My Mother-in-law was talking about when she was a little girl and Christmas traditions.  She said all of their gifts were just put under the tree and maybe one was wrapped in newspaper.  That got me thinking about wrapping paper and where it originated.

Obviously the idea of gift giving at Christmas came from the three wise men.

Before we had companies making wrapping paper, items were wrapped in tissue paper or brown packing paper.  Wrapping paper–so when did that tradition start?  Until the prinitng press was developed something like wrapping paper was not even available.  It was the turn of the century before wrapping paper was created.

Hy-Sill Manufacturing Inc., founded by Eli Hyman and Morris Silverman, became the first American gift wrap company in 1903. They are still in business and are still making wrapping paper to this day. They now go by International Greetings USA.

Hallmark, wrapping paper’s biggest name, stumbled upon the gift wrap market by accident. In 1917, Hall Brothers (Hallmark’s original name before Joyce Hall bought out his brothers) sold the standard holiday colors of tissue paper for the holidays–red, green and white.   Just days before Christmas they sold out. Rollie Hall, (one of the Hall Brothers) called over to the manufacturing plant and had sheets of decorative envelope liners shipped over to the store. They offered these large patterned sheets for 10 cents each. The decorative paper quickly sold out. The following year they sold the decorative sheets again.  They were 3 sheets for 25 cents.  Once again they sold out quickly. The brothers began printing their own Christmas wrapping paper, and soon gift wrap sales rivaled their greeting card department.

Hallmark Cards had just started in 1910 by Joyce Hall while living in the YMCA. He barely had enough money to his name. He was planning on traveling further but when he stepped off the train in Kansas City decided he liked what he saw and stayed. He had 2 shoeboxes of postcards thus the “shoebox” label at Hallmark. While living at the YMCA he would draw on the postcards and sell them on the street during the day. His brother Rollie came on in 1915. (1917 was when the wrapping paper industry was started by Hallmark).

Scotch Tape had not been developed yet-it was not invented until 1930 and the tape with the cutting dispenser was not sold in stores until 1932.

Gift wrappers had to use either twine or a hot wax to seal their bundles.

During this same era Gift tags were invented.

Wrapping paper originally looked like Victorian wallpaper that was popular during that time but over the next few years it began to take on characters from movies and holiday themes that we still associate with Christmas today.

Gift wrap was saved from the rationing that many other products were subject to during World War II. The War Office believed that gift wrap and other Christmas traditions contributed to raising morale amongst citizens, and also believed that it encouraged people to send packages to soldiers far from home. Some gift wrap manufacturers turned to weapon and other wartime production, but the ones that remained making paper saw business boom. Sales actually increased by more than twenty percent during the war!

Can you believe that gift bags weren’t introduced until the 1980s and are one of the most popular ways to present a gift?

Mechanical bow-making machines, patented by Indiana resident J.J. Thayer, entered the market in 1951 and enabled the production of large numbers of wrapping bows over the next five decades. When certain sizes of ribbon were discontinued, the company adapted its machinery to continue bow-making operations with the latest bow styles. As of 2010, Indiana Ribbon, Inc., the Thayer family business, continued to make bows from two plants operating in central Indiana.

Pre-manufactured curly ribbon bows, with cascades of curls, were first offered by Hallmark in 1994.

The History of Hallmark Cards.