When was wrapping paper invented

So I did some digging, and found out the first recorded wrapped gifts can be traced as far back as the s. The first recorded form of gift wrap is actually fabric: Those who practiced traditional Korean folk religions during the Three Kingdoms Period believed that wrapped items were a symbol of protection and good luck, so giving a gift wrapped in cloth was a way to bestow protection and good fortune upon the recipient.

Another early gift wrapping tradition is the Japanese style of furoshiki wrapping gifts in cloth fabric , which has been around since the Tokugawa period in the s. Even the wise men wrapped the gifts they brought to baby Jesus , although they enclosed their gold, frankincense, and myrrh in small treasure chests rather than in red plaid paper.

So how did we transition to the modern paper gift wrap we use today? It can all be credited to the popularization of Christmas cards : In the mids, people began sending paper Christmas cards across Europe and America.

As printing technology improved, it became easier to print and sell paper cards. Gretchen Nowroozi was born and raised in Houston. She is a producer for Good Morning San Antonio. Local News. Published: December 11, am. The practice was echoed in a slightly more practical form by stores, which would wrap customers' purchases in sturdy manila papers.

Decorative paper became democratized. According to Mental Floss , which knows of such things, that happened for the same reason so many innovations come about: by accident. A pair of brothers running a stationery store in Kansas City, Missouri, were having an exceptionally good holiday season—so good, in fact, that they ran out of their standard inventory of tissue paper.

So, during the holiday season of , the brothers tried the same trick, offering lining paper as gift wrap. And, again, the sheets were a sell-out hit. By , having confirmed that the lining sheets' sales weren't a fluke, the pair began producing and selling their own printed paper—decorative, and designed for the sole purpose of wrapping gifts.

Does it not go unexplained how giving presents requires gift wrapping? Sometimes, presents come in bags and boxes, too. The important thing to consider is how a present must come in pretty and artful packaging. Wrapping presents has become a tradition across cultures, but when did this act of decorating and concealing them start?

Our luxury Signet packaging design and product embellishments would not have come into existence if not for the birth of gift wrapping. With over 20 years of experience in product presentation, we provide exquisite gift wrap and ribbon, in addition to the variety of packaging types we offer.