Imagine my surprise when my mouse and I rooted around and found that there is a universe of bubble wrap fans out there, including lots of websites where you can pop virtual bubble wrap bubbles. Is this a great country or what?
Say you’re having a really bad day, or week, or month. Calling a friend, therapy, Xanax, that’s all fine. But finding a quiet place where you can be alone with some bubble wrap and pop bubbles as long and as loud as you want is faster, cheaper, way more effective and absolutely no side effects — none of that “in rare cases can cause dizziness, nausea, severe discoloration of the face and hands, hair loss and excessive flatulence” stuff. Popping bubble wrap isn’t FDA approved but it is totally safe.
Where did the incredible see-through stuff with the little dimples come from? Like so many other things that are odd - from New York City. In the late 1950s, two manufacturer/inventors named Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding tried to make a textured wallpaper covered with thousands of little air-filled bubbles.
Tragically, it didn’t work. The problem? If you pressed it or leaned on it, the little bubbles would burst with a “pop.” Did Chavannes and Fielding realize that they had inadvertently invented one of the greatest guilty pleasures in history — popping bubble wrap bubbles? Probably not.
Some months later, on his way home from a business trip, Fielding flew into Newark Airport. As the plane glided from one cloud to another, Fielding thought it was as if the clouds were gently cushioning the plane like so many puffy little, well, bubbles.
