The White Elephant Gift That Made HR Regret Inviting The Marketing Department
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If you work in marketing, you know we can’t resist pushing limits. Campaigns, slogans, TikToks, even… White Elephant gifts.
So when our department got the annual “holiday party” invite from HR, which stated “family-friendly, $70 limit, keep it light”, we saw it less as a rulebook and more like… a creative brief.
Most people played it safe:
Finance brought pickle socks.
Sales brought wine openers.
Operations brought Bluetooth speakers.
Management brought desk cactuses
But marketing?
We brought Twister Bed Sheets.
The Big Reveal
Of course, fate chose our HR manager to unwrap it. The one who had specifically reminded us to keep things appropriate for the workplace.
She pulled out the box, smiled, then froze. The dots stared back at her. The room went silent.
Finally, someone from sales said, “That’s… definitely not for family game night.”
Half the creatives lost it. A lady from accounts spat out some port. The COO pretended not to laugh and tried to calm us all down.
HR? She blinked twice and muttered, “We’re going to need new rules.”
The Fallout
The very next morning:
Subject line: Updated White Elephant Gift Policy
Rule #1: No gifts that could double as “interactive bedroom marketing campaigns.”
Which, let’s be real, only made us prouder.
Why This Works (in Marketing and for Gifts)
- Safe is forgettable and BORING. Bold gets remembered.
- Everyone forgets who brought the wine opener. Nobody forgets who made HR write a new policy.
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The best gifts (and campaigns) get people talking long after the event.
Final words from our marketing department to yours:
If your White Elephant gift doesn’t spark an HR email, did you even work in marketing?
Do what we did. Bring Twister Bed Sheets and make sure your department’s the one everyone’s talking about in January.
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