Oh, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, and however you celebrate winter holidays, you are almost guaranteed to use paper. Paper products and natural wood chemicals like cellulose are used everywhere, from holiday cards to the luggage you use when visiting family.
But how did our society transition from using paper for utilitarian purposes like writing literature and recording history to uses like wrapping gifts? To understand this, we have to first understand what papermaking is. In essence, it’s the formation of a matted sheet that’s usually derived from the cellulose fibers of plant and vegetable cell walls.
Before paper, we used materials like stone and bone to record history and communicate with one another. It didn’t look anything like the lined and perforated paper we commonly use now.
Egyptians created a material similar to paper in 3000 B.C. using papyrus, a plant reed that only grew regionally. Because it was very expensive to purchase papyrus outside of Egypt, parchment was invented in Pergamon in West Asia around 150 B.C. Made from animal skins, parchment was even more expensive than papyrus.
Around 100 B.C. in China, a government official named Ts’ai Lun was the first to make what we now commonly think of as paper from finely chopped mulberry bark and hemp rags. He mixed the materials with water, mashed it flat, pressed out excess water and let it dry in the sun.
Comparing this method to modern papermaking, the concepts are still the same, according to Lucian Lucia, Associate Professor in the Department of Forest Biomaterials. However, as modern technology advanced, we no longer make paper by hand but rather mechanically or chemically.
Throughout this large expanse of time, people across the world were using paper products to wrap gifts. Koreans have been wrapping gifts in bojagi for thousands of years, while Japan’s furoshiki method has been in use since the 1600s. In the United States, however, the invention of wrapping paper as we know it today was a complete accident.
Before the 20th century, wrapping gifts was largely an upper-class tradition of using elaborately decorated paper, lace and ribbons. At the turn of the century, the most widespread gifting practice was tissue paper, mainly colored red, green or white. But in 1917, the paper industry was forever changed — again.
Business was booming for two brothers running a stationery store in Kansas City, Missouri. J.C. and Rollie Hall were helping customers when they realized they had run out of the standard tissue paper needed for the busy holiday season. It wasn’t like today when you can simply get one-day delivery on Amazon goods. They needed a solution, and fast.
Rollie found leftover “fancy French paper” not meant for wrapping gifts, but for lining envelopes. As a last-second effort to keep business steady, they put that paper out on display for 10 cents a sheet. It sold out in minutes.
The Hall brothers tested their luck in 1918, and the paper sold out again just as fast. The following year, they decided to focus their efforts on creating their own version of the “fancy French paper,” and thus the wrapping paper industry was born.
Over time, using wrapping paper became almost an expectation in western cultures, creating a $16.2 billion industry in 2019. Now you can buy custom wrapping paper. Ironically, you can even buy a print that looks like wood.
Oh, and the Hall brothers? They named their store Hallmark.
Since 1929, the College of Natural Resources has educated leaders in the forestry and forest biomaterials industries, creating innovative solutions to real-world problems. Today, the Department of Forest Biomaterials is at the forefront of sustainable bioenergy and bioproducts.
Paper and its derivatives are being used across all industries from biomedical to energy. For example, Joe Sagues, a Ph.D. student in the department, is researching ways to turn biomass like sawdust into lithium-ion batteries, which is potentially a much greener way of making energy.
The department is also leading the world in exploring how consumer patterns and demand can be met with sustainable products, specifically with hygiene tissue. Consumers often take for granted how much paper and energy is used to make those essential items. However, NC State recognized this opportunity and hosted the only international, university-sponsored conference on sustainable hygiene tissue in June 2019. It will host the conference again in January 2021.
As the department is finding, paper can be used for almost anything and is, in fact, currently used in more products than we think. Do you enjoy ice cream? That rich, smooth texture comes from cellulose. Paper can also be used in chemistry to safely conduct experiments at a microscale. We can even print circuit boards on paper for communication and radio tagging. “There’s almost nothing that you can’t do with paper,” Lucia said.
As we look to a future with a growing population, understanding and using sustainable materials has never been more important. Lucia sees paper as the answer to most of our consumer goods problems. “We really should look to it as a sustainable medium for better living,” he said. “We can make anything out of paper. So it’s just a question of: Is society willing to demand that?”
Gift wrapping is the act of enclosing a gift in some sort of material. Wrapping paper is a kind of paper designed for gift wrapping. An alternative to gift wrapping is using a gift box or bag. A wrapped or boxed gift may be held closed with ribbon and topped with a decorative bow (an ornamental knot made of ribbon).
History
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The use of wrapping paper is first documented in ancient China, where paper was invented in 2nd century BC.[1] In the Southern Song dynasty, monetary gifts were wrapped with paper, forming an envelope known as a chih pao. The wrapped gifts were distributed by the Chinese court to government officials. [2] In the Chinese text Thien Kung Khai Wu, Sung Ying-Hsing states that the coarsest wrapping paper is manufactured with rice straws and bamboo fiber.[3]
Although the Hall brothers Rollie and Joyce Hall, founders of Hallmark Cards, did not invent gift wrapping, their innovations led to the development of modern gift wrapping. They helped to popularize the idea of decorative gift wrapping in the 20th century, and according to Joyce Hall, "the decorative gift-wrapping business was born the day Rollie placed those French envelope linings on top of that showcase."[4]
By culture
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Gift wrapped presents beneath the Christmas treeAsian cultures
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In Chinese culture, red wrapping denotes luck because it is such a vibrant and strong color. It is seen as a symbol of happiness and good health.
