Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that the string handle on animal cracker boxes was added in 1902 when the boxes were designed to be given as holiday gifts and hung from the tree? The animal crackers (or ‘biscuits’ as they were called in their country of origin, the United Kingdom) were created in the late 1800s and imported to the US. A factory in York, PA began producing animal crackers in the 1870s, but it was the National Biscuit Company (known today as Nabisco) that first packaged them in the now-familiar boxes and added the string handle for the holiday season. The handle remains to this day though you’re unlikely to see any hanging on the tree.