"What were you thinking? ...".

• Position: Business Gifts

It's the thought that counts with gift giving, but some presents prompt the question, you thinking?" The Creative Group, Menlo Park, Calif., a specialized staffing service providing marketing, advertising, creative, and web professionals on a project basis, asked 250 U.S. advertising and marketing executives, "What is the wackiest or most unusual gift you or a colleague has received from a business associate?"

Here are some of their responses: gold tooth; pick axe; ketchup bottle; container of fake worms; and a dancing statue of Hank Williams, Jr.

"As the holidays approach, many professionals are considering gift ideas for their coworkers and business contacts," says Tracey Turner, executive director of The Creative Group. "The challenge is finding items that are distinctive, yet appropriate, for the recipient and the occasion."

These next gifts certainly are unique, but their appropriateness is questionable: nail gun; box filled with other boxes ("There wasn't anything in any of them."); wooden propeller blade; set of chattering teeth; and a salami.

Animal-related items such as the following also may prove problematic if the recipient does not heed the call of the wild: screeching monkey; dog; camel ride; and a turtle.

Some people made a big impression with these jumbo-sized gifts: a two-foot-long pencil that was four inches in diameter; giant plastic carrot; humongous hand; tennis balls the size of basketballs; and a kid's bazooka that was 6' tall.

"Advertising and marketing executives pride themselves on creativity in everything they do, including gift giving," points out Turner. "In most industries, however, it's best to err on the conservative side...