Cardboard Culture: How Birthday Piñatas Build Our Team 🎉

Why Celebration Is a Core Part of Our Culture

At Anthem, we build culture on purpose—with a little strategy, a lot of cardboard, and a staggering amount of painter’s tape.

Because none of us shows up to work in a vacuum. We arrive at the office or log on to Slack with full lives in tow—and no matter whether we’re riding a high or working through something hard, we’re human beings who are spending eight hours a day together. 

And the most human thing we can do with that time? Love each other.

There’s lots of ways we show love to each other as a team, but part of the way we do this at Anthem is through a culture that’s founded on celebration—starting with our office birthday piñatas.

Yes, every person gets a handcrafted & theme-specific piñata for their birthday. It’s time-consuming and extremely extra—but it’s also completely worth it.

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Serious About Celebrations

A candy-filled piñata isn’t the only part of a birthday at Anthem. The celebration includes:

• Uniquely themed decor throughout the office. (You said you liked something six months ago? Guess what: it’s your birthday theme now.)
• A gift card to a place that they love.
• A team lunch where we pause the hustle and enjoy some good food (because, to be honest, this is a team that loves to spend time together).
• A digital card with heartfelt encouragement notes and birthday well wishes (as well as carefully chosen GIFs that are just *chef’s kiss*).

But the piñata is the best part. Why?

Because it’s unexpected. It’s playful. And it’s ridiculously personal. A handmade piñata swinging from the rafters says: You’re known. You’re valued. You’re worth celebrating.

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What’s actually inside a Piñata

Behind the cardboard and painter’s tape that’s walking a fine line between keeping the piñata together while still being delicate enough to smash open, here’s what we’re really packing into these masterpieces:

♥️ Love
Decorating the whole office takes time (and a village). Making a piñata from scratch takes effort. But in a world where so much feels automated and transactional, showing up with care, creativity, and attention to detail makes a big difference.

✍️ Attention
Everyone’s theme is different and uniquely tied to them. Their favourite carbonated beverage. A niche hobby. A Christmas song that became an inside joke. It’s about being noticed and celebrated as a unique individual with nothing cookie cutter about it (unless, of course, the theme is cookie cutters).

🎯 Intention
We prioritize creating moments for our team to celebrate the unique gifts and talents everyone brings. We know that people who feel seen and celebrated don’t just show up to work—they show up better. Which means that everything we create for our clients is better too.

✨ Joy
We’re a creative agency and we work hard. But we’re also humans showing up to work with our full selves. Having fun together is a feature of sharing our lives—not a bug.

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Our Culture Comes With Extra Sauce

Anyone can throw a pizza party and say they care about team culture. (And let’s be honest - is it really a party if the only ingredient is pizza?). 

But at Anthem, we believe culture is built in small, consistent, and extremely specific moments. 

Like remembering that someone (very wisely) puts extra sauce on everything.

Or celebrating the birth of someone’s twins with a food delivery gift card and two tiny McDavid jerseys.

Or spending the time to build a ridiculous floating piñata of Baron Harkonnen from Dune 2—just because we could.

Love at Anthem isn’t passive. It’s not surface level. It’s fierce. It’s intentional. It takes time and hard work—but it’s completely worth it.

That’s why celebration is built into everything we do. As a team, we genuinely love each other. And when we celebrate people well—what they love, what makes them unique, who they are as a person—we’re not just having fun. We’re building something strong. Something honest. Something that lasts.

And honestly? There’s nothing sweeter. (Except maybe the mini Reese’s cups falling out of the pinata.)

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