THE ORIGIN OF VALENTINE'S DAY

Everybody knows Valentine’s Day but… does everybody know what it really means and where it comes from?

Some of you might think it’s an invention of the malls. Unfortunately for the first time it’s not, this festivity has its origins, although we have different versions of it.

There are different theories about this celebration, but it seems that the Valentinus one is the most common one.

It was a 14^th of February of the year 270 when a man named Valentinus was martyred for marrying young soldiers. During Claudius II Empire, this Christian priest married young soldiers with their young ladies. That’s the reason why Valentinus is currently the patron saint of lovers. 

Claudius thought young soldiers with no family bonds were better soldiers than the bonded ones. That’s why Valentinus ideas were against his interests and he was sent to prison. Although he tried to convince Claudius to become Christian and he cured the blindness of an official’s daughter named Julia, he finally was martyred and executed a 14th of Februray of 270.

To remember him, Julia planted an almond tree next to Valentinus grave which will become a lover’s symbol later on.

However, the most well-known celebration is on the Feb. 14, some other countries celebrate it other days. In most of the South-American countries it is held in summer.

Other no Christian countries have taken advantage of this celebration as a consumerism celebration. That’s the Japanese case: one of the chocolates company in this country introduced this festivity. But in this case women are who give a gift to men. It doesn’t really matter if he is your lover, your father or your mate, but take into account that to your lover you should give as a present the most special chocolate for you. As a reward a month later, on 14th of March men give as a gift something white (white chocolate, underwear clothes…) to women, it is known as the White Day.

And why is Cupid involved in Valentine’s Day? Here it comes another theory. History says it was an ancient festivity in honor of Eros (for Greeks) and later on called Cupid for the Romans. In this case, it’s the other way round, a pagan celebration was turned into a Christian celebration. People asked for God favors, related to love, giving him presents and oblations.

Nowadays, we have a mixed and confused story based in the Valentinus one but with symbols of the Cupid one.

However they are not the only versions of the lovers’ day, in Northern countries is the period when birds match  and reproduce. It is said that lovers took this date as a love and creation symbol.

We find many kinds of versions for this day, but the summary is whatever the origin of this celebration is, it’s always a pleasure share your love with your loved ones.

And don’t hesitate to tell us your own country version… ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

POPCORN BOXES ARE COMING...

To decorate weddings and birthday parties, for candy bars, for original presents...

You asked us for them and they are almost here: buying popcorn boxes in SelfPackaging will be possible soon.

But we give you the privilege to see them, for the first time, because we can't wait the box to be launched!!

It will be available in two different sizes and in a lot of cool colours. So, next time, at Christmas for instance, you will be able to decorate your gifts in a nice way:

Just writing on it and a pair of washi-tapes. ready for success!

We are showing you the boxes in kraft, but... Do you imagine them in colours?

Or, a while ago we suggested you the Halloween decorations. We know that this scary period is over but we love these both cute and frightening boxes. 

We are sure that the popcorn box will be a boost in our gift boxes catalogue and it will become into one of your favourites ones.

Always, always with lots of love

WOOL IS COOL

In winter we need to wrap us up because it’s cold. Then, why we don’t wrap our ‘gifts' up?

We don’t want them to catch a cold. That’s why we decided to buy a wool skein from Katia to make them warmer.

Take the wool and use it as a ribbon. It gives them a wintry look, ideal for your Christmas gifts.

You can gather a small amount together in a corner, it will look like a cool wide ribbon. 

Or just tie the wool as a bow or hang it as a pendant. As you can see in the pictures the options are varied and a lot.

Or combine it with a jingle pendant or a little Christmas ball hanging on your Christmas packaging.

Or just forget about our tips and create a new way to use the wool on your gift-wraps. Remember, this winter Wool is Cool, just let them wrap your presents. There are lots of types of it: different colours, -even there are yarns which mix colours- sizes, and with trendy details. We discovered a new world of wool which was unknown for us. We chose the degradé one in grey.

Or if your Christmas presents are already gift-wrapped, another wool use might be just for decorating. Wrap whatever you want, we chose to cover our star-shape box with wool in a disorganised way.

What’s your name? Mary? Take one of our letters, the ‘M’ in this case, and wrap it up with wool. So, you can change the wool colour depending on your mood. It’s winter, why not in grey? It’s Christmas, maybe in red? St. Patrick’s day… Do you guess the colour?

 If you want to get our cardboard letters for free don't forget to participate in our Boxing Day Competition! Good luck! ;)

WHAT IS HIDDEN BEHIND SELF PACKAGING WALLS...

First of all, before writing any post, we would like to introduce you all our crew and how we work.

We have our headquarters in Barcelona, near the Sagrada Familia. We don’t know if it’s due to Gaudi’s inspiration that we have the power of designing.

And what do we design?

‘really lovely small boxes’

The people responsible for designing are our amazing staff: creating 8 hours a day, being of good cheer, sharing craft ideas and it’s basically a girl’s power. I feel sorry for the incipient amount of males at our office, this is the girls’ kingdom.

We know you like gossiping, that’s why we open our studio doors to show you what is hidden behind SelfPackaging walls.

Laura is touching up some photos: a SelfPackaging box always looks much better if it is under Laura’s power.

Music inspires us.

 Did I tell you that we have animals in our staff? Packito, our rabbit box, is telling us its ideas for next Easter.

Creating, smiling, designing… The SelfPackaging formula.

 ‘Games console’ remote control is switched on. Ready to cut.

It’s shooting time: Mireia’s hands are the most skilled ones at our office.