Social distancing has meant a new way of celebrating birthdays and other special occasions with our loved ones. Now, with a few weeks of isolation experience under your belt, PayPal Australia is challenging us all to throw our best isoParty for the chance to win $500.

The competition, titled – It Pays to Keep Your Distance – will kick off this weekend, and run for the month of May. All you need to do is throw an ultimate isoParty, and take pictures – well, screenshots 😉 – of all your friends and family partying virtually at your place.

PayPal is spicing things up a bit with a theme for each week of the competition to give you something to aim for, but says you can still win if you’re hosting an ultimate isoParty to celebrate a birthday party, anniversary, baby shower or other occasion. The four themes PayPal have suggested are:

  • 7 May to 13 May – Mother’s Day party
  • 14 May to 20 May – Saturday night house party with your crew
  • 21 May to 27 May – Sunday brunch with your mates
  • 28 May to 3 June – International food party

The top six photos or screenshots shared with @PayPalAU on Instagram with the hashtag #PayPalisoParty will be chosen each week, with each winning $500 which will be deposited into your PayPal account.

PayPal’s Shopping Expert, Danielle Grant, said now there is no reason for any Aussie to say they have nothing to do this weekend:

While the social distancing restrictions are gradually easing, we still all need to do our bit to help flatten the curve and avoid gathering in large groups. So, if you’re looking for things to do this weekend, look no further, get your friends together online and throw a virtual iso-party! We want to see creativity, flare, and out-of-the box thinking!

The competition will be judged by a panel of PayPal Australia employees against the following criteria: 

  • Overall quality of the photo clarity, colour, lighting, exposure and focus, composition  
  • Clarity of participants expression  
  • Creativity and originality  
  • Humour  
  • Audience appeal including the amount of social engagement with the image 

With a few weeks of social isolation, work-from-home and schooling-from-home under our belts, all of our PayPal balances are looking a little stretched – so this is a fun way to hold to the social distancing measures in place, but have fun at the same time.