Wreath of the Day – History, Part II
We began with paper ribbon – wide, rather stiff, backed with metallic gold, prone to wrinkling. It was sturdy, weatherproof, hard to work with, and limited in color choices. It did come in big, fat rolls and wasn’t especially expensive. We pre-made a lot of them in November, at a bow making meeting. In truth, many bows made in those meetings were destined to be taken apart and re-made. Staples came out, loops were uneven, tails were bedraggled, sizes varied from one to another, especially unfortunate if you ordered a matched pair. Bow making sessions were later abandoned. Finally we began to use better quality ribbon. It cut our profit but was much more fun to work with. The first year, we tried charging an extra $5 for “premium ribbon” but soon had to abandon the idea. The decorators didn’t want to use the paper ribbon anymore and rarely checked the order to be sure the buyer had requested the upgrade. From then on, fancy ribbon was the norm. We still tried to buy on sale, at the end of season, or at going out of business or Christmas in July sales, but you can’t keep them down on the farm once they’ve seen Paris. Below is a wreath from 2006, fifteen years ago. We would be trimming down that middle opening if quality control got their hands on it today.
