Tied Up With a Bow…

I am not shy about the fact that I am not a great gift wrapper. Last Christmas I even took a cue from Elias Cole in Cole for Christmas and hired someone to do my wrapping. Better for everyone!

Did you know that Americans spend around $2.6 billion dollars on wrapping paper? But who is responsible for introducing the practice of wrapping gifts and creating this industry?

Well, there are many different accounts of the origins of wrapping paper. In the 1600s in Japan, decorated cloth was used to conceal gifts. In the Victorian era, people of the upper class would use thick, elaborately-decorated (but somewhat unwieldy) paper to conceal gifts.

Modern wrapping paper, however, was born in a stationery store in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1917. The Hall brothers, who ran the store, ran out of tissue paper, which was popularly used to wrap gifts at the time. To fill the gap, they set out fancy French paper that was typically used for lining envelopes. They sold out, and an industry was born. In 1919, the Hall brothers began producing wrapping paper and started selling it nationwide.  In case you haven’t figured it out, their stationery store’s name was…Hallmark.

How do you handle your gifts? Are you an elaborate wrapper, with ornate paper and coordinating ribbons? Do you prefer gift bags? Do you just hand over the gift in the bag it came in? Do you tap someone else in your household (or outside of your household) to take care of it?

However you handle it, it’s the thought that counts!