In Japanese culture, wrapping paper and boxes are common. However, the traditional cloth wrapping called furoshiki is increasing in popularity, particularly as an ecologically friendly alternative to wrapping paper.[5]
In Korean culture, bojagi are sometimes used for gift wrapping. A yedanbo is a ceremonial gift bojagi used to wrap wedding gifts from the bride's family to the members of the groom's.[6]
In Vietnamese culture, gift wrapping is an integral part of the gift-giving tradition.[7][8] Vietnamese people often use elegant and colorful gift boxes to create visual appeal. The colors red and gold are particularly favored, as they symbolize luck and joy. Vietnamese people also pay special attention to the messages and wishes on the gifts, expressing care and affection.[9] Additionally, there is a trend towards using environmentally friendly materials such as recycled paper and sustainable ribbons for gift wrapping.[10]
Western cultures
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In Western culture, gifts are often wrapped in wrapping paper and accompanied by a gift note which may note the occasion, the receiver's name and the giver's name.
Prior to the introduction of tissue paper, Upper-class Victorians in the west commonly used decorated and coloured thick paper to cover their gifts.[11] Modern patterned wrapping paper was introduced to the American market by the Hall Brothers in 1917. The Kansas City stationery store had run out of traditional white, red, and green monocolor tissue papers, and started selling colorful envelope liners from France. Proving popular, the company promoted the new designs in the subsequent decades, adding ribbons in the 1930s, and Hallmark remains one of the largest American producers of gift wrap.[12] Hallmark records that gift wrap accounts for $3.2 billion annually in retail sales in the U.S.[13]
Waste
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In Britain, it is estimated that 226,800 miles of wrapping paper is thrown away annually at Christmas.[14] In Canada, 6 million rolls of tape are used and discarded yearly for gift wrapping at Christmas.[15] Some people attempt to avoid wastage by unwrapping gifts with care to allow the paper to be reused, while others use decorated cloth gift sacks that can be easily reused many times; both of these concepts are part of the green gifting trend that encourages recycling. Many people are moving into the trend of wrapping gifts with newspaper, magazine pages, old maps, calendars and into baskets to save single use wrapping paper from ending up in the garbage. [16]
Torn gift wrapping paper after the gift exchangeDisposal
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Disposing of wrapping paper has become increasingly complex as not all papers are made entirely of paper and can be disposed of as regular waste paper. Visually stunning glossy gift papers are often coated with plastic varnishes or films, making them unsuitable for recycling and requiring disposal as residual waste. Only simple, printed gift wrapping paper can be easily recycled with regular paper waste.[17][18]
If gift papers were fully recyclable and recycled at a 100% rate, it could save 70% of energy compared to linear production. However, especially glittering, laminated, and textured gift papers contain a significant amount of microplastics. Previous generations[when?] used to carefully preserve gift wrapping paper for reuse and only used fabric ribbons to avoid damaging the paper, but more recent practice relies on laminated paper with adhesive tape, which is often discarded after a single use.[19]
Not every gift packaging is recyclablePackaging waste
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In Germany, approximately 100 grams of gift wrapping paper per person are used each year, resulting in up to 8,000 tons of wrapping paper waste. However, not all types of paper can be fully recycled.[20]
Estimates from the United Kingdom indicate that the equivalent of 108 million rolls of gift wrapping paper were discarded after Christmas 2018, considering an annual consumption that exceeds 350,000 kilometers.[19]
In Canada, gift packaging and paper shopping bags generate 540,000 tons of packaging waste annually. Due to recycling challenges, most gift wrapping paper made from various materials ends up in landfills.[21]
During the Christmas season in the United States, an additional 5 million tons of waste are generated, with up to 4 million tons consisting of various gift packaging and gift papers.[19]
Function and usage
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A study conducted in 1992 at Southern Methodist University in Texas examined whether the act of wrapping a gift has an impact on the recipient's experience. It was found that gift wrapping enhances anticipation and that recipients tend to value wrapped gifts more than unwrapped ones.[22]
Gift wrapping paper serves multiple purposes: it protects the gift during transportation and provides an element of surprise and excitement when it is unwrapped. Therefore, gift wrapping paper is used not only during gift exchanges but also for occasions like children's birthdays.[23][24]
Gift wrapping papers are designed to suit different occasions where gift-giving is customary, leading to a separation of motifs. The industry distinguishes between year-round collections and seasonal collections, with Christmas gift wrapping paper being the most prominent among seasonal products. Nowadays, specialized gift wrapping paper is available for various occasions such as birthdays, weddings, Mother's Day, and anniversaries.
Many stores now offer on-site gift wrapping services, either for free or for a fee, depending on the store. Some drugstores even provide complimentary gift wrapping paper for items purchased in-store.
Additionally, an increasing number of online retailers offer gift wrapping as an additional service. Some even offer the option to send the wrapped gifts directly to the recipient along with a personalized greeting card.
Industrially manufactured gift wrapping paper is widely accessible to consumers in retail stores, usually in the form of small rolls protected by plastic packaging. Certain specialty stationery stores offer gift wrapping paper in sheet format, featuring embossed patterns or special treatments like glitter elements.
It is now possible for individuals to create custom-designed gift wrapping paper at home and have the design printed by a printing shop or photo lab.
Psychology
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In the past, gift wrapping has been shown to positively influence the recipients who are more likely to rate their gifts positively if they had traditional gift wrapping.[25] More recently, researchers have found that gift recipients will have higher expectations of the gift inside based on the neatness of the gift-wrapping.[26]
In many countries the colour of wrapping paper has associations with symbolic meanings pertaining to funerals and mourning. These certain colours should be avoided when wrapping gifts in these countries. [27]
References
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Media related to Gift-wrapping at Wikimedia Commons