The Gift of Gum

"The Gift of Gum" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 4. In this episode, Patrick gives SpongeBob a glob of gum for Best Friends Day, but SpongeBob wants to get rid of it.

Characters

• Patrick Star
  • Patrick's underwear
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Robo 2.1 ^{(single appearance)}
• Gary the Snail
• Flies
• Incidentals
  • Incidental 106
  • Incidental 48
  • Incidental 105
  • Incidental 27
  • Lenny
  • Incidental 47
  • Incidental 7
  • Incidental 40
• Sandy Cheeks
• Trucker ^(debut)
• Squidward Tentacles
• King Neptune ^(mentioned)

Synopsis

On Best Friends Day, Patrick gives SpongeBob an enormous wad of used gum he has amassed over his entire lifetime called "Gummy" to start of the episode, and SpongeBob finds it a better gift than the one he is giving Patrick: a robotic butler. However, when he takes it inside, he realizes how disgusting it is with its used and unwashed contents, and it even starts to scare him, with a pair of underpants crawling out of the gum and talking. First, SpongeBob tries to throw it away, but Patrick catches him in doing so, and he says that he was dressing it up with the garbage can.

File:The Gift of Gum 102.png

SpongeBob and Gary looking at each other.

Later, SpongeBob tries to bury Gummy, but Patrick catches him again, and he says that he dug the hole to be able to look at Gummy from below. Patrick insists that it must be displayed properly, and places it above SpongeBob's doorway. SpongeBob next tries to dispose of it in the night, and in the process frees several fish who were trapped inside it. He tries to pull Gummy off of his house, and fails, and flies towards the ball of gum and getting stuck to it in the process.

File:The Gift of Gum 107.png

SpongeBob sneaks to get rid of Gummy.

The next day, Sandy passes by SpongeBob's house to see it covered in the sticky remains of Gummy, with SpongeBob hanging above his doorway. She tries to free him by lassoing a piece of Gummy onto a passing truck, which is almost able to pull it away. However, the plan backfires when she is ultimately pulled in by it, hitting SpongeBob's house and causing the gum to splatter everywhere, completely covering the houses of SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick in gum and trapping Squidward and Sandy as well. Patrick then appears, and SpongeBob tells him he can have Gummy back. Patrick then eats down all of the gum, making him super-morbidly obese, but also freeing SpongeBob, his friends, and their houses. Suddenly, Patrick hiccups a massive bubble, which explodes and covers all over Bikini Bottom with gum. Patrick happily ends the episode declaring that this is the best Best Friends Day ever.

Production

File:Spongebob 080 Completion Date.png

This episode was completed and delivered to Nickelodeon Animation Studio on October 5, 2006.

This episode was confirmed on November 12, 2006.

