The children from the Saint Patrick's Schools parish choir were delighted to be invited to the PayPal Ireland Headquarters on Wednesday 7th of December, to sing some songs for the lighting of their festive tree. The excitement had been building over the last few weeks, with the children practicing lots of festive songs and making Christmas decorations for the special visit!
With one last practice and their festive hats and headbands on, the children boarded the bus for the short journey to Ballycoolin.
On arrival at PayPal HQ, the children were greeted by security where they were checked-in and received their VIP badges. They felt very important! The PayPal staff were so welcoming and the Site Lead, Aisling Gordon and our principal Áine Kirwan, both explained how special it was to have the children there to bring some festive cheer to the office.
The staff took a well-deserved break from their work and came to hear the children singing some Christmas songs by the tree. They even joined in for songs like Jingle Bells and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer! The PayPal Buddies then helped the children to hang up their handmade decorations on the tree and they look absolutely amazing.
By this stage, the children had worked up an appetite and were brought to the staff canteen where they were given a lovely bag with some snacks and treats! The chocolate Santa lollipops were a real hit.
Robert Carley, the Wellness Ambassador at PayPal, explained his job to the children. His job is to make people happy and he spoke about lots of things that we can do to keep our minds and bodies happy and healthy. One tip he said was to take 5-4-3-2-1 if we are feeling worried or sad. We can think of 5 things we can see, 4 things we can touch, 3 things we can hear, 2 things we can smell and one thing we can taste.
Once all of the treats were gone, the children were super lucky to be gifted with a goodie bag with some really cool PayPal gifts, a mini-speaker, some jellies and a pop-it! The bus came and brought us back to school, where the children couldn't wait to tell their friends about their trip.
Thank you so much to PayPal Ireland for inviting the students to visit the offices. They had a super day that they will remember forever and we are delighted to have made a connection with an amazing company in our community.
