Bacon-of-the-month club membership, a zombie figurine and a meowing clock were among some of the most memorable presents exchanged during “white elephant” parties where workers offer up jokey and oftentimes unwanted gifts, according to several survey findings released in November and December 2011.
“White elephant parties can be a fun way for employees to take a break from work and celebrate the holidays,” said Donna Farrugia, executive director of The Creative Group, which specializes in marketing, advertising and public relations projects.
“This type of gift exchange,” she said in a news release, “is little or no cost and can take the pressure off of workers to buy expensive presents for their colleagues while showing their creativity.”
Among some of the kookiest presents exchanged, according to The Creative Group’s phone survey of 750 marketing and advertising executives in the U.S. and Canada:
- Used ashtray.
- Broken umbrella.
- Used candle.
- Framed picture of the gift-giver.
- Wilted carrot.
- Potato.
- Dirty oven mitts.
- Jar of pickles.
- Can of beans.
- World War II gas mask.
- White elephant.
Gift exchanges at work can be tricky. While a zombie figurine might touch on what’s hot in pop culture, giving a keychain that shouts expletives, or a whip—among the gifts noted in a CareerBuilder survey—might need to be re-thought.
Other memorable items workers received from colleagues, according to the survey of 2,696 hiring managers and HR professionals and 4,086 workers conducted in August and September 2011:
- Bacon-of-the-month club membership.
- 12-pack of cola.
- Hand-painted landscape on a toilet seat.
- Ceramic snake.
- Clock that meows three times on the hour.
- Mustache scissors.
- Glass high-heeled shoe filled with dish soap.
But in the right hands, an office gift swap can showcase creativity or a good joke, such as the same fruitcake making an appearance two years in a row.
Sheryl Hill, founding director of the ClearCause Foundation in Minnesota, recalled the big hit the book Martha Stuart's Better Than You at Entertaining (Harper Paperbacks, 1996)—a parody of a Martha Stewart book—made at a white elephant party.
“[It] cracked us up. I think it's still circling somewhere as a gag gift,” she said.
And sometimes a little creativity hits just the right note.
“I once saw a young college grad exchange a handmade papier-mâché dachshund with a bottle of wine inside,” said Kristen Rampe of San Francisco-based Kristen Rampe Consulting.
“He had been selected to give a gift to his boss in the secret Santa event that year; it was actually pretty well done and very unique,” she told SHRM Online.
“The boss was a wine lover and had a dachshund; that was the genesis for the idea.” It was “very creative,” she added, “given that we worked at a CPA firm.”
Kathy Gurchiek is associate editor for HR News.