Paper snakes - Harmless reptiles made of paper

Are you afraid of snakes? Then we can reassure you, because streamers are completely harmless.

Paper snakes - Harmless reptiles made of paper
© Bild von S. Hermann & F. Richter auf Pixabay
22.08.2022

A paper snake (in English-speaking countries known as streamer) is a thin, colourful strip of paper rolled up into a compact ring. The paper snake is very easy to unroll. If you blow into the hole in the middle of the rolled-up streamer, it unfolds and flies through the air with snake-like movements.

The inventor of paper snakes in the 1880s was the Berlin entrepreneur Paul Demuth, a publisher of joke postcards and decorative articles.

Streamers are made from rolls of flame-retardant raw paper, which is usually printed in six colours and then rolled onto smaller rolls. These are then cut into the individual streamers rings. Notches in the knives ensure that the paper snakes stay connected and do not fall apart for the time being. The width of the large sheet of paper is used to make small rolls of up to 20 paper snakes each. They are wound tightly during the cutting process so that no creases occur and the streamers rise particularly easily.

Paper streamers are especially popular for New Year's Eve and carnival decorations, but are generally a popular item for parties, birthdays, anniversaries etc..