Gift Wrap Breaks Free of Color Barriers

The next time you’re out buying holiday wrapping paper, pay attention to what you grab: You could end up with the Star of Bethlehem when you really wanted the Star of David.

These days, there is more color crossover than ever between the traditional blue and silver of Hanukkah, which starts Sunday night, and the red and green of Christmas.

The focus groups, it seems, have spoken.

“Jewish consumers have been telling Hallmark that they want choices in gift wrap and cards and other products beyond the traditional blue and white and silver,” said Kristi Ernsting, spokeswoman for Kansas City-based Hallmark Cards.

“This year especially we have tried to focus on some of the trendier colors--chartreuse green, yellow and orange--especially in gift wrap for children. One is Mickey Mouse--purple, blue, yellow and orange.”

Ditto for the Christmas holiday line, she said: “There is blue and silver wrapping paper. Just like people want other choices for Hanukkah, they also want other choices for Christmas.”

Why Hanukkah, a minor Jewish holiday, has been associated with blue and white is obscured in the mists of history.

Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan of Potomac, Md., regional representative for Chabad Lubavitch, a branch of Orthodox Judaism, speculates that the colors probably derived from the fringe of the tallit, or prayer shawl, worn for millenniums by adult Jewish males.

The nation’s largest greeting-card company puts Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays into its three-part “ethnic” center, which includes “Hallmark en Espanol” and “Mahogany,” geared to African Americans.

At present, however, Hallmark has no plans to add kicky turquoise, purple or magenta to Mahogany’s Kwanzaa items, which feature the traditional colors of red, black and green.