Christmas in July: Our Belcamp White Elephant Swap Nobody Asked For (and Everybody Loved)
There is exactly one day a year when the greatest gift you can give a coworker is something they would never, ever want to receive. At our Belcamp office, that day is Christmas in July, and this year it landed on July 24.
We strung together the best parts of the holidays (the food, the swapping, the general chaos) and left out the worst part (the freezing cold), then turned the whole thing into a good excuse to step away from the help desk for an afternoon. The result was a room full of laughter, a table full of gloriously bad gifts, and a lunch spread that disappeared far faster than anyone will admit.
The one rule: bring something nobody wants
If you have never played white elephant, the premise is beautifully backwards. Instead of hunting for the perfect present, everyone races to bring the worst one. The tackier and more baffling, the better. Then the gifts get wrapped, piled up, and fought over as if they were the hottest items of the season.
The rules are simple, and the strategy is ruthless:
- Everyone brings one wrapped gift that no reasonable person would want.
- Take turns picking a mystery package, or stealing one that has already been opened.
- A gift can only be stolen so many times before it is locked in for good.
- The person who ends up with the "prize" nobody wanted wins the afternoon.
Lunch, laughs, and questionable regifting
No good office celebration runs on holiday cheer alone, so lunch was on the house. Plates were filled, the conversation had nothing to do with tickets or passwords, and more than a few people quietly plotted which gift they were going to steal on their next turn.
Half the fun is watching the reactions: the slow unwrap, the confused pause, the moment someone realizes the "treasure" they just claimed is exactly the thing they were hoping to avoid. By the end, everyone walked away with a story, a laugh, and a gift they will absolutely be re-gifting next July.
Why we do it
Great IT support starts with a team that actually enjoys working together. Traditions like Christmas in July give us a reason to step back, blow off some steam, and remember that the people behind the tickets are, in fact, people.
Christmas in July has quietly become one of our favorite days on the calendar. It is proof that you do not need snow, a tree, or even a good gift to have a genuinely great time. See you next July, when the gifts will somehow be even worse.
The team behind your IT is the same team raiding the gift table
DDSystems supports businesses across Maryland, DC, and Delaware with managed IT, cyber security, and custom software, delivered by people who actually like showing up. Let's talk about how we can help your business.
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