, loving homes.
By contributing to their work, we hope to make a positive impact beyond our own offices and share the holiday spirit with those who need it most.
