Modern decorative wrapping paper was popularized and essentially “invented” as a commercial product in 1917 by the Hall brothers—Joyce Clyde (J.C.) and Rollie Hall, founders of Hallmark, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Quick Scoop

  • The Hall brothers are widely credited with inventing modern decorative gift wrap and launching the gift-wrap industry.
  • This happened in 1917 , during a busy Christmas season at their shop in Kansas City, Missouri.
  • They ran out of the usual red, green, and white tissue paper and started selling fancy French envelope liners as wrapping paper, which sold out immediately.

Before the Hall brothers

Long before Hallmark, people still wrapped gifts, but not with the kind of patterned wrapping paper used today.

Common materials included brown paper, newspaper, thick plain paper, fabric, or simple colored tissue, especially in the Victorian era when decorative gift-giving became more elaborate.

How “modern” wrapping paper started

In 1917, at the Halls’ store, the usual tissue paper for Christmas gifts sold out, forcing them to improvise.

Rollie Hall pulled out brightly patterned French envelope liners from their stock, placed them on the counter for 10 cents a sheet, and customers snapped them up—again in 1918, leading them to print dedicated gift wrap by 1919.

So who gets the credit?

  • Not a single ancient inventor : paper wrapping in some form goes back to at least ancient China, but it was not today’s commercial, printed wrapping paper.
  • Modern decorative wrapping paper : credit goes to J.C. and Rollie Hall of Hallmark, whose 1917 experiment turned into a full new product line and industry.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.