Model sheets

• File:GiftOfGumProduction.png

Storyboards

File:SB439 storyboard.mp4

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 • Kailua Jubilee - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card]
 ‣ Olympus (b) - Richard A. Harvey [Opening]
 ‣ Timpani Logo [#50] - Alan Bell, Roger Dexter, Martyn David [Patrick takes giant ball of gum out of his rock]
 • Seaweed 1 - Steve Belfer [Patrick rolling a giant ball of gum to SpongeBob's house]
 ‣ Brass Flourish (k) - Barrie Hingley ["This chewing gum is my most beloved possession."]
 ‣ Whisper from the Past [#64] - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob cries]
 • Goofy Conversation 2 - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Robot servant]
 ‣ The Promised Land - David Farnon [SpongeBob welcomes Gummy into his home]
 • Steel Licks 22 - Jeremy Wakefield ["You sure are a big boy, aren't you?"]
 • Hgliss & Bell - Nicolas Carr ["Hey, I know how to handle this."]
 ‣ Crime Squad - John Cameron [Karate]
 • Steel Licks 41 - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob crawls out]
 • Tension Bits - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["With your dirty sock, used toothbrush..."]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (H) - Ronald Hanmer ["Get a hold of yourself, SpongeBob."]
 ‣ Tomfoolery - David Snell [SpongeBob throwing Gummy away]
 • Mission Improbable - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [SpongeBob digging a hole]
 • Steel Licks 33 - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob deflates]
 • Gator - Steve Belfer [Patrick puts Gummy above SpongeBob's front door]
 ‣ Hawaiian Cocktail - Richard Myhill ["Oh, what am I gonna do, Gary?"]
 • Whats This Sting - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob gets an idea]
 • Sponge Burgler - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob dressed as a burglar]
 ‣ Hercule Poirot - Gerhard Trede [That night]
 • Whats This Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Who are you?"]
 ‣ Holy Grail - Larry Hochman ["Oh, thank Neptune!"]
 ‣ City Heat - Gerhard Trede [SpongeBob tries to pull Gummy off his house]
 ‣ Pell-Mell - Sam Spence [SpongeBob crashes into his house]
 • Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr [Sandy steps in gum]
 ‣ Towerstreet 17 [#41] - Gerhard Narholz [SpongeBob's house covered in gum]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (H) - Ronald Hanmer [Sandy gasps]
 ‣ Stepping into Danger - Mike Sunderland [Sandy tries to free SpongeBob]
 • Grass Skirt Chase - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Truck drives by]
 ‣ Runaway Train - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin ["Hang on tight, SpongeBob!"]
 ‣ Comic Walk - Sidney Torch [Squidward and Sandy get stuck]
 ‣ Caliope Carousel - Roger Roger ["It's like a gummy wonderland!"]
 • Goofy Conversation 2 - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Robot gives Patrick a massage]
 ‣ Pua Paoakalani B - Kapono Beamer, Queen Lili'uokalani ["Patrick, do you miss your Gummy?"]
 • Hawaiian Misadventures B - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Patrick eating the gum]
 ‣ Harp Gliss 1 [#20] - Otto Sieben [Harp music]
 • Bubble Tension - Nicolas Carr [Patrick hiccuping]
 • Cream Pie - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Ending]

Release

Broadcast

• This episode premiered as part of the 2007 event "Patrick For President."
• This episode was paired up with "The Pink Purloiner" during its premiere, but has since been re-airing with "Best Day Ever."

Distribution

Format	Title	Region
DVD	SpongeBob and Friends: Patrick SquarePants	United States, Germany, United Kingdom
	2-Season TV Pack	United States
	The Third & Fourth Seasons	United States
Box set	Season 4 Volume 2	United States
	First 100 Episodes	United States
	The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set	Australia
	Complete Fourth Season	United States and Germany
	The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection	Australia
	The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection	Germany and Australia
	The Best 200 Episodes Ever	United States
	The Best 300 Episodes Ever	United States
	The Third & Fourth Seasons	United States
Digital media	Best of SpongeBob	Germany
	SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 7	Global
	Waves of Adventure	United States
	Patrick's Day	Canada
	From the Beginning, Part 2	United States

Reception

• "The Gift of Gum" was ranked #25 during the SpongeBob's Top 100 event in the UK and Ireland from June 4-8, 2012.

Trivia

General

• This episode was released on the Season 4 Volume 2 DVD box set before it aired on American television.
• This episode was based on something a childhood friend of Dani Michaeli told him about.
• The title card background for this episode is similar to that of "Squid's Day Off."
• Gummy was originally blue, but it was changed to pink for unknown reasons.
• This is the second episode to have Vincent Waller credited as a creative director instead of a technical director. The first was "Best Day Ever."
• This is Erik Wiese's last episode as a writer and storyboard director before leaving to co-created the Nickelodeon animated series The Mighty B! He would serve as a storyboard artist on a few season 5 episodes and "Kenny the Cat," as well as work on the second movie, although outside of that, he would no longer be involved with the franchise.
• There is a book based on this episode called Sticky Situations!
• The Season 4 Volume 2 and The Complete Fourth Season DVD covers are based on this episode.
  • The Season 4 Volume 2 DVD features Plankton on the backside and The Complete Fourth Season DVD features Mr. Krabs on the cover, being stuck in the gum. However, they do not appear in this episode.
• This episode was paired up with different episodes multiple times:
  • This episode was paired up with "The Pink Purloiner" during its premiere and again, on February 23, 2007.
  • This episode was paired up with "Hooky" during the SpongeBob Z to A Countdown event.
  • This episode was paired up with "Life of Crime" during the SpongeBob and Patrick's Friendship Marathon.
  • This episode was paired up with "Roller Cowards" during the Week of All Things SpongeBob event on January 30, 2025.

