Why do we wrap our gifts?
Beautifully-wrapped gifts are an integral part of the end-of-year holidays. But is all that time spent making your gifts look lovely actually worth it when the paper will be ripped off and discarded in a matter of seconds? Let’s find out what the science says.
Gift wrap through the ages
No-one quite knows who first came up with the idea of gift wrap, but the tradition of concealing gifts until the very last moment has been around for a long time. People in Japan started using furoshiki, or traditional wrapping cloth, centuries ago, while upper-class Victorians liked to adorn their gifts with lace, ribbons and elaborate decorative paper.
Most people, however, made do with brown packaging or plain tissue paper until the early 20th century, when technology made it possible to mass-produce decorative, easily-foldable gift wrap. Indeed, there’s a lot more to gift wrap than meets the eye: while it may seem that its primary function is to look beautiful, attractive looks have to come with technical performance, such as foldability and resilience to tears (over sharp edges, for example).
The psychology of gift wrap
According to a study by marketing professor Daniel Howard, gift wrap influences the recipient to have a more favorable attitude towards whatever the package contains.
There are several possible explanations for why gift wrap makes us feel happy. Dr Howard posits that it’s because we associate wrapping paper with joyful occasions, while neuroscientists think it may be to do with the way our brains’ natural reward system reacts to anticipation.
"We associate wrapping paper with joyful occasions."
But at the same time, the idea of gift wrap ending up in a landfill can put a damper on holiday cheer. The good news is that eco-conscious revellers don’t have to go back to the days of wrapping their gifts in tissue: our metallized gift wrap paper comes in stunning original prints, including holographic designs, while being entirely recyclable.
To find out more about our metallized gift wrap paper, drop us a line.
