Bah Humbug. It's December again - only 8 more days to go

Bah Humbug, it's 17th December. Doing my sums, and that's "maths" not math as maths is the short form of mathematics (please remember that if you live on the other side of the pond), then I have one week and one day - eight days!

Meanwhile, at school my eldest son's class is holding a secret Santa.

This struck me as strange for a group of 14 year-olds (my 12 year old said they weren't planning anything). He had to purchase a gift of between $5-$10. So yesterday, we went to the toy shop and he picked up two small pieces of Lego. Fair enough, I thought.

He folded the plastic bag around the toys and declared that task done and dusted.

'But you need to gift wrap it,' I protested.

'No, I don't, there's a bag around it,' he retorted.

'But it's Christmas and you can see through the bag,' I countered.

'Bah Humbug,' he sorted.

Last night, like some furtive elf, after he had gone upstairs to bed, I pulled out the wrapping paper and wrapped the gift.

How on earth could he contribute to a secret Santa when his gift was not secret?

That got me thinking about why we gift wrap presents. After all, to the bah humbug or more eco-conscious amongst us, it is a waste of paper and superfluous.

So, I delved into this. One of my pupils told me the joy of having a present wrapped is partly in being able to rip the paper off. She then admitted that one of her friends removes the paper carefully so it can be reused and that her grandmother used to keep the paper to reline drawers.

An extremely practical use for wrapping paper.

But what drives us to wrap presents?

Some reasons I found are:

- To create a festive feel (after all it is not just at Christmas we wrap gifts).

- Wrapping hides what the gift actually is, leaving an element of surprise or anticipation (and let down when we open it) - my son should take note of this.

- Shimmering wrapping makes the gift look good.

Obviously, there is a great deal of deep rooted psychology at play. Dr Daniel Howard, professor of marketing at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas published a study on the psychological effects of gift wrapping in 1992, (Guardian Newspaper, 20 December 2010), his comment was: 'Gift wrapping, through repeated pairing with joyous events in people's lives, has utility in cuing [sic] a happy mood which, in turn, positively biases attitudes.'

So gift wrap makes us smile.

But where did it all start?

Giving gifts was not just invented for Christmas. I expect even cavemen gave gifts when they returned home with a woolly mammoth.

The Roman festivals of Saturnalia, the winter solstice (I will have to explain those in another post), were a time of gift giving and in turn, the idea became associated with Christmas and the Three Wise Men. Although, in early Christianity, gift giving was discouraged - after all it was a pagan tradition.

We have the middle ages to thank, and the legend of St. Nicholas and possibly St. Swithun to thank for helping to make the giving of gifts part of the celebrations.


With the invention of paper (China 105 AD) gifts began to be wrapped. Given that the secret of how to make paper did not reach Europe until around 1000 AD, European gifts were probably wrapped in leaves or animal skin. (That's my comment ;) )

What is certain is that wrapping up gifts and items was a tradition of shopkeepers and retailers who used to wrap the packages in brown paper and tie them with that rough string that feels like hessian. This was to make it easier for shoppers to carry their purchases home.

Decorated paper was not easy to produce, and it took developments in the printing process to allow colour to be included at the end of 19th Century. However, the paper was very thick - rather like wallpaper, in fact wallpaper was often used to wrap gifts, until people became frustrated with it cracking and splitting all the time.

Tissue paper was used instead. It still is used today to pre-wrap delicate items. But one day in 1917 the tissue paper ran out in the Hall Brother's store in Kansas City. Rollie Hall, the owner, it is claimed had an idea and brought out sheets of decorative envelope liners. He sold then at 10c a piece. Within a couple of years, this decorated paper became extremely popular and Hallmark entered the gift-wrapping business.

Now most stores offer gift wrapping services and some people make a business out of it. So there is absolutely no excuse why anyone should not wrap their Christmas gift.


Whatever the origins, whatever the reasons, the act of gift wrapping keeps your gift secret and creates wonder and surprise when piles of brightly coloured boxes and shapes are piled under the tree.

As my eldest son remarked today: 'Well, the Christmas tree exploded gifts last night I see.'

BAH HUMBUG

Make sure you wrap your gifts.