Dub facts

• French title card in DVD releases
  French title card in DVD releases
• French title card in TV airings
  French title card in TV airings

• In France, this episode has two title cards but with two different names.
• In the German dub, this episode is called "Gummilein," which is also the German name for Gummy.

Cultural references

• The name of this episode parodies the phrase "the gift of gab."
• At the end of this episode, during the Patrick's mass consumption of the gum, Patrick eats some of the gum like the video game character Pac-Man.

Errors

• Patrick destroys his rock to get Gummy out to SpongeBob. The next time there is an outside scene, his rock is back to the way it was.

File:The Gift of Gum 005.png

Patrick is running above the seafloor.

• Patrick is seen walking above the seafloor while he is running to give SpongeBob "Gummy" as a gift.

File:The Gift of Gum 015.png

Patrick's missing mouth.

• When SpongeBob shows his present to Patrick, the latter's mouth disappears as the camera pans over to Robo 2.1.
• When SpongeBob raids his closet, a baseball lands on the floor near Gary and then it disappears in a few seconds.
• Before SpongeBob "steals" Gummy, he looks over to Patrick's rock, but Squidward's house next door is nowhere in sight.
• After Gummy explodes onto SpongeBob's house, all of the trash stuck to it disappears.
• When SpongeBob "steals" Gummy and gets trapped, he is seen wearing a burglar outfit. However, when Sandy sees him trapped, he is seen wearing his normal clothes.

File:Sandy's arm stripe error in The Gift of Gum.png

Sandy's arm stripe error.

• When Sandy says, "Oh, that's just crazy talk," some of the stripes on one of her arms turn blue for a couple frames.
• After Sandy gets her hand stuck in the gum, she takes her hand back out when she sees the truck passing by, as if her hand was never stuck in the first place.
• When everything gets covered in gum, the flower on Sandy's air helmet swaps sides.
• Right after Gummy explodes, Patrick's house is partly covered in Gummy, but when Squidward's house attaches itself to SpongeBob's, his house is completely covered in Gummy.
• Before SpongeBob gives Gummy back to Patrick, he tells him that it is still Best Friends Day. However, the episode takes place over two days. This error is further reinforced by SpongeBob saying, "Well, it's still Best Friends Day" towards the end of the episode.
• Patrick cleans Bikini Bottom by eating all of the gum. In real life, eating or swallowing a large amount of gum can cause a blockage in your throat.

File:The Gift of Gum 193.png

SpongeBob's house has the chimney and windows backwards.

• When Patrick finishes cleaning the gum and says, "Told you it was easy," it cuts to a shot of SpongeBob's house, but his windows and chimney are facing backwards. The same error also happens at the beginning of the episode.

Videos

File:SpongeBob Gets Everyone In A Sticky Situation! 🍬 - Full Scene 'The Gift of Gum' - SpongeBob

File:"12 Days of Spongemas" Music Video 🎄 - New SpongeBob Holiday Song

A clip for this episode, as for mentioning the title also, is shown at 1:17.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	Bouboule Un Cadeau Collant	Fatty A Sticky Gift
German	Gummilein	Gummy
Hungarian	Rágógumi ajándékba	Gum as a Gift
Italian	La festa del miglior amico	Best Friend's Party
Japanese	ベストフレンズ・デー Besutofurenzu dē	Best Friends Day
Russian	Подарок друга Podarok druga	Friend's Gift
Spanish (Latin America)	El regalo de goma	The Gift of Gum
Spanish (Spain)	El regalo del chicle	The Gift of Gum