Where did the wrapping paper and ribbon come from?
Chip Davis
Just what is it that turns an ordinary purchase into a Christmas gift? The item itself? Not quite. The cost of the item? Well, I'd hope not. We Americans literally invented the answer to this question in 1880.
It was in 1880 that the biggest retail stores discovered, are we marketing? Commercialism. Call it what you will, but that's when the big stores actually went looking for a way to lure shoppers in, and bring them in for one specific reason, to buy Christmas gifts. You see, up until then, most parents would simply drop some fresh fruit, maybe a toy, perhaps a trinket or two, into the stockings that were, remember the line, hung by the chimney with care.
And grown-ups simply exchanged small handmade gifts on Christmas Day. Okay, back to the marketing thing. The merchants thought that they had to come up with something to bring folks into the store.
And so, along came the decorative Christmas gift box, and wrapping paper. Of course, it was an immediate hit, and for a number of reasons. The surprise factor was one, and after all was said and done, the box was pretty.
But perhaps most important, once wrapped, each Christmas gift became the focus of excitement. What could it possibly be? Did they guess what I wanted? Would she like my gift? A new element was added to the holiday, suspense. Whether we know it or not, we wrap gifts because of the dreaded C word, commercialism.
Even back then, marketing became so all pervasive that wrapping Christmas gifts in brightly decorated paper became a new standard in America, and eventually, the world. We wrap gifts nowadays for all occasions, and it truly is that simple. Once wrapped, a simple purchase becomes a gift.
But maybe it wasn't all commercialism. What if, and I'm only speculating here, but what if the marketers themselves were influenced by something else? I mean, should I, do I dare make this link? Remember the story of the first Christmas from the Gospel of Luke? It says, "you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes." Well, perhaps.
As Shakespeare wrote, there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. And who am I to disagree?
Chip Davis is an American musician and composer. He is best known as the creator and leader of the “Mannheim Steamroller” musical group.
The essay on this page was read by Davis on his 2001 album, “Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Companion.”
Here is a message Chip Davis released in 2020, when the Covid pandemic precluded Mannheim Steamroller conducting its famous Christmas performances for the first time in 35 years.
