Beech Tree News Network

A few years ago while Christmas shopping, I noticed something a bit frustrating.  I’d gotten several gifts that required boxes so I naturally would ask the salesperson for a box.  I kept getting the same response of “I’m sorry, we don’t have any boxes”.  “Okay, thanks”, I’d say in a rather puzzling manner and walk away.  “How weird”, I’d say to myself.  Thing is, it’s the norm these days.

Oh, you can still occasionally get a box-if you buy it!   I say boo to that.  Time to get creative.  And I can get creative.  My go-to move, especially for bigger items, is put it in a gift bag and arrange some green and red tissue paper around it.  One thing I haven’t done is wrap a gift in Kleenex.  Think about it: that’s wrapping that serves a dual purpose.  You unwrap the gift on Christmas morning.  You have to blow your nose and you already have your Kleenex.  Of course, if you use thin Kleenex, you can likely see the gift.  Maybe that’s not such a great idea.

One year, most every Christmas gift I gave was in a festive Christmas bag.  Nothing wrong with that.  I like getting gifts in bags, too.  It’s a win-win! As far as paying for boxes you used to get free if you asked? I suppose they figure “we have to pay for them.  You’ll have to pay for them, too”.  But like I said, most stores don’t even have boxes anymore.  No wonder so many gift bags are being sold.

Where would we be without paper bags? We use paper bags for many things: for lunches, to bring in the groceries, to take out the trash, to hold things and help us stay organized. Have you ever thought about when and where they were invented? Paper bags were invented in the 1850´s. Before there were paper bags, people would bring a container to hold the things they bought at the market, possibly a basket. If the customer did not have a container, the storekeeper would twist some paper together to hold the purchase, this was called a cornucopia.   

In very busy stores, the shopkeeper would make the cornucopias ahead of time and glue them together. These were the first paper bags. 

By the 1860´s the first machines for making paper bags were invented. S.E. Petee is the man remembered for making the best of these machines.  However, all these machines were a bit different and each one made slightly different bags. In 1869, the Union Company of Pennsylvania made a paper bag - making machine that combined all the best features of the other machines.  This company really started the paper bag making business. 

By 1875 the Union Company of Pennsylvania was making so many bags they changed the company name to the Union Bag and Paper Company. In their first year as a paper bag company, they made 606 million bags - a huge number for that time. The mass production of paper bags helped storekeepers cut their prices. 

At about the same time, Margaret Knight worked in a paper bag factory. She had invented a new part for the paper bag-making machine that would automatically fold and glue the bags. At first no one took her seriously because she was a woman and they thought she couldn´t really know anything about machines. However, eventually her part was installed on the machine and is now considered ´the mother of the grocery bag.´ The part she invented is still used today!! Margaret Knight went on to start the Eastern Paper Company in 1870 and to patent 26 other inventions. (http://aabag.com/Paper-Bag/History-of-the-Paper-Bags.html)