Everyone loves a great holiday party: It’s the perfect chance to unwind, catch up with your coworkers and celebrate the year’s successes. This year, a number of local tech companies threw fun, quirky events in true Boston fashion — and we got the inside scoop.
“At Toast, the holiday season is a time to give back to both our employees and customers,” said Camila Dias, internal events coordinator. “This year, we hosted our second annual MistleToast. In lieu of renting out a large venue for a holiday party, Toasters were randomized into large groups and sent to dine with customers across the city. Toasters had the opportunity to get to know people from different departments while enjoying delicious meals. Our field team also got to participate in the fun, as we concurrently organized dinners at Toast customers across the U.S. This year, we dined with over 60 customers, making this beloved Toast tradition a family affair!”
“Last year, our office started participating in Action for Boston Community Development’s Adopt-A-Family and we loved it,” said Ashlyn Daniel-Nuboer, office manager at Drift. “Now that we have three offices, the Boston office is doing the same thing, while our San Francisco and Seattle offices will be participating in similar programs that are region-specific. We really love getting into the spirit of giving, so this is a particularly fun time of year for us. We also get to celebrate the holidays with a big party for each of our three offices. Last year our CTO even DJed!”
“This year, we hosted our first-ever ugly holiday sweater competition — attached is the photo from our Cambridge office,” said Brianna Schneider, director of communications at Hopper. “We appointed a judging committee and everyone at Hopper was encouraged to wear their best ugly holiday sweater. Since we have a few different offices, we created a dedicated Slack channel to share photos of all the sweaters. The winner was awarded a special trophy. Our other annual tradition is our HopSwap. HopSwap is basically Yankee Swap where everyone brings in a gift that costs around $20. However, we always have a theme. The theme last year was desk decor, and this year, it’s bunnies.”
“To celebrate everyone’s contributions to our success this year, we will be sending out holiday gifts to each employee across the globe,” said Erica Leigh French, senior director of sales operations at Carbon Black. “Local offices will hold their own holiday parties throughout the season. In January, we will bring employees across the globe together for our first ‘Winter Gala,’ a large-scale event in downtown Boston with a special performance by a well-known, popular American rock band.”
“How aren’t we celebrating is more like it,” said Rachel Pelletier, HR admin assistant at SmartBear. “We kicked off the season with a chili cook-off, and this week we are having our ugly sweater office party. Our holiday party in the Seaport was a blast! Teams are doing their individual holiday dinners or celebrations this week, too. My team is going out to dinner and doing a secret snowman gift swap.”
“Wellframe celebrated the season with a festive theme week including flannel Friday, sports-themed Monday, wacky sock Tuesday and ugly sweater or onesie Wednesday, all leading up to our holiday party at Temazcal in the Seaport,” said Ashley Johnson, talent operations associate. “We always host a Yankee swap, or what we call secret snowflake swap, and an ugly sweater or onesie party on the day before our holiday party.”
“3Play Media is celebrating the holidays formally and informally this year,” said Amanda Ervin, office manager. “We will be having a Yankee swap at the office while wearing ugly holiday sweaters. We also are having a holiday party at Little Donkey in Cambridge. It will be a fun time celebrating the year and getting to meet everyone’s significant others and spouses. Every year, 3Play has a holiday party. The location changes, but the purpose is always the same: spending time with coworkers outside of the workplace and getting to know each other on a more personal level. We also award one person with the ‘Golden Year’ award. It is given to the ‘3Player of the Year’ — a person who has gone above and beyond to contribute to 3Play’s success.”
