Pink Pastry Boxes

[Carolyn Tillie]

Wandering the back roads of Lodi over the weekend (wine tasting, as usual), I stopped at a small farm stand with homemade pies. Picking up a peach-boysenberry for Easter dinner, I glanced across the room at the telling pink box which contained my bought baked goodie and wondered....

When did pastry boxes become universally pink -- and why that particular shade of bubblegum pink? Why not white or blue or green?

Why Pink?

[Pam R]

dunno why. We use white ones.

[emmapeel]

I like the question because I only see white ones here where I live, and pink ones in film and television. I began wondering, are pink pastry boxes a myth? Now I know. I also like the way europeans wrap pastry, like a gift with, paper and ribbons.

Edited March 28, 2005 by emmapeel (log)

[chiantiglace]

the only pink boxes I've ever seen were from ice cream cakes, baskin robbins and caravel.

[Carolyn Tillie]

My goodness... is this a California thing?

I get pink boxes at all my local donut shops and bakeries (except Bouchon, of course, which has its own signature boxes with weird green ribbons). Only occasionally do I get white ones, but they always seem to be pink...

[mckayinutah]

I unfortunately for a while was only able to get pink boxes from my purveyor ( the first time I saw them come in on an order, I asked if they carried white ones - no luck ) here in Utah. Had never even seen that color before until I move here from Michigan.

I no longer use that purveyor and was glad to see that my primary purveyor carries only white boxes.

And on a side note - I have yet to see a pink box that is sturdy enough for me - - I always had to put 2 or 3 cardboards on the bottom for fear of the box bending in half while someone was carrying it.

Jason

[Wendy DeBord]

In my area I've never seen a pink cake box.

[Patricia Austin]

I love that California has pink boxes! Until recently I have only seen white, straight edged, square/rectangle boxes. I have been in search of a tulip box which has rounded edges and encloses the four sides over a little handle on the top. I finally found this box being used by a chocolatier in my area. This is the same box I received from Sadaharu Aoki's pastry shop in paris. The only pink boxes I have seen are in France. For my taste, the boxes in France are more elegant, but not quite as sturdy.

[MarieinLA]

I love that California has pink boxes!  Until recently I have only seen white, straight edged, square/rectangle boxes.  I have been in search of a tulip box which has rounded edges and encloses the four sides over a little handle on the top.  I finally found this box being used by a chocolatier in my area. This is the same box I received from Sadaharu Aoki's pastry shop in paris.  The only pink boxes I have seen are in France.  For my taste, the boxes in France are more elegant, but not quite as sturdy.

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[Tepee]

Going off-tangent a little and thinking out of the box, I'd love to store my littler cakes in these. Apparently, some of them can take the weight of (even) chinaware.

[celenes]

I have never seen pink boxes used by any bakeries here in Cleveland. However, I have seen the pink boxes before and thought they were cute.

I thought about ordering some for my cakes because my logo is a black oval with fushia writing. I have ribbon that I put on my boxes to make it look fancy and my customers love that extra touch. But for larger cakes like sheet cakes it takes too much ribbons for the boxes so soon i hope to have some labels done versus imprinting the boxes. With that said, I too use white boxes.

[Eden]

Not only were they the norm when I was growing up in Calif, they are the more common choice here in Seattle as well. Perhaps it's a west coast thing primarily?

I agree they are really flimsy and a gawdaful color, but with so much positive association from years of donuts, cakes, eclairs etc, they still make me smile whenever I see them

[Hest88]

Chinese bakeries always use pink boxes. I wonder if it's cheaper making them pink somehow then bleaching them white? We need a paper manufacturer here!

[Mayhaw Man]

Isabelle's Gourmet uses lavender boxes. They are an East Coast Company.

In New Orleans, the boxes are generally white with green printing on them. Maybe pink is a West Coast thing after all.

[kitwilliams]

I'm shocked to find out that this isn't a nation-wide problem (!). I'm with the rest of you (obviously in the western US) who are tired of the pink...pink boxes are never sturdy enough and I think the color gawdawful. I'm thinking that I would prefer a box the color of a brown paper bag, tied with a nice chocolate-colored ribbon. Maybe a tad lighter than brown paper bag -- somewhere between brown paper and ivory. Creamy brown! Ah...now I know. The color of a perfect cup of milky tea!

[Kit]

Ours are white with very thin red stripes, diagonal, on them. I don't think I've ever seen pink boxes by me.

[Patricia Austin]

I love that California has pink boxes!  Until recently I have only seen white, straight edged, square/rectangle boxes.  I have been in search of a tulip box which has rounded edges and encloses the four sides over a little handle on the top.  I finally found this box being used by a chocolatier in my area. This is the same box I received from Sadaharu Aoki's pastry shop in paris.  The only pink boxes I have seen are in France.  For my taste, the boxes in France are more elegant, but not quite as sturdy.

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Yes! I am familiar with qualitapaperco. but did not know they carried this line. Thank you so much.

[ladyyoung98]

we only seem to have the white boxes around here but every now and then i will see a bakery use a styrafoam box...must be that its sturdier for heavy smaller things.....like rock hard cookies that weigh a ton...

Edited March 28, 2005 by ladyyoung98 (log)

[chefpeon]

Confounded pink boxes! I love pink, but I don't like that shade particularly. That's all

I see around here (West Coast Pink). Frankly, I don't care WHAT color they are, they

just need to be sturdier!!!

[jgarner53]

I'm with Anne. I like pink (love it, actually), but that color says cheap bakery to me. The woman I work for buys white boxes for all her deliveries. So it's not that white boxes aren't available, but at someplace like Restaurant Depot, or a cake decorating store, that's all you see.

I'd love a really pale, blush pink box. With chocolate brown satin ribbon.

[alligande]

I have never seen pink boxes, where I am in Rhode Island, regular white boxes with a doily inside if you are lucky

[canucklehead]

As to why -- this is only a personal theory.

Does pink signify sweetness? I have always heard that something glazed with pink icing will always seem to taste sweeter then something glazed in white - even if they have the same amount of sugar.

I have no idea where this bit of trivia came from. I think from Food Network top 5. Gawd help me.

Edited March 30, 2005 by canucklehead (log)

[Murrmaid]

I can only find the pink kind here, not that I've looked very hard. And it's true - they are alarmingly flimsy.

I wonder if it's something like barns being red - red paint used to be the cheapest. Now barns are red because they always have been. That is, I wonder if there was a reason for pink boxes at one time, but now they're pink just because they always were.

[scordelia]

Williams-Sonoma sells fancy boxes in lots of colors with coordinating ribbon and embossed labels (for a price!) if you care to indulge your elegant pastry wrapping fantasies.

The only pink boxes I remember were from Bailey's of Boston (no longer exists) which was a nice small chain (4 or 5 stores) that sold homemade chocolates, cookies, ice cream and sandwiches. Their chocolate boxes were an elegant pale pink with dark brown lace and ribbon, and all the shops had the same pale pink and dark brown wallpaper.

[CaliPoutine]

I just heard on the John Tesh Radio show that people think pastries taste better when they come in a pink box.

go figure.