Early in our marriage, my wife and I were invited to an Employee Christmas Party.  And we were excited to hear that this corporate event featured a WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT EXCHANGE.  Given our robust experience with Youth Group White Elephant Exchanges, which generally featured inside jokes, exotic confections from the local Oriental Market, and useless trinkets, we assumed that this would be a similar sort of shindig.

And since this gathering was full of Physical Therapists and rehab professionals, we brought a SHAKE WEIGHT as our Christmas gift.  These people would surely appreciate this “full-body workout device” that basically renders the user impervious to all orthopedic or emotional injuries!

We watched with eager anticipation as the first few partygoers unwrapped their gifts…and quickly our enthusiasm morphed into nervous uncertainty.  Expensive bottles of wine, gift certificates to posh restaurants, and other “Trendy Successful Adult Things” seemed to be the theme of this exchange.  The person who received the Shake Weight was not amused.  We were not invited back the following year.

And I suppose there could be lessons about situational awareness and age-appropriate behavior, but I don’t think that’s very fun.  I think you need to find a party where people simply appreciate you for WHO YOU ARE, not what they can get from you.  And if you find yourself at a gathering where people can’t laugh at a Shake Weight, Shake it off and Wait for an invitation to a party where you can just be yourself.