Pink Boxes for Pastry on TV? What's Up with That?

[Kat]

Has anyone ever noticed this? Either on TV or in the movies, whenever a character buys a cake, donuts or other pastry from a bakery, it is nearly ALWAYS in a pink box? I have noticed this for years. The weird thing is, whenever I have bought pastry, in no matter what city, the box has never been pink (which was a disappointment when I was a kid!). Would love to know why always the pink box. Any ideas?

[Midlife]

I'm as old as dirt, and spent the early part of my life in NY, then CA. Pink boxes seem totally normal to me from both places.

[ratgirlagogo]

Grew up in LA and in late fifties early sixties the bakery boxes were always pink. On the other hand we usually got donuts from Winchell's which did NOT have pink boxes.

[RosePearl]

I grew up in Orange County (CA) and all remember was pink boxes from the bakery or donut shop.

[chefathome]

Most patisseries I was at in Paris a few months ago used pink boxes.

[Sinicle]

I grew up in Baltimore and some bakeries used pink boxes over 60 years ago. Perhaps it traveled east to west.

[Erika L]

I grew up in the SF bay area and all bakeries (even the ones in Chinatown) used pink boxes. I now live in Seattle and many bakeries here use them, too.

[Sooeygun]

I have always figured that is was just something that was common somewhere other than where I live. Like Chinese food in those little boxes.

[juliejulez]

All the bakeries in the town I grew up in in Central CA used pink boxes.

[Fydeaux]

Because good things come in pink boxes.

At least that's what the sign at Voodoo Donuts says.

[Kat]

Thanks for the links! So, it seems to be a West Coast thing that is spreading eastward? I hope so. The 10 year old in me still wants a birthday cake in a pink box.

[HillJ]

Kat, you can always buy a pink cake box at any party supply store, just in case your birthday cake and your pink box aren't avail from the same place. We often use pink, red and white containers (Chinese take out style with the metal handle) for guest treats (cookies, truffles and caramels) and we buy those in bulk at the party supply store.

[EM23]

There is at least one bakery around here (Long Island) that uses the pink boxes. It always reminds me of Pepto-Bismol.

[HillJ]

http://www.pinkcakebox.com/
One cake business in NJ too.

[EM23]

Aha! So it's not just a left cast thing.

[HillJ]

Nope. Pink boxes have been popular for quite some time on the eastcoast as well.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I remember pink boxes where I grew up outside the Bay Area of CA.

[KaimukiMan]

pink boxes are pretty common in Honolulu, maybe we get them from LA. Pink or white, never blue, yellow, or any other color.

[sunshine842]

there's only one prop box in all of Hollywood, and it's pink, so it just looks like every box in every program is pink -- it's all the same box. :P

[pine time]

Hmm--grew up in the south, and as far back as the late 50s/early 60s, I recall only those pink boxes. Didn't know it was considered anything new.

[Mer_Made]

It may have something to do with the Cambodian bakers not wanting to use white boxes. Hollywood may have just picked it up and ran with it.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/09/th...

Sadly, the link to the LA Mag column 404'd me, or I would have used it.

[Jordan]

It's an LA thing. For some reason, doughnut shops often have pink take-out boxes. Also, doughnut shops are extremely common in LA, which is probably why they (or the doughnuts) appear so often in movies and TV shows.

[Stephanie Wong]

Pink boxes were traditional in some communities before using recycled materials became more popular?

[ttoommyy]

I always thought it was because the glossy white finish of the white pastry boxes might cause some kind of reflection with the lights and camera.

[HillJ]

http://community.cookinglight.com/arc...

[HillJ]

http://www.mizchef.com/2009/05/legend...

You're not the first to notice.

[rockycat]

It looks better on TV than a plain white box?