The last Monday in January is designated as Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day in honor of the air-filled bubbly packing material, and Natalie Burch, Children’s Services Librarian at Seymour Library in Brockport, said she decided the library should host a Bubble Wrap Dance Party in honor of the event.
“I thought it would be fun,” she explained.
A number of young community residents thought the same and joined Burch for the party Monday evening, January 29, at the library. Burch taped rolls of Bubble Wrap to the floor and young participants enjoyed running, stomping and rolling over it, as well as puncturing the air pockets with their fingers, while fun music played in the background.
Sean Paul of Brockport brought his family.
“My nine-year-old-son heard about the Bubble Wrap party and wanted to bring a friend … they had a ‘date’ and went out to dinner first,” Paul said.
According to holidayinsights.com, Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day had its start at a radio station in Bloomington, Indiana, after Bubble Wrap popping was accidentally broadcast over the air while a shipment of new microphones was being unwrapped and set up.
Sealedair.com, the website of the company which makes Bubble Wrap, says the packing material was invented more than 60 years ago as a new style of wall covering. The Bubble Wrap wallpaper never caught on, but its inventors realized the light-weight material had insulating properties and it was first used as greenhouse insulation before becoming packing material.
“We know and love that you have a special relationship with Bubble Wrap,” the website states, whether you are using it for packaging or, “popping it for stress relief.”
This was the first year Seymour Library has hosted a Bubble Wrap Appreciation event and Library Director Carl Gouveia says libraries across the state are seeing rising attendance at their programs.
“From date nights for parents and their children to a Book Club at The Stoneyard, or from Teen Improv to tonight’s program, my staff try to meet these demands by developing unique programming experiences – sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t,” Gouveia says. “If one of these programs attracts someone who might not otherwise visit the library, I would consider it to be an added benefit.”
