The first commercial cardboard box was created by M Treverton & Son in England in 1817. Later on the Scottish born Robert Gair made a break through by inventing the first pre-cut cardboard box in 1890. Cardboard boxes come in all sorts of sizes and some are custom built to fit different parts of a single product. A good example is a Hi-Fi product that has loud speakers and cables which are neatly packed between cardboard pockets. Christmas, Birthdays and Weddings boxed gifts tend to be the norm and now with the present day of recycling makes life much easier.
One would think that was the end of cardboard box’s life, but not for a cat that has teems of curiosity and will play for hours with a ball of paper or a catnip filled mouse within the box. But on a more serious note cardboard boxes are frequently used by the homeless as groundsheets and covers against the wintry elements.
The use of wrapping paper is first documented in ancient China, where paper was first invented in the 2nd Century BC. In the following years different countries had their own ideas of producing wrapping paper and in 1917 the United States two persons who became partners working on creating wrapping paper had a freak incident and began producing tissue and lining paper. Having confirmed in 1919 it was not a mechanical error on their part the pair began producing and selling their own decorative printed wrapping paper for the sole purpose of wrapping gifts. It was deemed that an unwrapped present was naked and needed to be covered for that extra element of surprise to the recipient.
Please remember the homeless in this world of ours!